PhD Degree Entry Requirements

You must hold both a Bachelors degree (or equivalent) and a Masters degree.

We look for a First Class or Upper Second Class (2:1) Honours degree from a UK university, or the overseas equivalent. Professional qualifications and relevant experience may be taken into account if you don’t have a Bachelors degree.

For the Master's degree, we look for an overall grade of 65% or above; B or above; GPA of 3 or above, ideally with a Distinction in the Dissertation.

If you don’t have a Masters or are from a non-standard background, you may apply for the MRes + PhD route. To find out more contact the Doctoral Programmes Team.

Qualifications from non-UK institutions must be equivalent to UK qualifications. Grading schemes of some institutions may vary - please provide an official grading scheme with your transcripts.

If you are applying for the PhD in Accounting and Finance, you need to hold a relevant Masters degree in finance, accounting or a cognate subject area. You need to have achieved a distinction (70% or above) including any dissertation component; GPA of 3.3 or above; or equivalent.

You will be exempt from providing an IELTS/TOEFL/Pearson score if you are:

• A native English speaker from one of the countries listed below
• A current student or graduate (within the last five years) of a UK institution
• A current student or graduate (within the last five years) of an institution in a country where English is the first language (see list below)

Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
British Overseas Territories
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Ireland
Jamaica
Malta
New Zealand
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad & Tobago
USA

If you do not meet the above criteria, you need to demonstrate your English proficiency by taking one of the following tests:

• IELTS (Academic/UKVI-IELTS): 7.0 minimum overall score (with a minimum of 6.5 in each component)
• TOEFL: 100 minimum overall score on the internet-based test (with a minimum of 22 in each component) or 623 overall minimum score on the paper-based test
• Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE): 76 minimum overall score (with a minimum of 70 in each component)

In exceptional cases, an IELTS score of 6.5 (or TOEFL 594 paper-based/ 90 internet-based or PTE 70) will be considered if you can demonstrate exceptional academic achievement. However, you must have achieved the minimum component scores in your particular test.

Evidence of exceptional academic achievement:

• You have achieved a Distinction for your Master's qualification
• Previous research output published in high-quality academic journals

Evidence of your exceptional achievements, such as transcripts or copies of articles, needs to be submitted alongside a short supporting personal statement. Without the supporting statement, your application will not be considered.

We do not accept English scores that are over two years old at the point of entry to the programme. If you do not currently have a TOEFL/IELTS/PTE score report when you submit your application, please indicate the date that you will be taking the test.

If you uncertain as to whether you meet the English language requirements, contact the Doctoral Programmes Team.

You need to submit a research proposal along with your application. Your application will not be processed unless a proposal is included.

Find out more about submitting your research proposal >>

We also recommend that you provide a personal statement outlining your general interests in studying a PhD, your personal motivations for doing so and any flexibility in your chosen area(s) of research.

We can only offer you a place on the PhD programme where we have capacity to provide relevant supervisory expertise.

Your proposal needs to fit within the research interests of Alliance MBS and be in an area in which we have capacity to supervise. In some very popular areas of study, there may be limited supervision capacity.

Find out more about research interests at Alliance MBS >>

You must hold a First Class or Upper Second Class (2:1) Honours degree from a UK university, or the overseas equivalent.

You will be exempt from providing an IELTS/TOEFL/Pearson score if you are:

• A native English speaker from one of the countries listed below
• A current student or graduate (within the last five years) of a UK institution
• A current student or graduate (within the last five years) of an institution in a country where English is the first language (see list below)

Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
British Overseas Territories
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Ireland
Jamaica
Malta
New Zealand
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad & Tobago
USA

If you do not meet the above criteria you need to demonstrate your English proficiency by taking one of the following tests:

• IELTS (Academic/UKVI-IELTS): 7.0 minimum overall score (with a minimum of 6.5 in each component)
• TOEFL: 100 overall score on the internet-based test (with a minimum of 22 in each component) or 623 overall minimum score on the paper-based test
• Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE): 76 minimum overall score (with a minimum of 70 in each component)

In exceptional cases, an IELTS score of 6.5 (or TOEFL 594 paper-based/ 90 internet-based or PTE 70) will be considered if you can demonstrate exceptional academic achievement. However, you must have achieved the minimum component scores in your particular test.

