Inbound Exchange Opportunities

Admission for Exchange Students

Students may spend one or two semesters at the University of Suffolk as part of their studies through the exchange programme if their home university has a bilateral exchange agreement with us.

How to Apply

Your home university will select and nominate students to study at the University of Suffolk according to the institutional agreement held between our institutions. Once this selection process has taken place, your home university will contact us with these details. On acceptance of these nomination details, students will be contacted with details about how to apply to the programme. Please contact your university's Exchange Coordinator or International Office to find out if you are eligible for exchange to Suffolk. The procedures and deadlines for this will vary according to each institution.

Application Form

Academic Requirements

Applicants for our programmes will be expected to meet the high academic standards required of our full-degree entrants. You can apply to be an Exchange student if we have an exchange relationship with your institution in the appropriate subject area and your institution nominates you to take part. The University of Suffolk requires Exchange students to have completed a minimum of one year of a university degree, and you will often be required to have academic background knowledge of the modules you wish to take within your main subject area.

Supporting Documents Required

Copy of your Official Academic Transcript from your home university (this is the document that contains the grades you have achieved in your studies at university to date)
Academic Reference/Letter of Recommendation (from someone who can comment on your academic ability)
Personal Statement (your reasons for choosing University of Suffolk)
Copy of the ID information page of your passport/s (please ensure it is in date)
English Language Competence statement from your Exchange Co-ordinator (this must confirm that you have the required level of English to study at the University of Suffolk)
You may need a visa to study in the UK. Students studying for under 6 months may enter on a visitor visa. Students studying for more than 6 months will require a Student Visa must satisfy UK Visas and Immigration English Language Requirements. You may require a Student Visa if you are a national of an EU member state, EEA member state or Switzerland AND you wish to study at Suffolk for the full academic year. Please also note that some subjects require a higher level of English Language proficiency than others. Students planning to take modules from across different subjects will normally need to satisfy the higher of any linguistic minima required.

Please check you have collated all of your supporting documents before submitting your application Form. Applications submitted without all supporting documentation will not be processed.

Deadlines

Your Exchanges Officer must 'nominate' you to us before 30 April for Autumn semester starts, and by 1 October for Spring starts.

We will then send you an application form which must be filled in and returned to us with all the requested information and documents before:

31 May for the Autumn semester (September - January)
31 October for the Spring semester (January - June)

We recommend you send in the application as quickly as possible after your nomination so that we can check you have provided all the information necessary (including evidence of your English language ability) and move on to finalising what you will study; your 'learning agreement' (see below).

Your 'Learning Agreement'

It may not be possible to study the combination of modules you choose in your application form. We will check with your 'academic coordinator' (course leader) and tell you what is possible. You will then need approval from your 'academic coordinator' of this final choice, so this process can take a few weeks.

Accommodation

After agreement has been reached by both sides you can then apply for accommodation. Please contact studyabroad@uos.ac.uk about accommodation options available.

Free Movers

The University does not admit Free Movers. However, students can apply to study at Suffolk as a fee paying Study Abroad student.

Courses

The course descriptions on the University website give detailed information about each course such as course content, including details of modules, when the course is taught and other key information. We ask that you choose carefully and listen to the advice of the University academic coordinators.

We are currently updating the Module Directory indicating the modules that are available, please note some modules are only available in either semester one or two. If you are coming to the University of Suffolk for one semester you must choose modules which equate to 60 credits and for one-year programmes please select 120 credits. Please contact the Study Abroad Team, contact details below to ask about current availability.

We use the British credit system where a full semester work load should give 60 British, or 30 ECTS credits.

After admission

Once a decision has been made we will send you an offer email, containing your student ID number and information on how to apply for accommodation (you cannot apply for university accommodation until you receive your student ID number). If you require a visa to study in the UK, please contact us.

Certificates of arrival will be issued after arrival.

Student housing must only be booked after acceptance by the department.

Semester One usually starts in mid-September with a week of social activities, followed by Academic Induction and finishes by the end of the third week in January.

Semester Two usually starts at the end of January and finishes at the end of May.

Erasmus students should arrive at the start of a semester to ensure that they will be present for the orientation events for new students.

Most questions regarding practical issues are answered on our web pages for new international students.

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