This page provides useful information for students who have applied for postgraduate study at Lancaster University. We want to ensure that your application progresses smoothly, so we're here to offer any help that we can between now and the start of your studies. Please contact us if you need any assistance.
Your application
All applications are considered by a member of our admissions team and we will let you know our decision as soon as your application has been assessed. If you have applied for a postgraduate research course, your application will also be considered by the academic department and it may take us a little longer to make a decision.
Our decision
If you have been offered a place at Lancaster University we will let you know by email. You can log in to our postgraduate application portal to view the offer letter and let us know your decision.
The offer letter will include information on your course of study, tuition fees, deposits (if applicable), your start date and any academic/non-academic conditions you need to satisfy. Please read the letter carefully, it will include all of the information needed to make your decision.
Your offer will be either Conditional or Unconditional:
- Conditional means that you have not yet met our academic, English language or any other entry requirements. Details of our offer conditions and how you can meet these requirements will be in the offer letter.
- Unconditional means that you meet all our academic, English language or other conditions.
In some cases, we may not be able to offer you a place on your chosen course, or we might offer you a transfer to an alternative course.
Accepting your offer
You can accept the offer by logging in to our postgraduate application portal. The offer letter will include a deadline date for making a decision and if a deposit is required for your course you will need to pay this by the deadline date in the offer letter.
You can accept your offer before you have met the conditions, you do not need to wait until your offer is unconditional.
We understand that deciding to study is a big commitment and we are happy to consider extending your deadline if places are still available. If you would like to extend your deadline please contact us in advance of this date. If we have not heard from you by your deadline, we may withdraw your application.
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The deadline for meeting the conditions is in the offer letter, please let us know if you feel that you need longer.
You should upload copies of your documents to our postgraduate application portal account, when you have uploaded your documents there is no need to send these to us by email. Your documents will be checked and we will let you know if we need any additional information and when you have met all the conditions.
Offer conditions
You may have an offer from us that is conditional on more than one qualification, for example, you may need to complete your university studies and take an English language test. If you have met one of the conditions, but not all the conditions, please upload any documents that you already have. For example, if you have achieved the required English language score, but you are still waiting for your degree results, please upload your English language certificate now, and your degree results later. You do not have to meet all the conditions at the same time.
Academic conditions
Your transcript and certificate needs to be an official copy and if it is not in English you will also need to provide an official translation. Your transcript needs to state your name, the course studied, your marks for each subject, the dates you studied and confirmation that you have completed your studies.
English language conditions
If you need to sit an English Language test to meet the conditions of your offer, you should do this as soon as possible. There can be waiting lists for these tests at busy times of the year, so don’t leave it too late. When you have received your English language score you should upload this to our postgraduate application portal as soon as possible.
If your English score does not meet the conditions of the offer, we will automatically consider your eligibility for one of our pre-sessional English language courses and we will contact you by email if this is an option for you. Please note that we cannot consider you for a pre-sessional course without seeing a valid English language score and we do not accept pre-sessional courses delivered by other organisations or institutions.
Other conditions
If you have any other conditions to meet such as references, CV, etc. you should upload these to our postgraduate application portal as soon as they are available.
We offer programmes specifically designed to help international students prepare for their studies at Lancaster, for information please visit our pre-sessional English language page.
If your English score does not meet the conditions of the offer, we will automatically consider your eligibility for one of our pre-sessional English language courses and we will contact you by email if this is an option for you.
Please note that we cannot consider you for a pre-sessional course if you don't have an offer to study at Lancaster University and we need to see a valid English language score that meets our pre-sessional requirements before we can consider you for a place on one of our pre-sessional programmes.
We do not accept pre-sessional courses delivered by other organisations or institutions.
What do I need to get my CAS?
If you are an international student, it is likely that you will need a student visa to come and study at Lancaster University. If this is the case, you may already be aware that you will need a “CAS” from Lancaster University (a “Confirmation of Acceptance for Study”).
If you are required to obtain a student visa for your studies, our Visa and Immigration Team will send you a CAS. The process for issuing a CAS cannot start until your offer is unconditional and we have received your passport details.
