Entry requirements for Saudi Arabia

Foundation courses

If you have graduated from the national high school system, you may be required to successfully complete an International Foundation Year before entering our undergraduate courses.

Undergraduate courses

You will be required to have good A-level scores or the equivalent of the International Baccalaureate Diploma to be considered for admission on to our undergraduate degree courses.

Alternatively, the successful completion of a recognised International Foundation Programme or a Technical College/Institute 2-year Diploma or a Health College/Institute Diploma or an associate degree or one or more years of undergraduate study at a recognised Saudi University may also be considered as acceptable for entry on to our undergraduate degree courses.

Postgraduate taught courses

If you have completed a four-year undergraduate honours degree or equivalent, from a recognised University, you will be considered for entry to our postgraduate courses.

Postgraduate research courses

There are a number of possible entry routes to our postgraduate research courses. We will consider applicants who have successfully completed a Masters from a recognised Saudi Arabian institution.

In some cases, we will consider applicants who only have a Bachelor's degree (minimum Second Class, Higher Division), although applicants may be required to complete a Master's course at Cardiff University prior to embarking upon PhD studies.

English language

You will need to have a relevant English language qualification to satisfy the English language requirements for your course. The minimum admissions requirement is usually IELTS 6.5 but for some courses we may ask for higher grades.

You can improve your level of English language to meet the entry requirements for your course through our in-house English for University Study programme, a full-time course for international students planning to study at a UK university. The minimum entry requirement is IELTS 4.0 for September entry, 4.5 for January and 5.0 for April. The Exit Test results from this course are accepted as IELTS equivalents for entry to all degree courses at Cardiff University.

We also offer Summer Pre-sessional courses for applicants with academic offers that are conditional on improving their level of English language proficiency.