Entry requirements

Find out the academic and English language entry requirements for your Study Abroad programme.

Academic requirements

You must meet all of these conditions:

  • You are currently enrolled in a higher education institution and studying towards a bachelor's degree.
  • You have completed at least one year of study at university level at the time of your application, which should be evidenced on your transcript. If you're studying towards a 4-year bachelor's degree, we strongly recommend that you have completed at least 2 years of study.
  • You have a strong ‘B’ average or 3.0 out of 4.0 Grade Point Average (GPA). We have a grade conversion in place for all our partner universities who do not grade on a 4.0 GPA system. If you are unsure of the conversion in place for your home university, please contact the Centre for Study Abroad Inbound team for further information.

Mitigating circumstances

If there are mitigating circumstances that have affected your grades and mean that you are very slightly below the academic requirement, we may still be able to consider your application. In order to do this, we will need an academic reference written by a faculty member from your home university and a personal statement, written by yourself, to explain the reasons why your grades have fallen below the minimum average requirement for your institution. Please note that each application will be assessed individually, and we are unable to guarantee your acceptance onto the programme if you do not meet our academic requirement.

English language requirements

The English language requirements for our Study Abroad programmes are detailed below.

Study Abroad (General pathway) and Study Abroad (Subject pathway)

Programme IELTS Academic TOEFL iBT
Study Abroad (General pathway) and (Subject pathway) 6.5 overall with no score below 5.5 88 overall, with Reading 18, Listening 17, Speaking 20, Writing 17

STABEL (Study Abroad with English Language) programme

Programme
IELTS Academic for UKVI
(from authorised test centres only)

Study Abroad with English Language (STABEL) with six-week pre-sessional course

6.0 overall with 5.5 in all skills

Study Abroad with English Language (STABEL) with ten-week pre-sessional course

5.5 overall with 5.0 in all skills

In order to meet these requirements you must meet one of the following conditions:

  • English is your native language.
  • You can provide one of the certificates listed on our language profile. You will need to check that you have achieved your qualification within the valid timeframe.
  • English is the language you are taught and assessed in at your home university. If you think this applies to you, please contact cfsa-inbound@bristol.ac.uk in advance of the application deadline to confirm if an exemption is already in place.
  • If you are studying at one of our European exchange partner institutions, applying to study at Bristol for one semester, you can submit a completed copy of Bristols English Language Letter of Attestation 2025-26 (Office document, 80kB) confirming you meet the minimum requirements for the programme. Please note that we can only accept the Bristol template linked above. We cannot accept individual letters submitted by your home institution.

Please note that for the STABEL programme we can only accept IELTS Academic for UKVI from an authorised test centre.

For students studying abroad at Bristol for the full academic year on a Student visa, we can only accept proof of English language qualifications in English. If a qualification isn’t in English, and therefore needs translating, you must provide a professional or certified translation, including the contact details for the translator or translation company.

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