University College Dublin

Applications will be considered from students who are not living in Ireland. Applicants who are not resident in Ireland and who wish to register to the PhD programme may, subject to approval, remain in their home country for all or most of their PhD studies and receive supervision remotely. For these students, up to 20 credits of the required 30 credits of taught modules may be gained though the Recognition of Prior Learning process.

The additional mandatory 10 credits of taught modules may be undertaken at an institution in the country of residence during the time they are registered for the PhD at UCD. Gaining credits in this way is subject to the approval of the student's doctoral studies panel and other governance mechanisms of the university.

Students applying to the PhD programme with the intention of remaining in their home country for the duration of their studies should submit a clear written plan at the time of their application as to how they will complete the 30 mandatory taught credits. This plan must be discussed with the nominated Supervisor prior to application to the programme.

English Language Requirements for entry to Graduate Programmes at UCD School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems
Candidates whose first language is not English and whose primary degree was obtained in a country where English is not the official language of instruction must provide proof of proficiency in English such as IELTS or TOEFL.

The original certificate of completion of an English language test must be enclosed with the application. In all cases the test results must not be more than two years old. There are no exceptions to this requirement. Candidates whose existing degree was obtained in a country where the official language of instruction is English may, at the request of the School, still be subject to the same requirements where English is not the candidate's first language.

The following are the English language tests and scores accepted by this School:

IELTS [International English Language Testing System–Academic]
Minimum Overall Band Score of 7.0, with a result NOT LESS than 6.5 in EACH of the individual sections.

TOEFL [Test of English as a Foreign Language]
Internet Based Test: Minimum total score of 100 out of 120, with a score NOT LESS than 22 in Reading and Listening. NOT LESS than 26 in Speaking and NOT LESS than 24 in the test of written English.

Paper Based Test
Minimum total score of 600 with a score NOT LESS than 5.0 in the Test of Written English.