Guidance notes - Department of History - Oxford Brookes University

POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH DEGREE
APPLICATION FORM - NOTES FOR GUIDANCE
Please check the relevant programme information in the postgraduate prospectus,
particularly entry requirements, before completing the application form. Printed copies
of the prospectus are available from the University Student Recruitment Enquiry
Centre, tel: +44 (0) 1865 484848, fax: +44 (0) 1865 483616, email:
query@brookes.ac.uk. Postgraduate research degree information is available at
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/studying/courses/postgraduate/research/.
1 Programme Details
You should only use this form to apply for a place as a research degree student.
Please complete section 1, indicating the title of your proposed research. You
should also specify the subject area of your research interest (i.e. one of the
following: Anthropology, Geography, International Relations, Law, Politics,
Psychology or Sociology).
Applications for research degrees may be submitted at any time during the year.
You should however allow at least a month between submitting your application
and your expected start date, to allow enough time to process your application. For
proposed start date, you should be aware that the enrolment dates are at the end
of January and September (start of Semesters 1 and 2).
Under research degree programme and mode of study, please tick the
appropriate box.
2 Personal Details
You must complete all relevant sections; this is particularly important for all
international candidates. You must include nationality and country of domicile.
For visa purposes, international candidates should complete passport number and
details of the visa classification as recorded in your passport, along with home and
UK address.
3 Your Education (including Professional Qualifications and Training Courses)
Give the names and locations of educational institutions which you have
attended (school/college, university, etc), as well as dates of attendance. Under
Subject(s) give brief descriptions of subjects/courses studied. Under Result give
qualifications and grades (e.g. BA Hons 2.1). If appropriate, give details of
Professional Qualifications, including date when awarded, and details of
membership of professional bodies. If appropriate, give information on Training
Courses, including length of course, dates, and awards.
All applicants must provide certified copies of your degree certificates
and/or an official transcript of your academic record to date.

You should include details of degree or other qualifications which you expect to
obtain before attending the programme at Oxford Brookes University for which
you are hereby applying.
4 Your Employment/Professional Experience/Unpaid Occupations
Describe any paid work which you have undertaken and/or professional
experience which you have gained, giving dates, names of employers, job title and
main responsibilities. If applicable, give details of any unpaid/voluntary work
experience and unpaid occupations, e.g. raising a family.
5 Your English Proficiency
Only fill in this section if English is not your main language. Please tell us
about your qualifications and proficiency in English - if you do not already hold a
recent acceptable qualification in English e.g. (IELTS or TOEFL), you must
obtain one before you can be admitted to a postgraduate course at the University.
It is very important that you are able to understand and use English well, so that
you can benefit fully from your time at Oxford Brookes University. The minimum
IELTS score required for entry to the research degree programme is 6.5 – 7
overall, with at least 5.5 in all of the individual components. In addition, in the
School of Social Sciences and Law it is a usual expectation that candidates have at
least 6.5 in both reading and writing.
You must enclose copies of any certificates etc which you have been awarded
on completion of English language courses/tests. If you have any queries
regarding acceptable English language qualifications, please contact Oxford
Brookes International, tel: +44 (0) 1865 48 3874, fax: +44 (0) 1865 48 4377,
email: pathways@brookes.ac.uk, website:
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/international/pathway/index_html
6 Proposed Research Programme
The provisional research proposal should be 700-1,000 words in length and
should include a title, summarizing the proposed subject area to be covered by the
research project. There is no specified format for research proposals but the
following areas are usually covered: introduction, literature review, previous
experience of research area, how your research project will make an original and
independent contribution to knowledge, details of research methods proposed to
carry out the project and the aims/ objectives of the research project.
Please note for the MA/MSc/LLM by Research, you need to provide explicit
detail of any previous experience and training in research methods, as this will be
assessed by the Postgraduate Research Tutor before any offer is made. You may be
required to undertake up to the equivalent of 60 M-level credits in research
methods training.
If you would like to check whether your specific research interests can be
adequately supervised within the School, please e-mail your provisional research
proposal and a brief (2 page) CV to: sslresearch@brookes.ac.uk. The Research
Administrator will contact the Research Co-ordinator in the relevant Department to
ascertain whether the Department has the potential to put together a supervisory

