FAQs of PGR Applications

No. All applicants for a postgraduate research programme must submit their applications and supporting documents on Application HUB. 

If you apply for a PhD programme, you will generally need to hold an honours bachelor degree at second class upper division and/or a master degree at merit level or above in a relevant subject from a British university.  

Or international equivalent to the above, e.g., a graduate of an approved US university holding a bachelor/master’s degree in a relevant subject (normally with a GPA 3.0/4.0 or above); or a graduate of an approved Chinese university holding a bachelor/master’s degree in a relevant subject (normally with a minimum average 78-83 depending on the university).

No. You cannot submit an application in the application system until we have received both of your reference letters. To allow referees sufficient time to provide reference letters, please make reference requests in the application system at least 2 weeks prior to the programme or scholarship deadline.  
Once you have made a reference request, referees will receive an email with a link sent from the online Application HUB. Your referees are expected to submit their reference letters via the link within 14 days (after which the link expires). Once reference letters are submitted, the application system will notify the applicant. 

Currently, the Faculty of Science and Engineering allows applicants who hold a bachelor’s degree with second-class upper division or above from a British university or a top global or Chinese university, such as a Double First Class Chinese university, to apply for a PhD programme. 

The Nottingham University Business School China and the School of Economics only consider extraordinarily outstanding applicants who hold a bachelor’s degree with first-class honours from one of Nottingham’s campuses and demonstrate a strong passion for research in a particular area. 

University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) PhD scholarships are only open to full-time PhD applicants who have a bachelor’s degree with first class honours or a master’s degree with Merit or above (average score no less than 65%) from a British university or its international equivalent. Applicants with a master’s degree also should hold a bachelor’s degree at upper second class or above level.

For some schools/departments that consider applicants holding a bachelor’s degree, an exceptional track record (i.e., first class honours or its international equivalent) obtained from one of the most prestigious universities is expected.

Yes. You should identify a potential supervisor from UNNC whose research interest aligns with yours. Even if you have identified a supervisor from a partner institution, you still must identify a UNNC supervisor before submitting your application. 

All PhD programmes provide both full-time and part-time study mode.

All MRes programmes provide full-time study mode but only one of MRes programmes, Master of Research in Sustainable Energy and Building Technologies provides part-time study mode.

Master of Research (MRes) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) offer both autumn and spring entry, and you may consider either one that better serves your study plan. If you are applying for a PhD scholarship, please note that most of our scholarships will start calling for applications in the autumn entry.

Please be noted that Professional Doctorate in Education (EdD) is only open for the autumn entry.

No. Applicants can only apply for one PGR programme for an entry and can only submit another application if their applied PGR programme is not successful.

The English requirement can be waived should you have obtained a bachelor or master degree from an English speaking country that can be found from the list posted on the website.

However the university may still request you to provide an IELTS under certain circumstances, e.g. the instruction language is not English but others like French or Spanish. 

If an admitted student lacks a valid IELTS score at the time of admission, the offer will be conditional, with a deadline for submitting the score specified in the offer letter.  

For the 2025–2026 academic year, conditional offer holders for a Postgraduate Research programme must provide a satisfactory IELTS result no later than 15 July 2025 for the autumn entry in 2025, or 15 December 2025 for the spring entry in 2026.

However, the English language requirement for conditional offers does not apply to applicants applying for a PhD scholarship in the spring entry. These applicants must meet the English requirement by the PhD scholarship application deadline.

Alternatively, admitted students can take the pre-sessional programme through the Centre for English Language Education to develop their academic and language skills before beginning their degree programme. If a student is successful in meeting the required marks in their final assessments for this programme, they will pass the pre-sessional course and can usually progress directly to the degree course without retaking the IELTS or equivalent. For details, please refer to the linked page on the Pre-sessional Programme. Please be noted that the Pre-sessional programme is only available during the summer.

We strongly encourage scholarship applicants to sit for an English language proficiency test as early as possible. In case of intense competition, we may give priority to applicants who have met both the academic and English requirements. Do not delay the English language test until after receiving an offer.

  Yes, please provide the certification.  

If you are a current UNNC staff member, please notify your line manager before submitting your PGR application. And please attach an email or letter from your line manager confirming that he or she is aware of your PGR application. If you are applying for a part-time PGR programme, please also attach an email or letter from HR Office confirming their support.

Please give at least one month notice to HR Office when you decide to quit your job at UNNC should your application for a Full-time PGR programme is successful.

Any further enquiries about the above requirements, please contact HR Office (HR@nottingham.edu.cn).

You can only request a deferral of your offer if there is another entry date within the same academic year (running from September to August). In other words, only students admitted to the autumn entry can apply to defer to the next entry in spring. If you have been awarded a UNNC PhD scholarship, the scholarship will be automatically withdrawn. Deferral application of a scholarship will only be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

If you want to defer your offer to the next entry, please contact PGR Admissions at PGR@nottingham.edu.cn at least six weeks before the expected entry date.

As there is no spring entry for EdD students, deferral is not applicable to them.

If you are in your final year of degree study, you can submit your application with a provisional transcript and a studying certificate. Should you are admitted, you are required to have fulfilled all conditions set in your offer normally by the middle of July or December for autumn or spring entry respectively. If you current course will not be completed until later in the year and you will not be able to receive your final transcript and degree certificates before the autumn entry, your application will be assessed for the following entry in spring. 

If the programme for which you applied does not have an entry in the spring, such as the EdD programme, you should wait and apply for the next intake.