Version 1.0 - Last Updated: 25 Oct 2023

Creating courses

Creating a postgraduate doctoral course

This chapter will tell you how to create a postgraduate doctoral course.

It covers everything you will need to know before you start adding these courses to CMS, including:

eligibility
academic year and course duration
term dates and holidays
course names
qualifications

Eligibility

In academic year 2018/19 postgraduate doctoral funding was introduced for English and Welsh-domiciled students on eligible courses in the UK.

Students must be on a full doctoral degree course (a full programme of doctoral study) to be eligible for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan. Partial courses, where students can rely on previous study to contribute to their doctoral course, are ineligible.

Students who register for a standalone master's course are also not eligible. They should apply for postgraduate master’s funding instead.

If a student is enrolled on a master’s course that contributes towards a doctoral qualification, you should enter these as a single course. These students are eligible for the full programme of doctoral study including the time spent on the master’s course. They will not be eligible for postgraduate master’s funding at the same time.

Some students do not need to complete the first year of a '1+3' doctoral degree course or an integrated subject specialist doctorate. This can be due to prior attainment or time spent on a previous level 7 research master’s (such as an MPhil or an MRes).

You must register these students on a separately designated doctoral degree course so they're eligible for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan. They must be undertaking the full designated course to be eligible.

Eligible courses

Subject specialist doctorates

A formal programme of study such as a PhD.

Integrated subject specialist doctorates

A supervised research project undertaken alongside a more structured taught course. It may depend on successful completion of taught elements and be undertaken in later years.

Integrated doctorates offer exit awards at master’s level based on successful completion of taught modules. If an integrated doctorate has a level 7 master’s component, you should include this as part of the course duration for the doctoral course and not as a separate master’s course.

To be eligible for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan, students must register for the doctoral degree from the start.

Professional and practice-based doctorates

Post-experience qualifications aimed at mid-career professionals, for example an Engineering Doctorate (EngD).

Ineligible courses

Doctorates by publication:

doctorate by retrospective publication
doctorate by prospective or concurrent publication

Higher doctorates

Qualifications

A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan is only available for full postgraduate doctoral degree courses. Eligible doctoral courses may be a combination of:

taught and research-based study
part-time and full-time study
periods of attendance and distance learning

It is not available for other level 8 qualifications:

level 8 awards
level 8 certificates
level 8 diplomas

It is also not available for lower-level postgraduate courses:

standalone master’s degree
integrated master’s degree (a master’s degree that is integrated with an undergraduate degree)
Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert)
Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip)

Finally, it is not available for partial doctoral courses. These are where the student is topping up to a doctoral qualification and does not need to undertake the whole designated doctoral course.

Course structure

Some doctoral degrees are structured around a '1+3' model. If this is the case, the following rules apply.

Students will be eligible for the £27,265 Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if:

year 1 of the course (the master’s degree) is an integral part of the 4-year doctoral degree course
they register for the full doctoral degree course at the outset.

Students are not eligible for postgraduate master’s funding for the first year of the course.

If a student has already been awarded postgraduate master’s funding for a separate master’s course, they remain eligible for the full £27,265 Postgraduate Doctoral Loan for a full '1+3' doctoral degree course.

If a student does not need to complete the first year of a '1+3' doctoral degree course, they must register on a separately designated 3-year doctoral degree course to be eligible for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.

Students who withdraw from a '1+3' doctoral degree after using their Postgraduate Doctoral Loan allocation cannot apply for another. This is regardless of the qualification they gain. This is subject to normal rules around compelling personal reasons (CPR).

Students cannot transfer between master’s and doctoral courses without submitting a new funding application. They must be undertaking the full course to be eligible for postgraduate funding at either level. They must submit a new funding application if they start a new qualification.

Subject of study

There are no subject restrictions on doctoral degree courses. Any course, regardless of subject, can be eligible for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if it meets all other eligibility criteria.

Attendance method

Students may be eligible for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan whether they are in attendance or distance learning.

Students on a distance learning course must be resident in England or Wales on the first day of the first academic year of the course. This rule applies to all residency categories.

There is an exception to this rule for:

UK Armed Forces personnel posted outside of their place of domicile
certain family members who are living with them during the posting

For student funding purposes these applicants are temporarily resident at the posting address. They'll be ordinarily resident in the place where they lived before moving to the posting location.

If the course includes a period of overseas study, at least 50% of the study time over the whole course must be within the UK.

Academic years

The regulations define the academic year as a 12-month period beginning on either 1 September, 1 January, 1 April or 1 July. The date depends on when the course started.

Date course started	Academic year
Between 1 August and 31 December	1 September to 31 August
Between 1 January and 31 March	1 January to 31 December
Between 1 April and 30 June	1 April to 31 March
Between 1 July and 31 July	1 July to 30 June

Course duration

Doctoral degree courses between 3 and 8 academic years are eligible for postgraduate doctoral funding.

The course length is defined as the maximum period of registration for the course. This is normally linked to mode of study. For example, you might offer a course as 3 academic years full-time or 6 academic years part-time. The maximum registration period ends when the thesis is submitted for examination.

We'll schedule payments over the 3 payment periods in every academic year of the course.

There is no 'extra weeks' element to a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan. The maximum loan amount available each academic year is fixed, regardless of the number of study weeks.

Thesis submission after course end date

If a student intends to submit their thesis after their course end date, you'll need to transfer them to a longer course.

