GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP

20% fee discount for BCU graduates undertaking Master’s or PhD study in 2024/25 or 2025/26

What you need to know

The Graduate Scholarship is a 20% fee reduction available to BCU graduates (BA, BSc, LLB, MA, MSc, LLM, PGCE) enrolling onto an eligible Master’s or PhD qualification for the first time in 2024/25 or 2025/26. Find out the full terms and conditions and eligibility criteria.
If you graduated in 2012 or after, the Graduate Scholarship will be awarded automatically if you are progressing from and to an eligible course. If you graduated before 2012, you will need to contact us and we can help you through the process. Find out more about applying for postgraduate study.
If you are awarded the Graduate Scholarship, your offer will show the full fee, but your postgraduate course fees will be discounted by 20% in each year of study. You can choose to pay your remaining fees in full at the start of the year, or by instalments. See our fees and funding pages for more information on paying your fees.

Why you?

Why study a Master's?

Earn more: Someone with a Master's degree or PhD earns £5,000 more per year, or £200,000 over a 40-year working life, than someone with just a degree (Graduate Labour Market Statistics 2023, Department for Education).
Take the next step: A postgraduate degree could help you to develop key skills employers are looking for.
Specialise: A postgraduate degree allows you to dive deeper into your subject.
Change direction: You can study a postgraduate course in a completely different subject to your undergraduate degree.

Gain experience: You can learn from industry experts, gain work experience and build your professional network while you study.

Why now?

Why study a Master's after your degree?

Graduate scholarship: Our graduate scholarship makes studying a more affordable option.
Build confidence: A postgraduate degree means you can apply for your first full-time job after university confident that you have advanced skills and knowledge.
Launch your career: If you have a career in mind, a postgraduate degree can help to build the skills and experience needed to build a great job application.

Why BCU?

Why study a Master's with us?

Why stop here? If you’ve enjoyed being part of the BCU community, continue the experience with a postgraduate degree.
Fast Track application: Apply in minutes with no need for a personal statement with our Fast-Track application.
Prepare for industry: Our expert lecturers, accredited courses, and links to employers make BCU the ideal place to learn more about your chosen industry.
Build your network: At BCU’s STEAMHouse, you’ll find local businesses working alongside students. Students will have the opportunity to work on industry projects, attend workshops and gain experience from our resident businesses.
Learn from experts: Several of our academic staff are National Teaching Fellows – the most prestigious award for excellence in university teaching and learning.

Scholarship terms and conditions

Application Process

Current BCU undergraduate students

We have established a Fast Track application process for BCU undergraduate students who would like to take a Master’s level degree, which you can find in your student portal. It will just take a few clicks to find a suitable course and complete the Fast Track application form. See how to complete the Fast Track application.

Some courses do require a different application process:

Conservatoire programmes can be applied for via UCAS Conservatoires
Law programmes can be applied for via LawCabs.

Please note that some courses requiring interviews are not available via the Fast Track application. If your chosen course is unavailable via Fast Track, you can apply via the relevant course page.

Receiving the scholarship: Once you have enrolled on your chosen course, you will be automatically awarded the 20% fee discount if you meet the eligibility criteria (see eligibility).

Current BCU Master’s students

If you are planning to progress to PhD study, please apply via the relevant course page.

For guidance on your application, visit our PhD application advice pages.

Returning BCU graduates

Please apply for your chosen course via the relevant course page.

If you graduated in 2012 or after: Once you have enrolled on your chosen course, you will be automatically awarded the 20% fee discount if you meet the eligibility criteria (see eligibility).

If you graduated before 2012: Please email us at alumni@bcu.ac.uk and we will advise on next steps.

Eligibility (from 2024/25)

To be awarded a scholarship, you must fulfil the following criteria:

Have achieved a BCU undergraduate degree, postgraduate degree or PGCE (BA, BSc, LLB, MA, MSc, LLM, PGCE)
Be enrolling onto an eligible full-time or part-time Master’s or PhD course for the first time in the 2024/25 or 2025/26 academic year (see exclusions below)
Be a UK, EU or international self-funded student (including those who are in receipt of a postgraduate student loan).

The Scholarship is also open to apprenticeship students who fulfil the criteria above. Students who joined BCU in their third year after gaining a HND are also eligible.

The Scholarship is not available to ERASMUS students currently studying at BCU.

If you are eligible for the Graduate Scholarship and a second BCU scholarship, we will automatically award you the larger of the two.

Courses exempt from the Scholarship

The Scholarship is not open to students wishing to enrol on the following courses:

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses
Franchise or validated courses delivered at or through partner colleges
PGCE
Postgraduate Certificates
Postgraduate Diplomas
Graduate Diplomas

Timelines

You can apply at any time for a postgraduate course (via MySRS), even if you do not have your degree results. We encourage you to apply for Master’s-level study in good time to start your studies; guidance on deadlines can be found on each course page. PhD application deadlines vary depending on start date (see our PhD FAQs for more information).

If you graduated in 2012 or after, you will automatically be awarded the Graduate Scholarship if you are eligible. If you graduated before 2012, please email us at alumni@bcu.ac.uk for advice.

Government loans for postgraduate study

If you are a UK or Irish student, or EU passport holder with Pre-Settled or Settled status, you may also be eligible for a government loan of up to £12,471 for Master’s level study or £29,390 for Doctoral study (for courses starting after 1 August 2024). If you qualify for Student Finance England (SFE) funding, please apply as early as possible as the SFE team gets very busy with applications for undergraduate loans too at certain times of the year. Applying late may lead to a delay in receiving your loan. For more information about this, visit the government’s student finance website.

Hear from a final year PhD researcher on the benefits of studying a PhD at Birmingham City University.