Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions for those applying to study in Edinburgh from abroad.

If you are a student from a non-exchange university you are welcome to apply to the Study Abroad programme. On this programme you would spend a semester or a full academic year at the University of Edinburgh and study undergraduate level courses.  

Overview of Study Abroad programme: 


After your application is submitted, it can take anywhere between 6-8 weeks to receive a decision of the outcome. Check your emails regularly for updates from us. 


Find the courses available to visiting students on the Course Finder below. Please note that the courses listed at this time reflect the current academic year. 

 

Course Finder is updated each summer for the upcoming academic year. You can refer to the current course list in the meantime.

 


Due to limited space availability, studio-based Art, Design, Architecture and Landscape Architecture courses in the Edinburgh College of Art are reserved for direct exchange students only. There are a few elective Art and Design courses on offer.

We can’t accept visiting students to study in Edinburgh outside of these agreements.


Visiting students are not permitted to take courses in the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, unless we have a subject-specific exchange agreement with their home university. However, there are limited Biomedical Science courses on offer.

Details about restricted subject areas in the Courses and Credits information:


Unfortunately, we do not have scholarships or other funding available to visiting students. 


The Visiting Student Office (VSO) will sign your Learning Agreement.  

The VSO cannot sign your documents before you apply or if your application is still being processed. 

 Contact details for the VSO on the Pre-arrival checklist:


You can check our course finder to see all available courses for visiting students. If you find a course you want to take, but it's not listed in the online application or marked as full, you can add it to your application using the Course Ranking form. 

Refer to the application instructions on How to Apply.

Upload the completed form to your application in the 'Documents Upload' section – you can place the document in any available slot, such as the Academic Reference. 

Refer to the Application guide and supporting documents checklist.


The standard course load at the University of Edinburgh is 60 credits per semester, which is usually made up of three 20-credit courses. You should expect to do around 10 hours of independent study for each credit. This means that a 20-credit course will require around 200 hours of study per semester. 


As a visiting student, your offer letter may mention a £910 fee but you don’t need to pay anything. This is an Estimated Tuition Fee and visiting exchange students don't have to pay it.  

There should be a statement in the letter that confirms waived fees for exchange students:

“Please note that students who have been nominated by their home University to apply to the University of Edinburgh as part of a reciprocal exchange programme will not be liable for fee payment.” 


Erasmus traineeships offer an opportunity to conduct research for 8-12 weeks, supervised by an academic of the University of Edinburgh.  

Your first step is to identify the relevant department/academic staff and share your research proposal with them, and to decide your traineeship dates.  

Admission is not guaranteed - it will depend on whether you can find a supervisor who is interested and willing to supervise your work at the University of Edinburgh.  

We do not offer any administrative traineeships or job shadowing. We cannot accept students who have graduated by the time their traineeship starts. 

Information about traineeships:


We have a dedicated Student Immigration Service at the University of Edinburgh. All questions about visas or immigration should go to the specialist team of qualified advisers. 

Study and Work Away Service can’t advise you on visas and immigration. 

Student immigration advice:


If you need a visa to study with us, which you must check with the Student Immigration team, you would have to provide one of the official language certificates listed on our website: 

Must be no more than two years old

  • IELTS (Academic module) – overall 6.5 with 5.5 in each component
  • TOEFL iBT (including Special Home Edition) – 92 or above with 20 in each section
  • Trinity ISE –  ISE II (distinction all components) / ISE III (pass all components)
  • PTE Academic (Pearsons) – overall 62 with 54 in each component
  • Oxford ELLT (Global or Digital) – overall 8 with 6 in each component

Must be no more than three and a half years old

  • Cambridge CAE/CPE – 176 overall (162 component), grade A-C
  • Additional qualifications listed on our central English language requirements website

Please note that the expiration dates are calculated from the start date of the programme you are applying to study. Official language certificates must be in date.


If you are coming to the University of Edinburgh for a single semester and do not need the Student Route visa to study with us.We need you to prove English language proficiency only if you want to take third or fourth-year courses outside of the subject area of your exchange agreement (for example, your nomination is in Law, but you also want to take a third-year course in History); also if you are coming on a general/university-wide exchange or the fee-paying non-exchange Study Abroad programme.

In this case, you would need to demonstrate that you have achieved CEFR C1 Level English Language proficiency. There are alternative ways that visiting students can prove C1 level proficiency in order to enrol in third—or fourth-year level courses, and it does not necessarily have to be an official language certificate like IELTS.

Please get in touch with the relevant Visiting Student Office to discuss what documentation they can accept:

College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences - cahssvisitingstudents@ed.ac.uk

College of Science and Engineering - SCEvisitingstudents@ed.ac.uk 


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