Hi,
I have a bachelors degree , having graduated with a GPA of 3.58. Unfortunately I missed the 1st class category by a margin of 0.02. I am interested in a career in lecturing and hence want to acquire a Phd. What are my chances of securing a fully funded PhD program without having to do a Masters.(Seems most of these institutions prefer a 1st class). Will rather prefer doing an intergrated Masters cum PhD program.

Also I was once told English tests are waived for countries which speak English as an official language. My whole education including undergraduate was in English and I want to find out if I can secure admission without having do an extra English test. Will be glad if some of you can share your experiences. Thanks very mcuh

Hi Kojo,

It's very much subject dependent. In some of the sciences, it is still possible to go from a Bachelors to a PhD, but it is very unusual in the social sciences and humanities. 1+3 integrated programmes are now very common though, as more of the UK research councils adopt this model. Similarly, there's more science funding available than there is for other subjects so having a first matters more for a subject like English than it does say for Chemistry when it comes to funding decisions. Funding is more difficult too if you are not a UK resident or EU citizen, as some major funding sources are only available to those people.
In terms of English tests, what flexibility there is depends on whether you are a non-EU citizen or not. If you are, the rules are set by the UK border agency, and if they say you need IELTS or equivalent to get a visa, regardless of whether you've been educated in English, then you have to jump through that hoop. They define which countries count as 'majority English speaking country' and which don't. There really is no wriggle room if UKBA are involved!

I can't comment on the UK Border Agency requirement for proficiency in English, except to say I know they can decide even if someone's University education was in English then they can demand proficiency tests depending on where they've come from. Someone I know of educated in English failed the proficiency test by one mark and had to undergo extra English tuition before he was accepted onto a Masters.

As regards getting onto a PhD without Masters, it used to be a 2(i) was the necessary requirement for this. You needed a Masters if you were a 2(ii) if you then intended to do a PhD later. There's now a shift with increasing competition to needing a 1st to get straight onto a PhD (especially with funding) and anyone with a 2(i) needing Masters. Even with a 1st, a Masters is advantageous in many subjects. Relevant works experience can bolster your chances, however, and that was my route a few years ago (2(ii) plus Masters plus 5 years works experience got me onto a funded PhD). You could try to sell yourself on the point you missed out by the 0.02 you mentioned, however, your certificate says 2(i) and that is about the first thing people will see on your application - the 1st class people will stand out ahead of you. I would look at the 1 + 3 integrated models to be honest.

As Bewildered said, if you're outside the EU then funding from a UK or EU source is a lot harder to obtain unless you can fulfil specified residency criteria (three years within the EU or European Economic Area if not a refugee?). However, you may want to look at funding sources from your home country. As to how you'd go about finding out, I can't give you guidance. An example was the Thai government funded students on the condition they lectured in a Thai university on completion for I think five years (i.e. one way of transferring western expertise).

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

Thanks very much for the help