Part-time student visa?

[pencillin]

Just wondering if it's possible to get a student visa with a part-time master programme in the UK.

Thanks

[RobinLondon]

No!

How do I qualify to travel to the UK as a student?

You must be able to show that you have been accepted on a course of study or for a period of research at an educational establishment that is on the UK's Department for Children Schools and Families Register of Education and Training Providers. Contact details are under 'More advice and information' at the end of this guidance, or you can search the register on the Department for Children, Schools and Families website at: www.dfes.gov.uk/providersregister.

You must be able to show that you are going to follow:

* a recognised full-time degree course, or
* a period of study and/or research in excess of 6 months where this forms part of an overseas degree course, or
* a course run during the week involving at least 15 hours of organised daytime study each week, or
* a full-time course at an independent fee-paying school.

You must also:

* be able to pay for your course and support yourself and any dependants, and live in the UK without going into business or getting a job, or needing any help from public funds
* be able and intend to follow your chosen course, and
* intend to leave the UK when you complete your studies, if your course of study is below degree level.

[Nowty]

But surley it would be ok if the part time course was 15 hours or more per week.

Wouldnt that be full time as per immigration rules even though it might be recognised as part time to an educational institution.

[RobinLondon]

But surley it would be ok if the part time course was 15 hours or more per week.

Wouldnt that be full time as per immigration rules even though it might be recognised as part time to an educational institution.

Accredited degree courses in the UK must meet for at least 15 hours a week to be considered full time. There are no part-time degree courses meeting for more than 15 hours a week. If they did, they would be considered full time!

Be careful not to confuse a degree course with adult education or language courses, for instance. The OP asked about degree courses, and by definition, degree courses with more than 15 hours of class time per week are full time, and are the only ones available to foreign students entering with a student visa for that purpose. And for taught degrees (as opposed to research ones), those 15 hours mean bums on seats in a room in front of a professor or tutor. That doesn't include library or outside preparation time, which is extra.

You also can't take two or more part-time degree courses and add them together for full-time status. That doesn't work either.