Eligibility, fees, and how to apply

Eligibility
Fees
Applying for a place on the programme
Submitting your application
Some help in completing the form

Eligibility

Candidates must demonstrate that they have the potential to make the necessary doctoral-level contribution to knowledge within their field. This requires a combination of previous academic and professional achievement and will typically be demonstrated by the possession of:

A 2:1 honours degree, or Master’s degree in a relevant discipline
A relevant professional qualification or membership
A minimum of 3 years’ relevant professional experience

It is however recognised that the requisite potential may also be demonstrated in other ways. If in doubt about your eligibility for the programme please contact me to discuss your particular circumstances. You will find my contact information on the home page.

Fees

Fees for new students in the 2012/13 academic session are £3,750 p.a. for years 1 and 2, dropping to £1,914 p.a. in years 3, 4 and 5. Fees will be charged at the same level in subsequent years, subject to an annual adjustment in line with inflation.

If paying by direct debit the annual fee can be paid in five equal instalments on 25th October, November, December, January and February.

The University provides some advice about sources of funding for postgraduate studies here. However, I am not aware of any external bursaries or special loan arrangements which are available for this programme. In practice, all our existing candidates are either self-funded or funded by their employer.

Applying for a place on the programme

There is only one intake of candidates per year. The next intake is in October 2012 (with the first workshop taking place on Saturday 13th October 2012).

Paul Chynoweth

Programme Leader

“We are currently accepting applications for our 2012/13 intake of candidates who will attend their first workshop on Saturday 13th October 2012. There will not then be another intake until October 2013. Eligibility for the programme is determined according to previous academic and professional track record, with the expectation that candidates will normally have a degree, a professional qualification, and a minimum of three years’ relevant professional experience. However, an appetite for self-discovery and personal development, a willingness to challenge convention and established wisdom, and a capacity for critical thinking, self-reflection and sheer hard work are equally important attributes. Please contact me if you have any queries about your eligibility, or about any other aspect of the programme.”

We are now accepting applications for the October 2012 intake. Applications should be made on the University’s standard postgraduate research application form, or you may apply online.

Submitting your application - please print out and follow these instructions

Please comply strictly with these instructions so as to prevent any delay with your application. In particular, please note that it is your responsibility to obtain certificates, transcripts and suitable references to enable the University to process your application. If in any doubt as to what is required, please contact my colleague Catriona Barkley for advice.

A copy of the form can be downloaded here for printing out and completion by hand. An interactive copy of the form, for completion on your computer is also available here. Please then email a scanned copy of your completed form, and of the accompanying documents listed below, to Catriona Barkley for processing. Catriona's email address is c.m.barkley@salford.ac.uk. If you have no access to email, paper copies can be sent by mail to:

Ms Catriona Barkley
University of Salford
College of Science and Technology
Maxwell Building
The Crescent
Salford
M5 4WT

The form should be accompanied by the following documents:

A copy of your CV;

Copies of your academic and professional certificates;
Copies of official transcripts showing the marks awarded per module in recently awarded degrees and other qualifications (if these are unavailable - for example because you completed your studies many years ago - please simply include a short letter explaining this);
(Unless you arrange for your referees to send these to us directly) two completed and signed referee’s statement forms provided at the end of the application form. Please ask your referees to ensure that their statements bear an official institutional stamp as evidence of their authenticity.
A copy of the relevant page(s) of your passport for identification purposes.

Some help in completing the form

Please note the following when completing the form:

Section 11 – The “Professional Doctorate” or "DBEnv" box should be ticked.

Section 12 – The proposed start date is: October 2011.

Section 13 – The “Part-time” box should be ticked.

Section 25 – There is no requirement to submit a research proposal with your application as you will be developing this during the first year of the programme with the help of your tutors and supervisor. Therefore please simply write “Please see section 27 below” in this section.

Section 26 – If at all possible you should identify two academic referees who are familiar with your most recent academic work. If this is not possible then one, or in very exceptional circumstances both, referees may be business or professional contacts who can make an informed judgment about your capacity for advanced academic study. As stated above referees should then either send their completed statements directly to us, or send them to you in a sealed envelope for submission with the application form.

Section 27 – Please state the working title of your proposed research project in this section. This will enable us to allocate an appropriate supervisor to you with the necessary expertise in your subject area. Please call me if you would like to discuss the proposed wording of this section in advance of submitting the form.

Applying online - not advised

As an alternative to the above procedure the University has recently introduced a new online application procedure. Until it has been in use for a while my strong recommendation would be to use the more traditional system outlined above. However, if you would like to use the new system please first ensure that you have electronic copies to hand of all the documents described in 1 to 5 above for uploading when prompted to do so. You can then apply online here.

Finally, please do contact Catriona if you require any further clarification of what is required.