Postgraduate Academic Excellence Scholarship

Award details

The Postgraduate Academic Excellence scholarship is available for students on Postgraduate Taught (PGT) courses at Brunel University London and is available to all students who have obtained a First-Class undergraduate degree;

• from a UK University, either in the UK or at an overseas campus or
• obtained the equivalent of a UK First Class degree from an EU institution

Additionally, graduates of Brunel University London will receive the Graduate Discount of 15% off the final tuition fee amount due (after any the scholarship award has been applied). On the basis that they register on a taught postgraduate programme on a fully self-funding basis (including career development loans). More information about the Graduate Discount can be found here.

Value: A discount of 15% off the tuition fees.

How many: All those that meet the eligibility criteria.

Application process: No application is required. Applicants should apply for the programme in the usual way, eligibility will be automatically considered. 

Eligibility

The Scholarship will be awarded to all full time, part time, distance learning or online learning students who meet all the following criteria:

2.1 Have an unconditional offer to study a taught Master’s programme at Brunel University London, this includes the MBA and Mres programmes.

2.2 Have achieved a First Class honours degree from a UK University or an EU University.

a) For a UK degree: the award must be from a UK University, the student does not have to have attended a UK based campus.

b) An honours degree awarded with distinction is acceptable where no first class classification exists.

c) Holding a higher degree, without having achieved a First Class classification at undergraduate level does not qualify for receipt of this award.

d) For an EU equivalent the award must be from a recognised EU institution and be the equivalent of a First-class honours degree, as listed in appendix 1.

Those not eligible for this scholarship:

• Applicants on all associate courses or modules.
• Applicants undertaking short courses.
• All PGCert, PGDip and PGCE courses – with the exception of the PGCE Secondary Education with PE and PGCE Primary (which are not funded by the Governments Teacher Training bursaries).
• Applicants on Postgraduate Research courses.
• Those who are being funded either in full or partially, this excludes those applicants whose fees are being paid by their employer, but does include:
• Bursaries provided by the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). This discount will apply to courses that are not eligible for a bursary, namely the PGCE in Primary Education and the PGCE in Secondary Education with PE only.
• Applicants on the PG Cert Education (Primary) FT.
• Courses that are fully funded by the Environment Agency namely MSc Flood and Costal Engineering.
• Those students who are sponsored by their Government.

The order of discounts will be applied as follows:

1. Scholarship/bursary fee waiver applied to the full annual tuition fee.

2. 10% Brunel Alumni Family Discount or Brunel Family Discount applied to the net tuition fee (if applicable).

3. 15% Graduate discount applied to the net tuition fee (if applicable).

4. 2% Early payment discount applied to the net tuition fee (if applicable).

Further information about tuition fee discounts can be found in the Student Financial Policy.

Value

3.1 Students awarded this scholarship will have a discount of 15% applied to their annual tuition fee.

3.2 The reduction is applied only to the tuition fees and not to any other type of additional fee that may be incurred, such as re-submission, repeat modules or resit fees.

Allocation

4.1 Eligibility criteria are reviewed annually.

4.2 Scholarships are awarded to those who meet the eligibility criteria at the time of allocation. All decisions are final. Any appeals in respect of the decisions made by the Panel should be referred to the admissions policy. An appeal will only be considered in line with procedural irregularities, where a student believes that the University has not followed the procedures stated within the relevant Scholarship Terms and Conditions and there is reasonable doubt as to whether the outcome might have been different had the error not occurred. Any appeals relating to Scholarship allocation must be lodged ay the start of the student’s first academic year at the University. Brunel will not be able to consider later appeals.

4.3 Scholarships will be awarded each year as follows, to all students meeting the eligibility criteria: from August for courses starting in September, from April for courses starting in May and from December for courses starting in January.

4.4 EU equivalency will be reviewed annually. Where no equivalent appears, the Admissions Office will assess the course application and determine eligibility.

4.5 If an applicant is eligible for more than one scholarship/bursary, they will be awarded the one which is the most financially beneficial across the course duration, exceptions may apply, please review individual scholarship terms and conditions for further information.

4.6 Most scholarships cannot be combined with any other University scholarship, bursary, discount or award, with the exception of the 2% early payment discount, or unless specifically stated in the individual scholarship terms and conditions.

Withdrawal of a scholarship

5.1 The University reserves the right to withdraw a scholarship from anyone who is found to have misled the University about any aspect of their eligibility and to seek repayment of any monies already paid by appropriate means.

5.2 Should a PGT student receive a fee discount and subsequently withdraw from the course or go into abeyance, the tuition fee will be reduced in line with the Student Financial Policy. The fee discount will be applied to the reduced tuition fee.  

5.3 Fee reductions applied at the start of an academic year will not be amended once the fee has been processed. Any tuition fee liability remaining after fee reductions are applied will therefore be calculated in accordance with the Student Financial Policy.

5.4  Students who have changes to their statutory funding during the programme, such as late notification of NHS or National College for Teaching and Leadership funding, after this scholarship has been applied will have the scholarship withdrawn and discounted tuition fees will need to be repaid.

5.5 Where students who have changes to their sponsorship status at the start or during the programme, such as a late notification of Government sponsorship, after this scholarship has been applied will have the scholarship withdrawn and the discounted tuition fee will need to be repaid by the sponsor. Students who are sponsored by their Government are not eligible for this scholarship and should notify scholarships@brunel.ac.uk if a scholarship award is made.

Any queries relating to these terms and conditions should be addressed to the Admissions Office by emailing: scholarships@brunel.ac.uk

Appendix

This list of EU countries and equivalent qualifications is accurate as of November 2022 and is subject to change for 2023. The list will be updated at the start of every scholarship cycle. If an EU country is not listed, applicants with qualifications from that country will not be eligible to be considered for the scholarship for academic year 2023/24.

Updated 24 November 2023.