This must begin in the same academic year as their current course.

Example

A student is on a 4-year course beginning in September of academic year 2020/21. Their thesis is due on 31 April 2024.

The student wants to submit their thesis on 1 May 2025. This is after their course end date.

You need to transfer the student onto a course that has started in September of academic year 2020/21 but ends after 1 May 2025.

Term dates

If you offer postgraduate doctoral courses, you need to enter 3 sets of term dates for all course years. This is so students receive their funding payments throughout the period of their study.

The term dates you enter determine the student’s payment dates. If you do not have terms, we still need 3 terms in our system. This is because we pay students at 3 points throughout the academic year. You should create term dates that reflect the study pattern of your students. For example, you could use any holiday periods as a natural term break.

If you enter term start or end dates that are on a weekend, the system will ask you to confirm this is correct before it lets you save the course.

Adding intakes

When you create a new course and enter term dates for all years of the course, there is an option to add another intake.

If the course you are creating has a September start, you can enter another intake that starts later in the academic year, for example January.

You cannot add an intake once you've saved a course, so you should add all intakes before you save.

You can create up to 12 intakes under a postgraduate doctoral course – only one per month.

If you need to, you can amend the first intake month when you save the course in the new academic year. For example, if your course had a September intake in the previous academic year, you can change this to October in the new academic year.

Available course years

You can apply Available course years to all full-time and part-time postgraduate courses. The 2 settings are:

All Students
No Students

When a course is no longer needed for new students, you should set your courses to No students instead of closing them. This makes sure continuing students still receive their funding. You can transfer students on or off the courses if you need to.

When a course is closed, continuing students will not receive their funding in the following years.

Course name

For postgraduate doctoral courses, the course name should include a unique identifier. This can be the subject or faculty, for example, civil engineering. The name should not be a generic doctoral course or the title of a student’s thesis.

Eligible higher education providers

The following sections will give you an overview of the types of higher education providers whose courses are eligible for doctoral funding from Student Finance England and Student Finance Wales.

They'll also cover the rules around franchise and validation agreements.

English students

Postgraduate doctoral funding will only be available from Student Finance England (SFE) for courses provided by UK higher education providers that are either

registered with the Office for Students (OfS) and have research degree awarding powers (R-DAPs)
are authority-funded and have research degree awarding powers

Only providers with research degree awarding powers can award doctoral degrees. Those with only taught degree awarding powers cannot award doctoral degrees.

Validation arrangements

If an OfS-registered or authority-funded provider does not have research degree awarding powers (organisation A), they may enter a validation arrangement with an OfS-0registered or authority-funded provider that does have them (organisation B).

In this case, provider B approves a programme of study offered by provider A that contributes to the award of a doctoral qualification from provider B.

In validation arrangements, the degree-awarding body (provider B) is ultimately responsible for the academic standards of any awards granted in its name. It is also responsible for the quality of the learning programme.

Franchise arrangements

OfS-registered or authority funded providers with research degree awarding powers may enter into arrangements with third parties not registered with OfS, to deliver a course on the behalf of the lead provider.

The franchisee may deliver all or part of a programme approved and owned by the provider with research degree awarding powers. The franchising organisation (the provider with research degree awarding powers) keeps overall control of the programme's content, delivery, assessment and quality assurance.

If the course is provided by more than one university, the student must be registered with the university awarding the qualification.

Welsh students

Postgraduate doctoral funding will only be available from Student Finance Wales for courses that are automatically designated within the postgraduate doctoral regulations. They must also be provided by UK higher education providers that are either:

publicly-funded with research degree awarding powers
registered with the Office for Students (OfS) with an Access and Participation Plan with research degree awarding powers

Only universities or colleges that have been granted research degree awarding powers can award doctoral degrees. Those with only taught degree awarding powers cannot award doctoral degrees.

The Welsh Ministers may specifically designate courses at publicly-funded or OfS-registered providers that do not have research degree awarding powers and offer postgraduate doctoral courses. The Welsh Government and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) will tell us about any specifically designated courses.

Validation arrangements

If a publicly-funded or OfS-registered provider with an Access and Participation Plan does not have research degree awarding powers (provider A), they may enter a validation arrangement with a publicly funded or OfS-registered provider that does have them (provider B).

In such an arrangement, provider B approves a programme of study offered by provider A that contributes to the award of a doctoral qualification from provider B.

Franchise arrangements

Publicly-funded or OfS-registered providers with an Access and Participation Plan that have research degree awarding powers may enter into franchise arrangements with other publicly funded or OfS-registered providers that do not have them.

In these arrangements, the franchisee may deliver all or part of a programme approved and owned by the provider with research degree awarding powers. The franchising institution (the provider with research degree awarding powers) keeps overall control of the programme's content, delivery, assessment and quality assurance.

The Welsh Ministers may also specifically designate courses at alternative providers that offer postgraduate doctoral courses in Wales. The Welsh Government and HEFCW will tell us about any specifically designated courses at alternative providers based in Wales.

If an alternative provider has research degree awarding powers, the Welsh Ministers must designate and approve their courses to be eligible for support. These courses are not subject to automatic designation. Alternative providers with research degree awarding powers should not upload courses for Welsh-domiciled students until they've been specifically designated by the Welsh Government and HEFCW.

If the course is provided by more than one university, the student must be registered with the lead institution that is awarding the qualification.