• Procedure
• Academic Waiver
• English Language Waiver
• Non-Resident PhDs
• External Supervisors

Before an offer can be considered the candidate must be formally interviewed (see further details of the interview process here).  Please remember to return the interview feedback forms to the Research Student Administrator in 5.22 afterwards.  The Graduate Tutor may refuse to sign off an application unless the interview forms are provided as reasoning for why an offer or a rejection should be made.

After the interview, and only if the decision to make an offer has been agreed by the department's Admissions Panel, you should:

• confirm the area of research in which the student will be working, name of the primary and secondary supervisors (the latter can be arranged when the student arrives) and whether they will be offered funding with the Research Student Administrator. If you are offering funding to a student, you should confirm the exact amount of funding that the student will receive with either Dawn Bailey or Olivier Delacroix and inform the Research Student Administrator, who will then email the candidate to inform them that the department is recommending that UCL makes them an offer of admission, and confirm these details.

• for overseas applicants you must provide a short (6-7 sentence) research statement that has been agreed with the applicant for Academic Technology Approval Scheme (ATAS) clearance.  For guidance on the scheme see here, and for good/bad examples of ATAS statements see here.  Please email the statement to the Research Student Administrator.  Please note that no offer for overseas students can be produced without the ATAS statement.  If this is not received promptly it will hold up the offer-making process considerably.

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If an applicant has not met the academic admission requirements and you still wish to offer the student a place on the programme in exceptional cases where their academic abilities can be proven by other means you may be able to apply for a waiver of the regulations.

To do so you must write a strong letter of support outlining details of their academic abilities so far, any mitigating circumstances that may apply, and demonstrating that the candidate has the ability to successfully complete the programme.  This should be sent to the Research Student Administrator who, with the Graduate Tutor's approval, will forward it to Admissions.  The waiver application will be decided at the Graduate Education Executive Sub-Committee (GEESC).  The Postgraduate Administrator will notify you as soon as a decision has been made.

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IMPORTANT: From 2011 UCL will no longer be approving English Language Waivers for overseas students who require a Tier 4 visa.  This is due to changes in visa regulations with the UK Border Agency. 

All overseas students requiring a Tier 4 visa will be required to meet the minimum standards before an unconditional offer (required for the visa application) will be produced. 

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Students registered on a non-resident MPhil/PhD programme shall attend UCL on at least one occasion which shall be the meeting at which upgrading to PhD is decided. In addition a student registered on a non-resident MPhil/PhD programme shall meet his or her Supervisor(s) in person on at least two other occasions, one at the beginning and one at the end of the programme, but not necessarily in the UK.

If you wish to take on a non resident student you must submit a statement of the case for acceptance to the Research Student Administrator. With the Graduate Tutor's approval this will be forwarded to Admissions to be decided upon by the Chair of the Research Degrees Committee.

The statement must include evidence that the overseas institution where the applicant intends to undertake research is of international standing and able to provide adequate facilities for the research. The Department/Division shall also provide the Chair of the RDC with a statement showing that adequate arrangements for communication between the Department and the student are in place and that these arrangements comply with UCL requirements for frequency of contact between supervisor and student as set out in item 2.10 of the Academic Regulations. The use of the Online Research Student Log is an essential part of these requirements.

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All PhD supervisors must be a member of academic staff of UCL. If you wish to appoint an external supervisor, they must be an Honorary member of staff. For more information on conferring honorary status please see the pages on the HR website.

Honorary members of staff may be appointed as either Principal or Subsidiary Supervisors. To do so you must submit a statement of the case for appointing the supervisor to the Research Student Administator - the appointment of an honorary member of staff as a Principal or Subsidiary Supervisor will be subject to consideration of adequate research activity, including publications and grant income.

The Research Student Administrator must obtain approval first from the Head of Department, and then the GEESC.

The Honorary members of staff appointed as Principal or Subsidiary Supervisors are also governed by eligibility requirements set out in 4.2 of the academic regulations.

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