Pre-Sessional English
Our Pre-sessional English course is a short, intensive, academic English course. It's for Newcastle University offer holders who need to improve their English before starting a degree. This course is full time for 6 or 10 weeks.
Your course during COVID-19
Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption.
Given the changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, the commitments outlined are subject to guidelines that may be in place from time to time.
View our COVID-19 Study page, which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2021-22.
See our terms and conditions and student complaints information
Course benefits
Improving your degree outcome - Students who study Pre-Sessional English are better prepared for academic life and perform better on their degree programme.
Excellent pass rate - 99% of students who studied Pre-Sessional in 2020 progressed to their degree programme in September.
One UK Visa - If English language is the only outstanding condition of your University offer your UK visa application could include both the Pre-Sessional English course and University degree.
Successful completion rather than the University direct English language scores – If you successfully complete (i.e. pass) Pre-Sessional, you are guaranteed a place on your degree (assuming that all other conditions outlined in your University offer letter are provided).
Successful completion of Pre-Sessional will mean that you do not need to retake an IELTS test.
The courses available at Newcastle University are available here:
- Undergraduate courses (PDF 0.25mb)
- Postgraduate courses
We have degrees that do not accept students who need to complete the Pre-sessional English course.
- all MPhil/PhD/EdD degrees in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences
- all MPhil/PhD degrees in Translating and Interpreting
- all MRes courses in the Faculty of Medical Sciences
- Doctorate in Applied Educational Psychology
- IPhD Education and Communication/Educational and Applied Linguistics
- PhD Speech Sciences
- MA Advanced International Business Management /Advanced Business Management and Marketing/Operations Management (Dual award Groningen)
- MA British History/European History/History of the Americas
- MA Film
- MA Translating and Interpreting – Chinese strand
- MA Professional Translating for European Languages
- MSc Evidence Based Practice in Communication Disorders
- MSc Language Pathology
About the course
Pre-sessional English is an online course designed to improve your English language skills to the level required by your degree.
The course is taught by expert teachers and focuses on content-specific vocabulary, academic writing, reading, listening and speaking.
It offers guaranteed progression to your chosen degree at Newcastle University.
Course features
- Designed to improve your English language skills to the level required by your chosen degree.
- Provides contextual study skills that acclimatise you to the culture of a UK university.
- Enables you to adjust to the demands, challenges and expectations of UK higher education.
- Teaches you how to give presentations on different areas of academic interest.
Key facts
| Course length: | 10 Weeks |
| Start dates: | 30 June 2022 and 29 June 2023 |
| Fees: | £5,190 for 2022, £5,300 for 2023 |
| Academic requirements: | Offer of a place at Newcastle University |
| English language requirements: | From: IELTS 5.5 overall (with a minimum of 5.0 in all sub-skills).* |
| Course options: | Standard (average of 20 class hours per week) |
| Course length: | 6 Weeks |
| Start dates: | 28 July 2022 and 27 July 2023 |
| Fees: | £3,130 for 2022, £3,200 for 2023 |
| Academic requirements: | Offer of a place at Newcastle University. |
| English language requirements: | From: IELTS 5.5 overall (with a minimum of 5.0 in all sub-skills).* |
| Course options: | Standard (average of 20 class hours per week) |
How to apply
Entry requirements
You need an offer to study a degree at Newcastle before you can apply for this course.
If you haven't already applied for a degree at Newcastle, you need to check the entry requirements of the course you're interested in.
If you are not able to obtain the direct English language requirements for Newcastle University, Pre-Sessional English has lower English entry requirements, but still leads directly on to your Newcastle University degree in September.
Each course has its own entry requirements that you must meet. You can search for the course you are interested in to find out specific requirements.
If you haven't got an offer
If you haven't got an offer yet, you need to apply for the degree that you want to study. General information about the undergraduate and postgraduate application processes are available online.
Find an Undergraduate degree.
If you have got an offer
As an international student, if you have received an offer from us you will have a condition to prove your English language skills. This means that you need to meet the IELTS score, or equivalent, as specified on the course information. If you don't meet the English language requirement, you can choose to apply for this pre-sessional course.
You can apply online through the INTO Newcastle application form. You will need to create a free account to apply for your chosen course.