Admission to Degree Courses

  1. Candidates for admission to a course of study leading to a degree of the University must be at least 17 years of age on 1 October of the year of their admission.

  2. Candidates for admission to degree courses, who have achieved current UK qualifications must satisfy the relevant School and specific course requirements. The University prefers applicants to have achieved passes in either 2 subjects at A Level with passes in 3 further subjects at AS level, or in 3 subjects at A Level with a pass in 1 further subject at AS level.

  3. The Board of the School concerned may declare eligible for admission to a course leading to a higher degree:

    1. a graduate of a university in the United Kingdom or of such other institution of higher education as may from time to time be recognised for this purpose.

    2. a candidate not being a graduate whose qualifications have been specially approved for this purpose by the Board of the School concerned.

  4. Candidates with non UK qualifications, or UK qualifications which are no longer offered, must satisfy one of the following requirements:

    1. The Leaving Certificate of the Department of Education, Republic of Ireland, with a score of 260 points or above in five subjects of which four are at the Higher (or Honours) Level obtained at one sitting.

    2. The International Baccalaureate.

    3. The European Baccalaureate.

    4. Two subjects passed at grade 4 or 5 in the Advanced Placement (AP) examinations of the American College Board.

    5. Qualifications such as school leaving certificates from member states of the European Union which allow admission to University in a candidate's home country. (NB Candidates from Greece should offer two GCE A-level passes in addition to the Apolytirion).

    6. Overseas GCE and School Certificate examinations comparable to the UK equivalents.

    7. Year 12 Certificate of the relevant state authority in Australia.

    8. Senior Matriculation Certificate of the relevant provincial state authority in Canada.

    9. Vitnemal Fra Den Videregaende Skole (Certificate of Upper Secondary Education) from Norway.

    10. Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM/Advanced Certificate of Education).

    11. Other qualifications gained outside the United Kingdom which are listed as equivalent to the British entry requirements in the International Guide to Qualifications in Education published by the UK National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC).

    12. Qualifications no longer offered, subject to approval by the Board of the School concerned. Examples are an Ordinary or Higher National Certificate or Diploma awarded before the establishment of BTEC, pre-GCE school leaving examinations and AO-levels.

    13. Other qualifications subject to approval by the Board of the School concerned.

  5. Candidates over the age of 21 not possessing any of the above qualifications may be admitted to a first degree course provided they can submit evidence of previous serious study and can demonstrate the capacity of attainments to pursue successfully the proposed course. Examples of such evidence are recent study with the Open University or another institution of higher education, successful completion of an approved access course,or of one of the University's Return to Study courses, or recent relevant work experience. In such cases eligibility for admission is subject to the approval of the Board of the School concerned.

  6. English language requirement: in addition to any of the above qualifications, candidates whose first language is not English are required to reach a satisfactory standard in an approved test in English, or otherwise demonstrate to the Director of the Language Centre of the University that they have an adequate command of both written and spoken English language to follow the proposed course. Tests currently approved include:

    • Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (Grade C or above);
    • AEB Test in English for Educational Purposes (TEEP);
    • JMB University Entrance Test in English for Speakers of Other Languages;
    • British Council/Cambridge IELTS (Grade 6.5);
    • GCE O-level or GCSE in English (Grade C or above);
    • TOEFL (score of 600) or CBTOEFL (score of 250);
    • Certificate in Advanced English (Cambridge) (Grades A-C);
    • Certificate of Attainment in English (London) (Levels 5-6);
    • Examinations in Spoken English (Trinity College) (Grades 10-12 if offered in conjunction with other evidence satisfactory to the Language Centre);
    • Higher Certificate in English as a Foreign Language (Oxford) (Credit or Distinction, if offered in conjunction with an acceptable qualification in spoken English).

    The following European qualifications are also acceptable:

    • International Baccalaureate Syllabus A1: Grade 4 at either Higher or Standard level;
    • International Baccalaureate Syllabus A2: Grade 5 at Higher level or Grade 5 at Standard level where the IB subjects have been studied through the medium of English;
    • International Baccalaureate Syllabus B: Grade 5 at Higher level;
    • European Baccalaureate with a minimum of 97.5 in English as the First Foreign Language LL21 or First Foreign Language Advanced;
    • Arbitur with a minimum score of 11 out of 15 or 2 out of 6 in English Language as a Leistungskurs.
Please note that test scores more than three years old are not normally accepted.

For further information, go to www.soton.ac.uk/Prospective/Students.