English language requirements for undergraduate applicants

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification depending on your nationality and where you have studied previously.

For majority of our undergraduate courses you must meet our standard English language requirements, but there are a few courses which have different requirements:

  • The English language requirements for Medicine and Surgery vary significantly from our standard requirements.
  • Some of our undergraduate Science, Mathematics and Social Work courses also have different English language requirements. The English language requirements for each course can be found on the entry requirements tab on our individual course pages.
  • If you are a student at another university outside the UK and you are interested in coming to study at Lancaster University as an exchange or a visiting student for one semester or a full academic year, please visit our Study Abroad webpage for information on English language requirements.

Ways to meet our English language requirements

There are several ways that you can provide evidence of your English language ability, details are listed below.

Accordion

Specific requirements for A100 - Medicine and Surgery

Applicants who are applying for the above course will need to provide their IELTS or Pearson certificate when they apply as part of their UCAS application.

If you are applying from outside the UK, or if English is not your first language, you must demonstrate proficiency in English through one of the following recognised English Language qualifications:

  • Academic IELTS with at least 7.0 overall, and a minimum of 7.0 in each element of the test, or
  • Pearson PTE Academic with at least 70 overall, and a minimum of 70 in each element of the test

IELTS and Pearson certificates are valid for 2 years from the test date and your certificate will need to be valid on the start date of your studies at Lancaster. If you have taken a test multiple times, we cannot combine scores together to meet the requirements.

We do not accept the following as evidence of English language proficiency:

  • Pre-sessional English language programmes
  • GCSE English Language
  • IB English
  • Other high school English qualifications

Pre-sessional English language programmes

If your English language score does not meet our requirements, we may be able to consider you for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes. You will need to check the English language requirements for your academic course to see which of our pre-sessional programmes you may be eligible to study.

We offer two pre-sessional courses for undergraduate applicants:

4-week English for Academic Purposes (EAP) - entry 2023

Available for all courses with the exception of BA Hons Social Work and our medicine courses.

Course English language requirement EAP English language requirement
IELTS requirement of 6.5 overall (5.5 in each element of the test) IELTS score of at least 6.0 overall (5.5 in each element of the test)
IELTS requirement of 6.5 overall (6.0 in each element of the test) IELTS score of at least 6.0 overall (6.0 in each element of the test)
IELTS requirement of 6.0 overall (5.5 in each element of the test) IELTS score of at least 5.5 overall (5.5 in each element of the test )

10-week PELP - 2023 entry

Available for all courses with the exception of BA Hons Social Work, our medicine courses, and some courses as part of our 2+2 partnerships.

  • UKVI Academic IELTS test with a score of 5.5 overall and at least 5.0 in each element of the test

If you fail the academic requirements of your offer before the start of the PELP programme, you will not be able to attend the PELP programme.

If you are still waiting for your academic results, you must be confident that you are on track to meet the academic requirements before starting the PELP programme. If you fail to meet the academic requirements after starting the PELP programme, you will not be able to progress to your academic course.

Find more information about our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Contact the admissions team

If you need to contact us, then you can email our Admissions Office at ugadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk or telephone us on +44 (0)1524 592028.