Entrance requirements

Requirements for postgraduate courses

Please find details of our academic and other entrance requirements below. This information can also be found on the course pages of the Postgraduate Admissions website, along with further information about the content of each programme and how to apply.

If you have not completed your studies in the UK please refer to our international equivalencies page for further information on how to check whether your qualification meets the entrance criteria.

MPhil Courses

Course	Academic Entry Criteria	Other requirements
MPhil in Energy Technologies	Applicants for this course should have achieved a First Class Honours Degree or equivalent.	A wide range of graduates are encouraged to apply, including chemical, civil, or environmental engineers. Physics and chemistry graduates are also encouraged, while electrical engineers who want to learn more about the thermo-fluid aspects of energy technologies can also apply.
MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.	The course is a professional practice programme designed for students preferably from an engineering background, and with some postgraduate work experience in the engineering industry. Students on the programme will have well-developed technical skills in engineering, science or other quantitative disciplines.
MPhil in Industrial Systems Manufacture and Management	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.	Successful applicants will be numerate, and are likely to have a background in engineering, technology, science or mathematics. Relevant working experience, usually in the form of internships, is required.
MPhil in Machine Learning and Machine Intelligence	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK First class Honours Degree or equivalent.	Students will be expected to have well-developed technical skills in engineering or a related technical area, in mathematics, and in computing.
MPhil in Nuclear Energy	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.	This course has been designed for top engineers and scientists with some post-degree experience, not necessarily in the nuclear industry, or new graduates who want to equip themselves with the knowledge and the skills to build a career in nuclear energy. Applicants should have well-developed technical skills and a good degree in engineering or a related science subject (such as physics, chemistry or materials science).

Research Courses

Course	Academic Entry Criteria	Other requirements
PhD in Engineering (full and part time)	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.	Successful applicants will have a background in engineering, science or a related subject.
MPhil in Engineering	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.	Applicants should have a background in engineering, science, or a related subject.

Note: Students currently undertaking a taught Master's degree at Cambridge must achieve a mark of 70 per cent to be allowed to continue to the PhD degree. Students currently studying for a Master's degree by research must satisfy their examiners that they are capable of continuing to the PhD degree.

MRes Courses

Course	Academic Entry Criteria	Other requirements
MRes in Connected Electronic and Photonic Systems	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.	Applications are invited from outstanding graduates in a relevant science (physics, mathematics, natural sciences, geology and geographical science, social sciences, materials science etc) or in engineering (chemical, civil, electronic and electrical, mechanical etc). Applicants with other relevant qualifications or extensive relevant industry experience who can show evidence of scientific and engineering research capability may also apply.
MRes in Future Infrastructure and Built Environment	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.	Successful applicants require high-level technical engineering skills. Candidates are likely to have a background in any relevant engineering discipline (including civil, mechanical, chemical, manufacturing, electrical and information), or in any relevant scientific discipline (including materials science, earth science, and computer science), or in other relevant disciplines such as architecture, project management, and other cognate fields. Industrial experience is helpful but not necessary.
MRes in Future Propulsion and Power	Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.	Students on the programme are expected to have developed technical skills in aspects of fluid mechanics and thermodynamics during their first degree.

MSt Courses

Course

Academic Entry Criteria

Other Requirements

MSt in Construction Engineering

Applicants for this course should have achieved a UK good II.i Honours Degree or equivalent.

A construction-related degree is preferable.

It is highly recommended that application have several years' professional experience, preferably in a construction or infrastructure-related field.

English language requirements

In order to successfully complete their course it is crucial that students have a high standard of fluency in English.

If English is not your first language you will be asked to submit evidence that you meet the University's language requirement before your place on the course is confirmed. This is usually through the provision of an English language certificate, although if you have studied in an English speaking country for a minimum of three years within two years prior to the course start date, a transcript will be sufficient. Please note that you do not need to provide evidence of a language test prior to submitting your application, the Postgraduate Admissions Office will inform if you require one (and how to submit your results) when you receive an offer from us.

Note that you cannot upload English language test results whilst your application is under consideration. If you do not upload one at the time you submit the application, you will have to wait until you have been made an offer.

You can find out if you are likely to require a language test by selecting your nationality here.

Which tests do we accept?

	Listening	Writing	Reading	Speaking	TOTAL
IELTS (Academic)	7.0	7.0	6.5	7.0	7.0
TOEFL	25	25	25	25	100

CAE and CPE

	Score
CAE	Grade A or B (with at least 193 in each element) plus a language centre assessment.
CPE	Grade A, B or C (with at least 200 in each individual element).

Please note that the test results are valid for two years, so if you have achieved the language scores above within this time period you can submit this result.

It is also important to consider that there might be a long wait for IELTS and TOEFL tests to become available as they are often in high demand. We recommend that if you have been asked to provide a language score as part of your offer that you book your test as soon as you can, so that you also have time to book another test should you not meet the requirement on the first attempt.

If the Postgraduate Admissions Office have informed you that you need to take a test then you will need to do so, and the condition cannot not be changed. No waiver can be offered.

What if I do not meet the required standard on one of the accepted tests?

You do not need to have met the English language criteria before applying, but if you do not upload a valid test certificate that meets the criteria with your application, and you are required to provide a language test certificate, it will be a condition of your offer to provide one before your place on the course can be confirmed.

If you narrowly miss out on passing an English language test, you should still upload the certificate with your application (or to your self-service account, after you have been made an offer). The Postgraduate Admissions Office will determine whether it is a near-miss, and if so, may offer you the opportunity to be assessed by the University's Language Centre. You can only have one Language Assessment per year. If the outcome is that you pass outright, then your English language condition will be met. If you do not pass, or only pass subject to attendance at a pre- or in-sessional language course, then your English language condition will not be met, and your condition will revert to you needing to complete an external English language test, as above.

International equivalencies

If you have not completed your studies in the UK, please refer to the Postgraduate Admissions website for further information regarding international qualifications and their UK equivalencies.

You can use the look up tool to check your qualification prior to making an application to make sure that your qualification meets the entry requirements for the course. Applicants who do not meet the entrance criteria for their course will be at a disadvantage compared to other applicants and are less likely to be made an offer.

For further information on international qualification equivalency, you can also use the UK NARIC website. UK NARIC is the UK's National Recognition Information Centre and provides services for individuals and organisations to compare international qualifications against UK qualification framework levels.

Overview of entrance requirements

This section contains information regarding the academic entry requirements for each of our courses. You can apply for a postgraduate course before completing your current course of study, even if you do not yet meet the academic criteria, however a condition of your offer will be that you meet this by a deadline before the course starts.

Applications are considered holistically, taking into account your academic background (ie your previous degrees, the modules that you took as part of them, individual module marks, your overall result, any research projects undertaken, etc), your CV (ie any other relevant experience obtained, such as through employment or voluntary work), your statement of interest, your references and your research proposal (if applicable).

Please see the pages below for further information.

Quicklinks

Department of Engineering