We also recommend reading the ‘How to apply’ section at the bottom of the page for your chosen course before you apply. This section includes details of specific requirements for the course, application deadlines (where relevant).
Sections
How to complete the application form
Applying through an agent
European Partnership Programme
What documents do I need to provide with my application?
Degree certificates and transcripts
References
Personal statements
Security clearance for Shrivenham
Returning students
External and internal accreditation of prior learning credits
Prior learning credits
External learning credits
Internal learning credits
Transfer to higher award
Visiting students
How to complete the application form
The application form contains the following sections (note: some sections are not required for some of our courses and will be hidden from your application form):
- Personal details
- Contact details
- Agent
- Qualifications
- Experience
- Personal statement
- Referees
- Funding
- Submission
You can complete the sections in any order you choose but they must all be completed and ticked before you can submit your application. The checklist page will show which sections have not yet been started (star) you have completed (green tick), or are incomplete (red cross).
Applying through an agent
ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ works closely with a number of selected agents who act as representatives and offer support to our applicants throughout the admissions process. Located in the UK or locally in your country, agents provide our applicants with key information and ensure smooth communication with the different departments at Cranfield.
You can find further information on our dedicated International agents page. We also recommend reading the .
European Partnership Programme
ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ has agreements with a number of top quality international higher education institutions. Within these agreements students from partner institutions can study a Master of Science (MSc) at Cranfield as an alternative to the final year of their home university programme. Students should contact their home university’s International Office for information about the application process.
We offer fee discounts to students applying through this programme, as well as alumni from our partners.
What documents do I need to provide with my application?
You will need to provide the following documents to support your application:
- copies of your degree certificates and transcripts of your academic record
- two references, where this is required for your chosen course
- a personal statement outlining your suitability for the course
- an English language test, if required
Degree certificates and transcripts
You will be asked to provide copies of degree certificates and academic transcripts to support your application. If you haven’t completed your studies, you should provide an interim transcript or other document showing your academic performance so far and predicted degree outcome or grades.
These documents should be issued by your university’s academic office or registry department or equivalent. We are not able to accept transcripts provided by a personal tutor or similar.
If you are providing degree certificates or transcripts that are not written in English, you will also need to provide a certified translation.
References
If the course you are applying for requires references, you will be advised of this requirement in the application form. These can be either academic or professional references depending on your circumstances and whether you are still studying, have recently graduated or are in employment. Your referees should be able to outline your potential to study at postgraduate level.
You can provide your references in two ways:
- include details of your referees and their contact details on your application. We will then contact your referees directly to request a reference.
- or, if your referee has already provided you with a copy of the reference, you can upload a copy with your application.
There may be a reason why you do not want your referee to be contacted yet. This may be because they are your current employer or if you have not yet asked them to be your referee. If this is the case, you can confirm in your application that you do not want your referee to be contacted yet.
If you are uploading a pre-prepared reference, you should ensure that it has been signed and dated and is on letter headed paper. All references must have been provided within the last two years.
After you have submitted your application , you will be able to manage your referees in our applicant portal, EVE. You will be able to change your referees, send email reminders and upload copies of references. Please note it is your responsibility to ensure that references are supplied in support of your application.
Personal statements
When completing the application form, you will be asked to provide a personal statement, of up to 500 words, outlining your academic history and personal experience. You can enter this directly into the application form, or you can choose to upload a separate document.
This is an important part of the application and will help with the selection process, as well as helping us ensure the course is right for you and your future career aspirations.
Writing a personal statement
This is your opportunity to make an impression and demonstrate that you can succeed on your chosen course. You should outline your academic achievements, any skills and experience attained outside an academic setting, as well as any other information you feel is relevant to support your application.
You should also explain why you want to study at Cranfield and your motivation for choosing the course you are applying for.
After you apply
Once you have submitted your application you will receive email confirmation that it has been safely received. You will receive a further email, usually within a week of submitting your application, to confirm your username and password. This will allow you to access our applicant portal, EVE, through which you will be able to:
- view your application and personal details,
- check the status of your application,
- upload documents, if required, in support of your application,
- update your contact details,
- withdraw your application (prior to receiving a decision),
- contact admissions for any query on your application.
We require a personal statement and a final transcript of your previous studies (or an interim transcript if you are still studying) before we will consider your application. If you do not provide these it will delay your application.
We only require electronic copies of these documents during the application process. Please do not send by post your original documents or copies, this will delay your application.
You are welcome to apply for more than once course, but if you do please note we will contact you for confirmation of your first choice. We will then process your first choice application through to a decision and the others will be placed on hold. If you are unsuccessful with your first choice application we will then process your second choice application until a decision has been made, and we will continue in this way for any remaining applications.
Security clearance for Shrivenham
Some of our courses are delivered at the UK Defence Academy in Shrivenham, which is a Ministry of Defence (MoD) site. All applicants to courses that are wholly or partially delivered at Shrivenham must complete the Shrivenham Station Baseline Personnel Security Standard Courses/Visitors/Employment (Annex D to SSSO 40) prior to registration or must already hold a security clearance to this level or higher.