Evidence of exceptional performance:

• You have achieved a First Class for your Bachelor's qualification
• Previous research output published in high-quality academic journals

OR

Evidence of your exceptional achievements, such as transcripts or copies of articles, needs to be submitted alongside a short supporting personal statement. Without the supporting statement, your application will not be considered.

We do not accept English scores that are over two years old at the point of entry to the programme. If you do not currently have a TOEFL/IELTS/PTE score report when you submit your application, please indicate the date that you will be taking the test.

If you are whether you meet the English language requirements, contact the Doctoral Programmes Team.

You need to submit a research proposal along with your application. Your application will not be processed unless a proposal is included.

Find out more about submitting your research proposal >>

We also recommend that you provide a personal statement outlining your general interests in studying an MPhil, your personal motivations for doing so and any flexibility in your chosen area(s) of research.

We can only offer you a place on the MPhil programme where we have capacity to provide relevant supervisory expertise.

Your proposal needs to fit within the research interests of Alliance MBS and be in an area in which we have capacity to supervise. In some very popular areas of study, there may be limited supervision capacity.

Find out more about research interests at Alliance MBS >>

You must hold a First Class or Upper Second Class (2:1) Honours degree from a UK university, or the overseas equivalent.

You will be exempt from providing an IELTS/TOEFL/Pearson score if you are:

• A native English speaker from one of the countries listed below
• A current student or graduate (within the last five years) of a UK institution
• A current student or graduate (within the last five years) of an institution in a country where English is the first language (see list below)

Antigua and Barbuda
Australia
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
British Overseas Territories
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Ireland
Jamaica
Malta
New Zealand
St Kitts and Nevis
St Lucia
St Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad & Tobago
USA

If you do not meet the above criteria you need to demonstrate your English proficiency by taking one of the following tests:

• IELTS (Academic/UKVI-IELTS): 7.0 minimum overall score (with a minimum of 6.5 in each component)
• TOEFL: 100 overall score on the internet-based test (with a minimum of 22 in each component) or 623 overall minimum score on the paper-based test
• Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE): 76 minimum overall score (with a minimum of 70 in each component)

In exceptional cases, an IELTS score of 6.5 (or TOEFL 594 paper-based/ 90 internet-based or PTE 70) will be considered if you can demonstrate exceptional academic achievement. However, you must have achieved the minimum component scores in your particular test.

Evidence of exceptional performance:

• You have achieved a First Class for your Bachelor's qualification
• Previous research output published in high-quality academic journals

OR

Evidence of your exceptional achievements, such as transcripts or copies of articles, needs to be submitted alongside a short supporting personal statement. Without the supporting statement, your application will not be considered.

We do not accept English scores that are over two years old at the point of entry to the programme. If you do not currently have a TOEFL/IELTS/PTE score report when you submit your application, please indicate the date that you will be taking the test.

If you are whether you meet the English language requirements, contact the Doctoral Programmes Team.

You need to submit a research proposal of approximately 3,000 words (excluding references) along with your application. Your application will not be processed unless a proposal is included.

Find out more about submitting your research proposal >>

We also recommend that you provide a personal statement outlining your general interests in studying an MRes, your personal motivations for doing so and any flexibility in your chosen area(s) of research.

We can only offer you a place on the MRes programme where we have capacity to provide relevant supervisory expertise.

Your proposal needs to fit within the research interests of Alliance MBS and be in an area in which we have capacity to supervise. In some very popular areas of study, there may be limited supervision capacity.

Find out more about research interests at Alliance MBS >>