Accreditation of Prior Learning

Accreditation of prior learning allows us to give you credit for any previous study at undergraduate level if you’ve left your course before completing it. 

It may be possible for us to give you credit for any modules you passed in your previous course as long as there is sufficient unit match with the course you want to study at Durham, and you left your previous university in ‘good academic standing’.

If you’ve studied at another university and would like to apply to Durham then you’ll need to apply through UCAS.

Before you apply

All of our courses will accept transfers from other universities into Year 1 and many will accept transfers into Year 2, all of which will be looked at on a case-by-case basis (in competition with all other ‘on-time’ applications we receive), depending on the course you have studied elsewhere and whether the modules you have studied meet our pre-requisites. Transfers into Years 3 or 4 of any of our courses is not possible.

As well as considering your current course, we normally expect you to have achieved the entry requirements for the course you are applying for. These can be found on our courses database here.

In exceptional cases, we may be able to consider you if you’ve narrowly missed the entry requirements if:

• there are other strengths in your application
• if you would have qualified for one of our Contextual Offers
• there were mitigating circumstances that affected your achievement in your previous qualifications. 

If you are leaving your current course or if you left a previous course due to academic failure, we would only be able to consider your application if there was evidence of special circumstances affecting your studies.    For more information on this, please see our good standing regulations.

We are happy to provide advice and guidance before you make an application if you Ask Us.  If you are interested in applying for Year 2 entry then we strongly recommend you to contact us before you make an application.

The following Departments will not consider transfers into Year 2 of their courses:

• Faculty of Business
• Combined Honours in Social Science
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• English
• Government and International Affairs
• Law
• Music
• Philosophy.

Your application

If you have studied at another university or are currently studying at another university, please include the following information in your application:

• list your current/previous university and qualification in the “previous/current education” section of the application
• ask one of your current/previous university tutors/lecturers to act as referee
• request a transcript from your current or previous university
• save the module/course descriptions you have studied or are studying as we will need to see these when we consider your application (particularly if you are applying for year 2 entry)
• include a short statement on why you wish to transfer university/course in your personal statement.

You must include all information about your current or previous study on your application. 

If you have any further questions about transferring to Durham, please Ask Us.