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Published: 16 Jun 2025 24 views
A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan is available for students normally residing in England to help meet the cost of doctoral study in the UK.
For the 2024/25 academic year, the UK Government is offering a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan of up to £29,390 per student. The loan, which is not means tested, will be divided equally across each year of your course. The money will be paid directly to you, so you can choose to use it towards your course fees or living costs.
The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1828 as the Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery) and Mason Science College (established in 1875 by Sir Josiah Mason), making it the first English civic or 'red brick' university to receive its own royal charter. It is a founding member of both the Russell Group of British research universities and the international network of research uni... continue reading
| Application Deadline | 31 Dec 2025 |
| Value | £29,390 |
| Country to study | United Kingdom |
| School to study | University of Birmingham |
| Type | PhD |
| Sponsor | University of Birmingham |
| Gender | Men and Women |
A loan of up to £29,390 will be made available to students applying to doctoral research courses starting on or after 1st August 2024.
The loan will be available to students across all discipline subject areas for full-time, part-time and distance learning doctoral programmes, so long as you do not have existing qualifications at Doctoral level or above.
The loans are available to students under the age of 60 on the first day of the first academic year of their programme. The academic year is a period of 12 months starting on:
1 September, if your course starts between 1 August and 31 December
1 January, if your course starts between 1 January and 31 March
1 April, if your course starts between 1 April and 30 June
1 July, if your course starts between 1 July and 31 July
The loan is available to UK nationals who have been living in England for three years by the first day of their course (and who have not moved to England just to study).
The loan is also available to EU students (nationality and residency rules for EU nationals apply). If you started or are starting a course on or after 1 August 2021, you must have settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to get student finance.
Distance learning applicants must reside in England on the first day of the first academic year of their course and remain living within the UK for the whole of the course.
Students who already hold a Doctoral qualification (or an equivalent or higher-level qualification) will not be eligible for the loan.
Postgraduate Doctoral Loans are not available to students wanting to ‘top-up’ a lower level qualification to a Doctoral degree. The course must be a full, standalone Doctoral course.
The course must last between three to eight academic years and be delivered by a UK university in the UK (you are still eligible for the loan if more than one university delivers your course and one is oversees, as long as the UK university is the lead university and you spend at least 50% of your study time in the UK). Please note that applicants to our Dubai campus will not be eligible for the Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.
Students are not eligible for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan if they are in receipt of any other funding from any of the following:
Research Council funding (for example, studentships, stipends, scholarships and tuition fee support)
Social work bursary
NHS bursary
You can apply for non-repayable Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA) in addition to the Doctoral Loan to cover some of the extra costs you have because of a mental health problem, long-term illness or any other disability. You do not have to apply for a Doctoral Loan to be eligible for DSA . Postgraduate students can apply for a single allowance DSA payment of up to £25,575 (2022/23) to support them in their course.
You apply directly to Student Finance England (SFE) for the Doctoral Loan. You can find out more via the Postgraduate Doctoral Loans website.
We recommend that you apply for a place on your course at the University of Birmingham prior to applying for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan.
You will need to know your course name, start date and the duration of your course in order to apply. Please use our programme list to select the correct subject/course name on the Doctoral Loan application form.
The deadline to apply is nine months after the first day of the last year of your course.
For more details, visit University of Birmingham Scholarship webpage