The Visa and Immigration Team will begin issuing the CAS documents for October entry around July if you are coming directly onto the academic course, or earlier if you are taking a pre-sessional English language programme first or if your course start date is earlier.
The CAS will be sent by email and will include the CAS reference number you need for your visa application, you do not need to contact us to request your CAS, we will send this to you as soon as it is ready. While waiting to receive your CAS, you can find full details of the student visa application process on the Gov.UK website at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration and you can also find more information about visas on our visas and immigration web pages.
Upload a copy of your passport
This should be valid for one month after your course start date and your details (full name, date of birth, nationality and country of birth) should match the details on your application. If any of the details are different, please contact us to change them. Please upload a copy of your passport to our postgraduate application portal and if you renew your passport at any time, please remember to upload a new copy.
Tell us about any previous study in the UK
Before we issue a CAS, we need to know if you have previously studied in the UK, or if you are currently studying in the UK.
Deposits
Some of our courses require a deposit and this will be detailed in the offer letter.
If you want to accept the offer, you will need to accept this in our postgraduate application portal and pay the deposit by the deadline date in the offer letter.
Information about how to pay the deposit is on our website.
When making payments, please ensure that you quote your application number in order for us to identify you. If you are a current student at Lancaster University, you should use your postgraduate application number and not your current student ID number.
Deposits can take up to 10 working days to show in your application account and you will receive a confirmation email when this has been credited to your application account.
Deposit Refunds
The deposit may be refunded to you in some circumstances, please see the Deposit and Refunds webpage for information.
Tuition fees
Tuition fee information can be found on the course listings and on our Fees & Funding section.
You are not required to pay your tuition and accommodation fees until you register with the University during Welcome Week. The invoices will be issued when you have registered at the start of your programme. However, it is possible to make advance payments before your arrival if you wish. For more information on how payments can be made, please see our Paying your fees information.
Funding
Information about funding and scholarships can be found on our Scholarships and Bursaries webpage.For information on the Postgraduate Loans offered by Student Finance, please see the GOV.UK website.
You need to accept your offer before you can apply for accommodation. If you have accepted the offer, you will receive an email from the Accommodation Office from mid-January onwards with details about the application process if your course starts in October.
Please see the website for further information about our accommodation.
About a month before the start of your course, we will send you an email asking you to begin Registration online. The link in the email will take you to the Registration Centre where you can find further information.
- How to begin online registration as a new student
- How to register for Lancaster University as a new distance learner student
The majority of our courses start at the end of September/beginning of October.
If your course has a different start date, this will be shown in the offer letter and we will let you know when you need to arrive.
Lancaster University Term Dates
The term dates may vary for postgraduate study so please check with your academic department before making any arrangements out of term time.
If you change your postal address, phone number or email address you must let us know immediately
All applicants should ensure that their email address information is correct. Please be aware school/college email addresses may deactivate over the summer and it is your responsibility to provide a working email address. We require a unique/personal email address to provide you with access to some of our services - including the iLancaster app, accommodation portal and online registration.
If you believe you have exceptional or mitigating circumstances which you need to make us aware of, please contact us.
Adjusting to being away from home can be challenging, particularly if you have additional needs.
If you have a disability or medical condition and need some additional support please contact our Disability and Inclusive Practice Service.
If you have submitted an application and want to change your course, please contact us and we will consider your request.
Our online application system allows you to apply for more than one course.
Requests for a deferral will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
If you would like to defer your offer you will need to request this by using our postgraduate application portal or you can contact us by email. If you are requesting a deferral to the following academic year we will not consider your application until we start to make decisions on applications for that year of entry, so it may take a while for a decision to be made on your application.
Study start is a 2-week induction programme designed to help international students get the best possible start for their academic studies at Lancaster University.
Further information can be found on the study start webpage.
Contact the admissions team
If you need to contact us, then you can email our Admissions Office pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk or telephone us on +44 (0)1524 592032.
To help us reply to your email please include your application number on your email.