University of Kent
Study psychology at postgraduate level and you become part of a diverse, dynamic and supportive community in which to research and learn. Research conducted under this programme heading can be in any area of our expertise including Developmental Psychology, Organisational Psychology and Political Psychology.
Overview
A Master’s by research degree focuses on research expertise and prepares you for professional work or PhD study. A PhD is a doctorate of philosophy based on mostly independent study.
Both research degrees are assessed formally on the basis of one piece of work, a dissertation (or thesis), that reports your original thought and research. You must also successfully complete all required training.
Entry Requirements
A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree with:
a. Adequate level of academic achievement
A final degree classification (grade average) of at least a 2.1 or Merit in the UK system (the second highest classification after First/Distinction). Results from institutions in other countries will be assessed individually according to this standard.
Your existing degree does not have to be in psychology as long as the statistics training requirement is met (please see below) and your proposed supervisor and the Director of Graduate Studies (Research) are satisfied with the suitability of your academic background. If it is in a different subject, or if it is not accredited by the British Psychological Society, please ask your academic referee to complete our Pro-forma for graduate research programmes and email it to psypgadmissions@kent.ac.uk.
b. Statistics and research methods training in the social sciences
This programme includes a one-year statistics sequence which you must normally pass in order to receive your award. The teaching assumes that you are familiar with the following topics:
Means and standard deviations
Distributions, hypothesis testing and statistical significance
t-tests
Correlation coefficients
Variables and measurement
Therefore, your existing degree transcript should note that you have taken and passed a minimum of one term each in statistics and social science research methods courses (or two terms of a joint statistics and research methods course).
It is possible to be exempted from the statistics training at Kent if there is sufficient evidence that you have already completed equivalent training in a previous qualification.
All applicants are considered on an individual basis and additional qualifications, professional qualifications and relevant experience may also be taken into account when considering applications.
International students
Please see our International Student website for entry requirements by country and other relevant information. Due to visa restrictions, students who require a student visa to study cannot study part-time unless undertaking a distance or blended-learning programme with no on-campus provision.
English language entry requirements
The University requires all non-native speakers of English to reach a minimum standard of proficiency in written and spoken English before beginning a postgraduate degree. Certain subjects require a higher level.
For detailed information see our English language requirements web pages.
Closing Date
26.09.2022