England

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Accessibility statement
The OU will be transitioning to a new online applications portal for the October 2027 intake onwards. As part of your application, you will be asked to provide information about your academic qualifications, English language proficiency, and, where necessary, your immigration information. You will also be asked to provide the details of two referees (one academic and one professional) who can comment on your ability to undertake a professional doctorate. In addition to your completed application form, you will need to provide:
Applications will be accepted between November and January for an October start.
Your application will be assessed against the following criteria:
In addition, the proposal needs to be of a sufficiently high standard to suggest that you will be able to reach doctorate level within the time available. We will aim to provide you with written feedback on your application
Your application and proposal will be assessed by a selection panel using the above criteria, the panel will also consider whether there are supervisors available with experience relevant to your proposed project.
We will contact you to let you know if your application has been shortlisted, and if so, we will invite you for an interview. To comply with University regulations, interviewees are expected to provide proof of the qualification(s) needed to meet our admission requirements. Interviews will take place in March or April, and if you are successful, you will receive an offer in July.
Please note that demand is high, so we cannot guarantee a place.
An image to illustrate the Professional Doctorates how to apply page.
If you have an enquiry specific to these programmes, please contact:
Email: WELS-PGRs@open.ac.uk
Level info