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Postgraduate

People in east London's Brick Lane. Image courtesy of UAL
People in east London's Brick Lane. Image courtesy of UAL
People in east London's Brick Lane. Image courtesy of UAL

Find out how to apply for a range of postgraduate taught programmes at UAL, including Master's degrees, Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas.

UAL is home to Europe’s largest postgraduate arts and design community and each College has its own thriving postgraduate environment.

Our courses

Our 6 prestigious Colleges offer a wide range of taught courses leading to postgraduate qualifications:

  • Masters (MA, MFA, MRes, MSc, MBA; M ARCH): These taught courses generally represent 180 credits and typically require between 1–2 years of full-time study
  • Certificates and diplomas: Several of our Colleges offer courses leading to Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert), Graduate Diploma or Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) qualifications. These courses are as academically challenging but are generally shorter than master's courses and represent fewer credits.

We also offer research degrees which may lead to an MPhil or PhD awarded in any subject area. UAL offers a range of fully funded studentships for research degree students.

Postgraduate research degrees

Learn more about our research qualifications and vibrant community of researchers.

Postgraduate funding

Find out how you can fund your taught postgraduate studies with loans, scholarships and discounts.

Get our Postgraduate Guide

If you're in the UK, order a copy of our Postgraduate Guide to explore our range of courses.

Apply to a postgraduate taught course

Step 1 - Choose your course

Browse our Postgraduate Taught Courses to find the right course for you and consider visiting us at one of our open days or evenings to find out more.

If you’re an international student, you should contact one of UAL representatives in your country to receive personalised advice and support with your application and to hear about upcoming UAL events in your country, including portfolio workshops. Our in-country representatives can provide you with information and specialist advice about all the courses we offer, guidance on portfolio preparation, application process and interviews.

Step 2 - Check the entry requirements

  • Read the entry requirements on the ‘How to apply’ section on your chosen course page carefully before applying.
  • Courses might ask for an essay, CV, portfolio, video task, study proposal, or personal statement as part of the application process. View these tips for portfolio preparation.
  • If English isn’t your native language, you’ll usually need to meet an English language requirement.

Step 3 - Think about funding

Step 4 - Apply

For postgraduate courses at UAL there are 2 rounds of applications. This is to ensure equal consideration and fairness for all of our applicants. You must apply by 13 December 2023 1pm (UK time) for round 1 or by 3 April 2024 1pm (UK time) for round 2.

After 3 April, courses will remain open to application until they are full. All postgraduate taught courses will close to international applicants by 30 June 2024 and to Home students by 31 July 2024.

We recommend you submit your application as early as possible before these deadlines, to allow the Admissions team to resolve any initial queries about your application as quickly as possible.

Home applicants

If you’re a Home applicant, apply using the online application form that you’ll find on the course page.

International applicants

If you’re an International applicant, you can apply in 2 different ways:

  • Apply with support from a UAL representative in your country. This is our recommended way to apply to make sure you are fully supported and guided throughout the application process.
  • Through a direct application via the online application form. These can be found on the specific course page you want to apply for.

By applying through a UAL representative, you’ll have access to benefits including personalised support throughout the application, interview and enrolment process. Our in-country representatives can provide you with information and specialist advice about all the courses we offer, guidance on portfolio preparation, application process and interviews, visas and immigration, accommodation and much more.

Depending on your nationality and UK immigration status, you'll need a Student visa to study in the UK.

Read our application guidance for international students.

Step 5 - Wait for a decision

After you’ve applied, you’ll receive a confirmation email with your login details for the UAL Portal. We’ll contact you by email to ask you to upload any additional information, which might include inviting you to provide documents, a portfolio, a video task or book an interview. Make sure you check your email regularly, including spam folders.

If this course requires a digital portfolio as part of the application process, you'll be invited to submit this through UAL’s online submission tool, PebblePad. For round 1 applications, you'll be given an individual submission deadline which will be on or before 16 January 2024. For round 2 applications, you'll be given an individual submission deadline which will be on or before 16 April 2024.

Once we’ve reviewed and assessed your application, we’ll contact you via the UAL Portal to let you know whether your application has been successful. Outcomes for round 1 will be released by the end of March 2024 at the latest, and for round 2 by end of June 2024 at the latest.

If you have applied during round 1 and you don’t hear from us by the end of March, we'll consider your application within round 2 and be in contact with you as soon as possible via your UAL Portal.

We receive a great number of applications from talented students from the UK and across the world and it’s very important for us to ensure that each one gets the consideration it deserves. The amount of time it takes to reach a decision depends on many factors, including volume of applications, level of competition and whether your application is portfolio-based.

Read more about what happens after you apply.

Applying to more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you limit your applications to no more than 3 courses.

Your application, supporting documents and portfolio should be tailored specifically to each course, so applying for many different courses could risk the overall quality and focus of your application.

If you receive offers for multiple courses, you'll only be able to accept 1 offer. UAL doesn't accept repeat applications to the same course in the same academic year.