School of Earth and Environment

International Research Students

Where are our students from?
The School of Earth and Environment has a long tradition of international students attending for postgraduate research degrees.  Currently over 25% of our cohort are from 30 countries outside of the EU, including North and South America; Bangladesh, Pakistan and India; Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Thailand and Zambia; China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka; Iraq, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Syria.

What areas are they researching in?
These students are supervised by staff in all four of our School’s research institutes, and so cover areas such as environmental science, climate change, sustainability, engineering and hydrogeology, environmental geosciences, sedimentology, seismology, structural geology and petroleum geosciences.

How are they funded?
Our international students have normally been successful in securing their own sponsorship.  In many cases, this is from their employers, or their governments.  We do however have a number of students who have been successful in other competitions such as the Commonwealth Scholarships, and our University’s Overseas Research Scholarships (ORS) and Fully-funded International Research Scholarship (FIRS).

Studying in our School
If you would like to undertake study in our School, you will need to demonstrate that you are able to fund your study for the full length of your degree programme.

A research degree is very demanding and you will be expected to fully commit and engage with studying in our School.  Additionally, the University has regulations which limit the amount of employment that you can undertake whilst registered as a student at Leeds.

Regional Contacts
There are also a number of University of Leeds offices based all around the world; they can offer face to face advice about applying to the University and preparing yourself for arrival in the UK.

Support
The University has an International Office, which can provide professional advice on issues that may concern you about coming to the UK, such as Visas, finding accommodation, life in Leeds and much more. The International Office also has regular get-togethers for international students in their Global Café which is a great opportunity to meet students and share experiences.

English Language
If English is not your first language, you will normally be required to produce evidence of an English language qualification before registration as a student at Leeds. The University accepts the following qualifications and scores:

  • IELTS: An overall band of 6.0 with not less than 5.5 in listening and reading, and not less than 5.0 in speaking and writing.
  • TOEFL: A score of 220 on the computer-based version of the test (550 on the paper-based version) with at least 4.0 in the Test of Written English.
  • iBT TOEFL (Internet-based Test of English as a Foreign Language): An overall score of 83, with Listening 18; Reading 20; Speaking 20; Writing 21.

Other qualifications may be acceptable; please check with the Postgraduate Research Administrator.

English language requirements for our Sustainability and Split-site degrees
Undertaking research study remotely from your supervisor presents its own challenges.  Split-site candidates are required to have higher English Language entry qualifications. This higher English Language level also applies to students undertaking research degree study in our School's Sustainability Research Institute, due to the social science nature of the research. The higher requirements for both of these categories of students are:

  • IELTS: 6.5 overall with not less than 6.0 in any individual skill.

TOEFL: 240 overall for the computer-based test and 580 overall for the paper-based test - both with at least 4.0 in the Test of Written English.

 

Contacts
Here at the University there is a support network to help you whilst you are with us. All students have personal tutors and/or supervisors. In addition, our two International Student Advisors, Rob Mortimer and Yim Ling Siu, offer specific help to overseas students. The School’s International Student Coordinator is Graham Stuart.

Further Information