Your Cranfield course application and clearance application will be shared during the application process with the MoD, which has ultimate discretion over admission to the Shrivenham site. This information will be returned by the MoD to Cranfield after checks are completed and copies will not be retained by the MoD. Clearance checks may involve confirmation of the following:
- Identity (such as photo ID),
- Nationality and immigration status,
- Nationality and residency of relatives,
- Criminal record (unspent convictions only).
Additionally, applicants are required to give a reasonable account of any significant periods of time spent abroad for themselves and their relatives (six months or more in the past three years).
This may be revised from time to time dependent on national security requirements. It will take additional time to process your clearance application once you have completed your course application.
If you are not able access the Shrivenham site because of a failure to meet security clearance requirements your offer will be withdrawn, or your registration terminated.
Returning students
There is a different application process for students who have previously studied at ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥, attained a formal award and now wish to return to take those studies further.
Applications will be considered on their own merits and the University does not guarantee that an application to return to study will be approved.
Only learning credits achieved within the last five years will normally be recognised as part of a return to study application.
To apply you should complete the .
You will receive an email confirming receipt of your application. The admissions team will then evaluate your application and check it is complete, before sending it to an academic decision maker for your chosen course. This will usually happen within 5 working days from submission of your application, although it can take longer during busy periods.
If your application is incomplete, or we need any additional information or documentation to evaluate your application we will be in touch by email.
Once the academic decision maker has confirmed a decision on your application, we will notify you by email.
External and internal accreditation of prior learning credits
Cranfield learning credits are awarded based on 10 learning credits for 100 hours of notional student learning. For most courses, this equates to a two-week module of learning. ÂãÁÄÖ±²¥ does not participate on any formal credit accumulation, recognition, or transfer schemes. It does, however, recognise the increasing importance of student mobility and the requirement of students to take their academic achievements with them between awarding bodies.
Cranfield learning credits conform directly to the CATS (Credit accumulation and transfer scheme) in the UK - 10 Cranfield credits correspond to 10 CATS credits.
Although Cranfield is not accredited to award ECTS (European Credit Transfer Scheme) credits, 10 Cranfield credits corresponds to 5 ECTS credits in most cases.
Prior learning credits
Prior learning credits are credits, obtained either during studies at Cranfield or elsewhere, which a student wishes to submit as part of their application to study a course with us, and where they wish to use those credits to exempt them from attending and being assessed on one or more course modules.
We recognise three types of prior learning credits:
- External learning credits obtained at another university
- Internal learning credits obtained while studying modules at Cranfield. This will usually be either when attending one of our accredited short courses (and registered as an associate student) or where students have been registered on an award bearing course which was not completed.
- Transfer to higher award
Further information and details of the application process for each of these types of prior learning credits is provided below. In all cases, the use of prior learning credits must be agreed before the start of the new course of study, so that it is clear from the outset whether any prior studies will be recognised.
If you need further advice before applying, please contact admissions.
External learning credits
Applicants should contact the Course Director for their chosen course to request the use of external learning credits, either at the point of application or once you have received your course offer. You should provide detailed copies of the description for each module as well as a transcript or other documentation confirming the award of the module credits.
Any requests must correspond directly to an existing Cranfield module, and only full module exemption will be considered. The learning credits must have been obtained within the previous five years.
The maximum number of external credits that can be used towards a Cranfield award is:
- Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert) 15 credits
- Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) 30 credits
- Master’s (MSc) 50 credits
Internal learning credits
Applicants should contact the Course Director for their chosen course to request the use of internal learning credits, either at the point of application or once you have received your course offer.
Any requests must correspond directly to an existing Cranfield module, and only full module exemption will be considered. The learning credits must have been obtained within the previous five years.
A maximum of 60 credits obtained through prior learning can be used towards a Cranfield award.
Transfer to higher award
Transfer to higher award is where a student has already completed a qualification at Cranfield, and now wishes to study for a higher award associated with the same programme of study. This usually applies for students who have obtained a Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert) or Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip).
This route can only be used for re-admission for students who have previously failed to complete a Cranfield course in exceptional circumstances.
Applicants should contact the Course Director for their chosen course to request the transfer to higher award, either at the point of application or once you have received your course offer.
In all cases, the credits achieved must be relevant to the course being applied for. For example, for an applicant that has completed a PgCert, the 60 credits of the PgCert should have been obtained in modules currently running on the higher award (PgDip or MSc) course.
Where credits have been obtained on very similar, but not the same modules as those currently running on the higher award course, an applicant may still seek exemption from the corresponding module, providing the applicant has already met the necessary intended learning outcomes in their previous study.
The learning credits must have been obtained within the previous five years. There is no formal limit to the number of learning credits that may be imported, but they must have been approved by a Board of Examiners.
If the application for transfer to higher award is approved, the lower qualification already obtained will be renounced at the point at which an examination board considers the result for the new award. The student will therefore graduate with one named award (the higher qualification) only. If the applicant withdraws early or fails to achieve the higher award, the original qualification awarded will still stand.
If the name of the course has changed since the lower qualification was awarded, the existing name of the higher award will take precedence over the original award.
