Your application

The normal requirement for a taught Master’s degree is a UK Bachelor’s (Honours) degree (or equivalent professional or international qualification). For our postexperience and professional qualifications there may be additional entry requirements set by the associated professional body. The course outline on our website (www. bournemouth.ac.uk/courses) will provide full details of any extra requirements, or you can contact the Future Students Enquiry Team by emailing futurestudents@bournemouth. ac.uk or calling +44 (0)1202 961916.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you will need a minimum IELTS (Academic) score of 6.0 overall, or equivalent, though some courses have higher requirements. To find out more and see which other English qualifications we accept, visit

www.bournemouth.ac.uk/english-language

Pathway to Master’s degree

If you do not have qualifications equivalent to a UK Bachelor’s (Honours) degree to gain direct entry to a Master’s degree at BU, we still have opportunities for you.

If you have one of the following qualifications with the appropriate grade, we offer you the chance to complete a one-year Top-up degree as a pathway to a Master’s degree (MA, MSc): • Foundation degree or Higher

National Diploma (HND) • Overseas qualifications that are equivalent to the first two years of a UK undergraduate course (i.e. equivalent to

Level 5 on the Qualification Framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland) • A Pre-Master’s qualification from the BU

International College – see page 32. A Top-up degree enables you to add the final year of a UK Bachelor’s degree to your existing qualifications, which will have been confirmed as equivalent to the first two years of a UK degree. Successful completion of a Top-up degree with good grades (normally a second-class degree) may lead to entry on to a Master’s degree in a relevant field. To find out the exact progression route from Top-up course to Master’s degrees, visit:

www.bournemouth.ac.uk/topup-degrees

You may be exempt from certain parts of your postgraduate programme if you can show you already have relevant qualifications in your subject area. There are two ways of doing this – through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and UK Credit Transfer (UKCT) processes.

You can seek RPL for a range of professional qualifications which do not carry academic credit, or for academic credit received from higher education institutions outside of the UK. In these cases, it will be considered as Recognition of Prior Certified Learning (RPCL). If your prior certified learning has taken place at another UK higher education institution, it will be considered as UKCT.

If you would like to find out if you are eligible for RPL or UKCT, or have any questions about the process, please contact us on futurestudents@bournemouth.ac.uk or calling +44 (0)1202 961916.

European Credit Transfer System

If you are studying for an undergraduate or postgraduate course in an EU country, your qualification will probably be graded using the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), which is a way of transferring European higher education grades over to the UK. We accept ECTS credits for entry on to our courses; undergraduate credits will be accepted when the undergraduate degree is completed. One ECTS credit is equivalent to two BU academic credits.

Experience

Relevant experience can count towards your application. This is known as Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning (RPEL) and is an opportunity for you to demonstrate that you have sufficient knowledge in a particular topic.

Usually, you will need to provide evidence of this knowledge by reflecting on your experience and learning in writing. We will assess the evidence you submit and consider it alongside the rest of your application. You can then be awarded RPEL credit, which may give you an exemption from parts of the course.

Contact our Future Students Enquiry Team (futurestudents@bournemouth.ac.uk) for information on applying via the RPEL route.