Graduate Scholarship - Alumni | Birmingham City University

Graduate Scholarship - Alumni | Birmingham City University
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Graduate Scholarship
20% fee discount for BCU graduates undertaking Master’s or PhD study in 2026/27
What you need to know
The Graduate Scholarship is a 20% fee reduction available to BCU graduates (BA, BSc, BMus, LLB, MA, MSc, MMus, LLM, PGCE) enrolling onto an eligible Master’s (including MRes) or PhD qualification for the first time in 2026/27. Find out the full
terms and conditions and eligibility criteria.
If you graduated in 2012 or after, the Graduate Scholarship will be awarded automatically if you are progressing from and to an eligible course. If you graduated before 2012, you will need to contact us and we can help you through the process. Find out more about
applying for postgraduate study
If you are awarded the Graduate Scholarship, your offer will show the full fee, but your postgraduate course fees will be discounted by 20% in each year of study. You can choose to pay your remaining fees in full at the start of the year, or by instalments. See our
fees and funding pages
for more information on paying your fees.
Why you?
Why study a Master's?
Earn more:
Someone with a Master's degree or PhD earns £5,000 more per year, or £200,000 over a 40-year working life, than someone with just a degree (Graduate Labour Market Statistics 2023, Department for Education).
Take the next step:
A postgraduate degree could help you to develop key skills employers are looking for.
Specialise:
A postgraduate degree allows you to dive deeper into your subject.
Change direction:
You can study a postgraduate course in a completely different subject to your undergraduate degree.
Gain experience:
You can learn from industry experts, gain work experience and build your professional network while you study.
Why now?
Why study a Master's after your degree?
Graduate scholarship:
Our graduate scholarship makes studying a more affordable option.
Build confidence:
A postgraduate degree means you can apply for your first full-time job after university confident that you have advanced skills and knowledge.
Launch your career: I
f you have a career in mind, a postgraduate degree can help to build the skills and experience needed to build a great job application.
Why BCU?
Why study a Master's with us?
Why stop here?
If you’ve enjoyed being part of the BCU community, continue the experience with a postgraduate degree.
Fast Track application:
Apply in minutes with no need for a personal statement with our
Fast-Track application
Prepare for industry:
Our expert lecturers, accredited courses, and links to employers make BCU the ideal place to learn more about your chosen industry.
Build your network:
At BCU’s STEAMHouse, you’ll find local businesses working alongside students. Students will have the opportunity to work on industry projects, attend workshops and gain experience from our resident businesses.
Learn from experts:
Several of our academic staff are National Teaching Fellows – the most prestigious award for excellence in university teaching and learning.
Scholarship terms and conditions
Application Process
Current BCU undergraduate students
We have established a Fast Track application process for BCU undergraduate students who would like to take a Master’s level degree, which you can find in your
student portal
. It will just take a few clicks to find a suitable course and complete the Fast Track application form. See
how to complete the Fast Track application
Some courses do require a different application process:
Conservatoire programmes can be applied for via
UCAS Conservatoires
Law programmes can be applied for via
LawCabs
Please note that some courses requiring interviews are not available via the Fast Track application. If your chosen course is unavailable via Fast Track, you can apply via the
relevant course page
Receiving the scholarship
: Once you have enrolled on your chosen course, you will be automatically awarded the 20% fee discount if you meet the eligibility criteria (see eligibility).
Current BCU Master’s students
If you are planning to progress to PhD study, please apply via the
relevant course page
For guidance on your application, visit our
PhD application advice pages
Returning BCU graduates
Please apply for your chosen course via the
relevant course page
If you graduated in 2012 or after:
Once you have enrolled on your chosen course, you will be automatically awarded the 20% fee discount if you meet the eligibility criteria (see eligibility).
If you graduated before 2012
: Please email us at
admissions@bcu.ac.uk
and we will advise on next steps.
Eligibility (from 2024/25)
To be awarded a scholarship, you must fulfil the following criteria:
Have achieved a BCU undergraduate degree, postgraduate degree or PGCE (BA, BSc, BMus, LLB, MA, MSc, MMus, LLM, PGCE)
Be enrolling onto an eligible full-time or part-time Master’s (including MRes) or PhD course for the first time in the 2026/27 academic year (see exclusions below)
Be a UK, EU or international self-funded student (including those who are in receipt of a postgraduate student loan).