team in your area of interest. If so, you will be encouraged to make a full
application.
7 Personal Statement
It is important that you take time to complete this section in full and explain why
you are applying for a place on the research degree programme and how it relates
to your academic and career development.
8 Names and Addresses of TWO Referees
Please fill in the following details on the two reference forms (which you should
have received with this application form): your name and details of the programme
for which you are applying.
You must then send the forms to the two people whom you have named as
referees (at least one referee should be academic). Your referees should be able to
tell us about the standard of your recent academic/professional work. Both
referees should return their references directly to Oxford Brookes University.
9 Finance
Complete all relevant sections as indicated on the form.
10 Disability/Special Needs
Please enter in the box the code from the list of statements below, which is the
most appropriate to you.
Describe your condition in the space provided and where it is not obvious, i.e.
with unseen disabilities, indicate whether you have special needs.
Disabilities/Support Required:
0 You do not have a disability nor are you aware of any additional support
requirements in study or accommodation.
1 You have dyslexia.
2 You are blind/are partially sighted.
3 You are deaf/have a hearing impairment.
4 You are a wheelchair user/have mobility difficulties.
5 You need personal care support.
6 You have mental health difficulties.
7 You have an unseen disability, e.g. diabetes, epilepsy or asthma.
8 You have two or more of the above disabilities/special needs.
9 You have a disability not listed above.
11 Criminal Convictions
You are asked to say on the application form whether you have any criminal
convictions. Information about criminal convictions is sought as part of the
application process to help us reduce the risk of harm or injury to our students
caused by the criminal behaviour of other students. To do this, we must know
about any relevant criminal convictions you have.
You must tick the 'yes' box if you have a conviction, not including:

A motoring conviction for which you received only a fine and/or 3 penalty
points; or
A spent sentence (as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) (see
note below on this act) UNLESS you are applying for a course involving work
with children including but not necessarily limited to teaching, health or social
work courses when you must disclose spent convictions and cautions as well.
If you are in doubt as to whether this applies to you, please contact the
University directly.
Note: If you are uncertain whether a conviction is a spent conviction or
sentence then you can get more advice from your local Citizens Advice Bureau
or probation service, or from NACRO (the Association for the Care and
Resettlement of Offenders). You can also contact a solicitor, but you may have
to pay for the legal advice.
If you have not been convicted of a criminal offence, you must tick the 'no' box.
If you tick the 'yes' box, you may be asked to provide more details, if so you
should send these directly to the Admissions Office.
If you do not tick either the 'yes' or 'no' box, we will not process your
application form. We will contact you to ask for information, but this will delay
your application and you could miss the deadline.
If you are convicted of a criminal offence after you have applied, you must inform
us and you may be required to provide more information, but this will delay your
application and you could miss the deadline.
If you are in prison or youth custody
In addition to supplying the information already required in this section, if you are
serving a sentence in prison or youth custody you must give the prison or youth
custody centre as your postal address on page 1 of the form and a senior prison
officer/youth custody officer must support your application in addition to your
educational referee.
12 How did you hear about the Oxford Brookes programme for which you are
applying?
It is important for us to know how you heard about the programme for which you
are applying, so that we can maintain and improve the level of information which
we provide.
13 Declaration
Please read the application form carefully. You must sign it or we cannot process
your application. The information which you give on your application form will
be used for the following purposes only:
a) To enable your application for entry to be considered
b) To enable the institution to compile statistics, or to assist other
organizations or individual research workers to do so, provided that

no statistical information which would identify you as a person is
published.
c) To enable the institution to create and maintain your student record.
ALL Applicants:
(1) Check that you have completed the relevant sections of
the 2 reference forms and then send these forms to your
referees.
(2) Please enclose all the relevant documents when
returning the application form to the University, e.g. copies of
degree certificates/transcripts of academic record to date;
evidence of English proficiency.
(3) Check that all sections of the application form have been
completed and return your application form to the address
given at the top of the form.