Postgraduate Academic Skills Course
Classes
There are no classes currently available for registration.
Overview
Our online, non-credit-bearing Postgraduate Academic Studies Course is designed especially to build your confidence and abilities. It is ideal if you are:
- making the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate studies
- returning to higher education following a break from studies
- embarking on postgraduate studies in the UK for the first time.
It offers a general overview of the academic skills you will need to engage in postgraduate-level study, including:
- self-organisation and time management
- academic reading and note-making strategies
- thinking critically and independently
- planning, structuring and writing academic assignments
- dissertation research skills.
Please note that some postgraduate courses require discipline-specific skills (such as statistics or computer programming) which are not covered as part of this course. Please check the details of your prospective course for further information.
The course takes place one evening a week for five weeks and consists of 2.5-hour online sessions led by Sal Campbell and Sara Steinke, two of Birkbeck’s most experienced learning development specialists. It also includes a dedicated comprehensive learning module containing follow-up resources and practice activities.
If you go on to enrol on a postgraduate course at Birkbeck starting in the 2024/25 academic year after completing this course, we'll give you a tuition fee discount equivalent to the tuition fee for this course. This discount will be in addition to any other discounts available, such as the Lifelong Learning Guarantee.
This course is non-credit bearing, so carries no credit points.
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Entry requirements
Entry requirements
You will normally have completed an undergraduate degree previously and be considering postgraduate studies in the future.
Alternatively, you may have equivalent professional experience offering similar skills (extensive reading, writing, independent thinking) and have been accepted onto a postgraduate degree programme.
This short course has no prerequisites.
As part of the enrolment process, you may be required to submit a copy of a suitable form of ID.
International students who wish to come to the UK to study a short course can apply for a Visitor visa. Please note that it is not possible to obtain a Student visa to study a short course.
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How to apply
How to apply
You register directly onto the classes you would like to take. Classes are filled on a first-come, first-served basis - so apply early. If you wish to take more than one short course, you can select each one separately and then register onto them together via our online application portal. There is usually no formal selection process, although some modules may have prerequisites and/or other requirements, which will be specified where relevant.