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.

Specific requirements for A100 - Medicine and Surgery

All applicants who are applying for Medicine and Surgery from outside the UK or who have lived in the UK for less than 5 years at the point of application must demonstrate proficiency in English through one of the following recognised English Language qualifications:

• IELTS (a minimum score of 7.0 with no component less than 7.0) or
• Pearson PTE Academic qualification (at least 70 overall and at least 70 in each communicative skill sub-test)

Please see below for a list of exceptions:

• All applicants who have lived in the UK continuously for 5 or more years at the point of application
• Applicants whose first language is English and have always been a resident and citizen of a majority English speaking country, recognised by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI)
• Applicants who have lived and had a significant proportion of their education in the UK, as determined by Lancaster Medical School, but are currently living outside the UK
• Graduate applicants who have completed an undergraduate degree in a recognised UK Higher Education establishment and have been continuously resident in the UK since graduation

This is in addition to the academic entry requirements. We do expect all applicants, including those from overseas, to have studied English as part of their secondary education. In our experience, however, GCSE/IGCSE English Language or English studied at A level/IB does not guarantee that applicants have appropriate ability in English.

Additional notes:

• All applicants who require a student visa to study in the UK will be required to provide a suitable English language qualification in line with UKVI regulations.
• Applicants must demonstrate their English language proficiency at the point of application. Those who do not include details of their English language proficiency qualification on their UCAS application will not be considered
• English language qualifications must be less than two years old at the time of application, and scores must be achieved in the same test sitting

Pre-sessional English language courses

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 courses. You will need to check the English language requirements for your academic programme to see which of our pre-sessional courses you may be eligible to study.

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