Frequently asked questions

UK/EU students: The deadline for the university to receive applications for an entry date of October is the 1 August, for January entry it is the 1 November and for May it is the 1 March.

International students: The deadline for the university to receive applications for an entry date of October is the 1 June, for January entry it is the 1 September and for April it is the 1 January.

More on application deadlines.

International students are only able to apply for full time study.

Distance learning is not currently offered to those outside of formal partnership agreements with overseas institutions.

Find out more about immigration and visa regulations concerning research study here.

 The university has its own language institute (Brighton Language Institute). It offers a range of programmes accredited by the British Council. Our English courses will help you to improve your English for academic study.

You can study one of our English courses to prepare for a degree at the University of Brighton, or to improve your English to apply to other UK universities.

For details visit the Brighton Language Institute.

Students whose first language is not English will need to provide evidence of their English language ability. You can find out more about the English language requirements for entry to different subject areas.

Doctoral applicants are encouraged to address English language needs in advance of submitting an application wherever possible, so that the merit of a research proposal can be fully considered. Judgements are made on an individual basis, but it may be possible where an applicant is 0.5 below the IELTS entry requirement for an offer to be made on the condition of the required standard being met before starting. 

An IELTS (or equivalent) score of 5.5 in all components (reading, writing and listening) is required by the UK Border Agency for entry to the UK for study at this level.

All applications should include a copy of your passport, copies of your degree certificates and transcripts to date, your IELTS/equivalent English language qualification (where applicable) and two references.

A reference template can be found at: http://staffcentral.brighton.ac.uk/xpedio/groups/public/documents/staffcentral/doc001485.pdf

You will need to ask two people to provide references for you and at least one of your refrees should be academic. All references should be recent and need to be signed, dated and stamped with the organisation's stamp, and if not on the template then written on headed paper.

Applications for the 2012 Doctoral College research studentships closed on 8 June 2012, and we are no longer accepting applications. Future funding opportunities will be advertised on this website and through national press.

Successful applicants will be invited for interview by 29 June 2012. If you have not heard by this date then unfortunately your application has not been successful.

Fees can vary from course to course and can be found by looking up the specific course you would like to apply for on www.brighton.ac.uk/courses.

Please note that for some courses there may also be an additional consumable or bench fee to be paid. These will vary depending on the project.

Details of all University of Brighton funding opportunities are here: www.brighton.ac.uk/researchstudy/funding.

Information about modes of attendance and course length can be found here.

All Doctoral students are allocated a team of at least two designated supervisors. One supervisor will be nominated as the lead supervisor, and will oversee progress.

Full-time research students are allocated 90 hours of supervisor time shared equally between the supervisory team. Part-time students receive half of this allocation. It should be noted that the allocated time is further split so that at least one-third is attributed to direct contact/consultation.

A full-time student would therefore expect 30 hours supervisor contact per anum.

Core modules on research methodology are free to all research students. Full details are here.

A suite of workshops and seminars are also run for the postgraduate researcher community, with students encouraged to present their work annually at student conferences or in seminars to their peers.

Teaching opportunities are provided in Faculties and Schools for research students. A maximum of six teaching hours per week for full-time students is noted, and those students that take up this opportunity are supported through university two-day teaching and learning workshop.