A Yes, it is possible to study in the UK without IELTS.You do not need to necessarily have IELTS to prove your knowledge of English. However, you need to prove your English proficiency i.e. you can read, write, speak and understand English to a certain level.

To study below degree level, you must have minimum CEFR level B1 and to study degree level or above, you must have minimum CEFR level B2 equivalent proficiency. You can prove your English language abilities at the required level with a UKVI approved secure English language test (SELT).

IELTS for UKVI is one of the UKVI approved SELTs. If you do not want to sit IELTS, then you may wish to sit one of the following SELTs

• PTE Academic UKVI (Pearson)
• Skills for English UKVI (PSI Sevices)
• LanguageCert International ESOL SELT (LanguageCert)

If you are applying to a Higher Education Provider (HEP), they may have the provisions to assess your English with other English tests meaning you will not need a SELT to prove your English proficiency. UK HEP universities currently assess English proficiency with other tests including

• ELLT (OI Digital Institute)
• Duolingo English Test
• Password English Language Test
• KITE (Kaplan International Tools for English) Test
• TOEFL iBT Test
• HEP’s own internal English Test

If you opt to sit any of the above tests, you must achieve minimum CEFR level B2 equivalent proficiency. Please check with the HEP universities which tests they accept so that you can choose the one most suitable for you.

Some UK HEP universities accept Medium of Instruction, known as MOI letter to assess English proficiency of students applying study masters courses in the UK. If you have a On MOI letter, the home country institute asserts that the medium of instruction including tuition, assessments etc. throughout the study of the bachelor course was English. Please check with the prospective UK HEP universities if they accept MOI letter from your home country and from the institution that you studied your bachelor course to assess level of English proficiency.

You may not need to sit any SELT or other English test or provide MOI letter etc. if you have

• 60% or above grade in English at Higher Secondary Examination from some Education Boards in India
• C6 or above grade in English at Higher Secondary Examination from WAEC or NECO in Africa

You can also prove your knowledge of English by having a GCSE, A level, Scottish National Qualification level 4 or 5, Scottish Higher or Advanced Higher in English, gained through study at a UK school that you began when you were under 18.

Key point to note: if you are applying for a stand-alone foundation course, you must have a SELT certificate; this is the requirements of UKVI.

You do not need to prove your knowledge of English if one of the following applies

• you’re a national of Canada
• you’re applying to come to the UK for a study abroad programme as part of a university degree course in the USA
• you proved your level of English in a previous visa application

You do not need to prove your knowledge of English if you’ve completed a qualification equivalent to a UK degree in one of the following countries, or are from one of the following countries:

• Antigua and Barbuda
• Australia
• the Bahamas
• Barbados
• Belize
• Dominica
• Grenada
• Guyana
• Ireland
• Jamaica
• Malta
• New Zealand
• St Kitts and Nevis
• St Lucia
• St Vincent and the Grenadines
• Trinidad and Tobago
• UK
• USA

A Yes, UK universities accept student with study gaps if you can justify the gap duration with valid reason/s i.e. classes and exams were not held due COVID pandemic, war in the country, natural disaster in the country, medical or other circumstances beyond your control, you are in employment after your last qualification. You may need to provide appropriate evidence in support of your justification of study gap.

Usually, most of the UK universities accept 2 year study gap for undergraduate application and 5 to 7 year study gap for postgraduate application. Some of the universities accept 10 year or more study gap for postgraduate application. For PhD or doctoral level study, longer study gap will not be any issue.

A Normally, UK universities have 2 intakes: January and September while September being the main one and majority of the courses are offered in this intake. However, recently many UK universities have introduced a May intake too. Additionally, there are a few UK universities that have intakes in almost every two months for postgraduate courses. UK Foundation course providers have frequent intakes too. Hence, you will find admission intakes in the UK throughout the year.

A Yes, there are many UK universities where you can apply direct to study an undergraduate course; you do not need to apply through UCAS.

A Yes, with low academic grades you can take admission at UK universities. If you are higher secondary qualified with low grades, you may need to undertake a foundation course first before you can start your bachelor course in the UK. You may also choose to take foundation + bachelor course together. If you are bachelors qualified with low grades, you may be able to take a bachelor top up course or a pre-masters course in the UK. You may also qualify for extended masters course with low grades in your bachelor degree.

A Majority of the UK universities do not charge any application fee for direct application (application without UCAS). However, there are a very few universities that have application fee ranging around £50 to £100 and this fee is non-refundable if your application is unsuccessful.

A Yes, you will need to provide 2 reference letters with your admission application to most of the UK universities. These could be two letters from your education institutions or one from education institution and one from employer (if you were/are in employment). Reference letter must be on organisations’ official letterhead with all contact details, referee’s full name, designation, email and phone number, signature and should not be dated earlier than 2 years.

Alternatively, if you do not have the references letters and are not in a position to be able to collect these soon, you can provide referee’s full name, designation, organisation’s name, official email and phone number on your admission application. The university will contact your referees to get references. You will have to inform your referees about this and make sure they reply to the reference requests.

A Yes, with a few exceptions, most of the UK universities will take admission credibility interview before they give you unconditional offer or pre-CAS interview before they issue you CAS. If you fail to clear these interviews, the university will not proceed with your application further in that intake at the least. Therefore, prepare well for your credibility interviews.

A Normally, you would need to pay a deposit towards your tuition feesto request your CAS (you can pay full fees too and get discount on full payment).

Different universities have different deposit requirements on their own discretions. There are some UK universities that would ask for minimum £3000 deposit while others have minimum deposit requirement of 50%/65% of tuition fees.

AYes, all UK universities refund the deposit paid for CAS request if you fail the pre-CAS interviews. Usually they refund this in full, but there are a very few universities or some foundation course providers that may deduct an administrative fees of £200/£300. The deposit refund policy should be written on the Terms & Conditions sent out to you with your offer letter and hence you will be able to find out if there is any deduction and if so, the amount of deduction.