The Scholarship is also open to apprenticeship students who fulfil the criteria above. Students who joined BCU in their third year after gaining a HND are also eligible.
The Scholarship is
not
available to ERASMUS students currently studying at BCU.
If you are eligible for the Graduate Scholarship and a second BCU scholarship, we will automatically award you the larger of the two.
Courses exempt from the Scholarship
The Scholarship is not open to students wishing to enrol on the following courses:
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses
Franchise or validated courses delivered at or through partner colleges
PGCE
Postgraduate Certificates
Postgraduate Diplomas
Graduate Diplomas
Timelines
You can apply at any time for a postgraduate course (via MySRS), even if you do not have your degree results. We encourage you to apply for Master’s-level study in good time to start your studies; guidance on deadlines can be found on each course page. PhD application deadlines vary depending on start date (see our
PhD FAQs
for more information).
If you graduated in 2012 or after, you will automatically be awarded the Graduate Scholarship if you are eligible. If you graduated before 2012, please email us at
alumni@bcu.ac.uk
for advice.
Government loans for postgraduate study
If you are a UK or Irish student, or EU passport holder with Pre-Settled or Settled status,
you may also be eligible for a government loan of up to £12,858 for Master’s level study or £30,301 for Doctoral study (for courses starting after 1 August 2025).
If you qualify for Student Finance England (SFE) funding, please apply as early as possible as the SFE team gets very busy with applications for undergraduate loans too at certain times of the year. Applying late may lead to a delay in receiving your loan. For more information about this, visit the government’s
student finance website
my name is Alex round and I am a final
0:03
year PhD student in English at
0:05
Birmingham City University so why would
0:07
you study a
0:09
PhD number one become an expert in your
0:12
field doing a PhD at BCU allows you to
0:15
develop yourself not only personally but
0:17
professionally um it allows you to
0:19
establish networks and it allows you to
0:22
um broaden your scope and the research
0:24
that you are really passionate about
0:25
make a true impact in the
0:27
world pursuing further research enables
0:30
you that chance to really add something
0:33
to you know the growing field within
0:35
your of of research it allows you to
0:37
potentially make breakthroughs it allows
0:39
you to network with people nationally
0:41
and internationally um and it allows you
0:43
to make a real big change to the world
0:46
and the ever growing um Innovation
0:48
surrounding research in higher education
0:51
connect with other
0:53
researchers BCU brings together uh
0:55
students from across faculty and across
0:58
the whole University from the Arts and
0:59
the Humanities and the Sciences uh to be
1:02
able to network with each other and to
1:03
talk about our own research and uh
1:06
discuss ways in which we can collaborate
1:08
with each other as well with our
1:09
research um the doctor research College
1:11
in particular at BCU is really
1:13
supportive uh in bringing us together as
1:16
a unit receive advice and
1:19
support supervisors within BCU are
1:22
incredibly supportive and they are
1:24
experts in their field um they are
1:26
internationally renowned experts in your
1:27
field being able to have that two-way
1:31
relationship with your supervisors and
1:33
with wider members of the academic
1:34
community at BCU is integral to your
1:37
research and integral to um your
1:39
development as a as a as a professional
1:41
in your field grow personally and
1:44
professionally it broadens your mind to
1:48
what is possible or what what you can
1:50
achieve as an individual uh it enables
1:53
you to break down barriers and overcome
1:56
obstacles um that you thought would
1:58
never be possible at the time I'm really
2:00
proud to be able to contribute towards
2:02
the ongoing research that um is integral
2:06
to our identity as a city within the UK
2:09
and as as a country Birmingham is so
2:12
foundational to um so much research
2:15
going on in the UK at the moment it's so
2:17
culturally significant and has such a
2:19
rich history with regards to Industry to
2:22
Innovation um to the art and the humanity
2:25
scene as well um there is no better
2:27
place really
Hear from a final year PhD researcher on the benefits of studying a PhD at Birmingham City University.
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