Postgraduate admissions

At postgraduate level, admission is considered on a case-by-case basis. In general, you need to have achieved good grades in an undergraduate degree to be considered for admission to a postgraduate degree. Normally the field of study in the postgraduate course should be the same as for the undergraduate degree.

For honours and master's degrees, prerequisites vary between departments, but good grades in the final year of the undergraduate degree are required. Students who have already completed a year of suitable postgraduate study elsewhere may be admitted to a Masters degree by thesis only.

If you are applying for a PhD programme you need to have completed a research-focussed honours or master's degree with high grades. Some students may be required to undertake a bridging or qualifying course before being admitted to a postgraduate programme.

Information about the range of postgraduate studies offered at Canterbury can be found on our graduate and postgraduate study options web site.

We recommend that prospective students familiarise themselves with the details of the programme they are interested in before applying for admission; please see the relevant department/programme website or contact us for further information.

Postgraduate admissions for students with a qualification from a New Zealand university

If you have completed an undergraduate degree at a New Zealand university and are eligible to graduate, you may apply for admission to postgraduate or graduate programmes and courses offered by the University of Canterbury.

The enrolment procedure for postgraduate students is similar to that for undergraduate students.

The first step is to contact the student advisors or academic staff in the relevant college, school, department or research centre and gain approval for your proposed programme of study.

Information on how to apply to enrol is available on the Enrol at UC website.

Postgraduate admissions for students with  a qualification from an international university or New Zealand Polytech

If you have completed your previous academic studies outside New Zealand, and you wish to undertake postgraduate study at UC, you will first need to apply for admission, on the basis of your academic record and your English Language proficiency (for students from non-English speaking countries).

We recommend that all students apply for admission at least six months before their intended start date.

Please note that many graduate and postgraduate programmes have specific application requirements and/or an additional application process. Please check the programmes that require special applications page.

Research degrees – PhD and Master’s by thesis

Research interests of academic staff are listed on the web pages of the relevant academic programmes. You can also search the UC Research Profile.

We recommend that where possible, prospective Masters thesis students make contact with a suitable supervisor before formally applying for admission.

Successful PhD candidates will typically choose UC after discovering that a particular research centre or researcher is located here, and will have already been in communication with a potential supervisor before applying.

For most academic departments, identifying an appropriate project and contacting a potential supervisor is the first step for a prospective PhD student. After that (crucial) preliminary step has been carried out, the next step is to apply for admission.

Students applying for a UC Doctoral or Master’s scholarship (closing dates normally 15 May and 15 October) also need to submit an admission application, preferably before their scholarship application. This is because to be eligible for a scholarship applicants need to have been granted admission.

To apply for admission at postgraduate level