As a student in London, you'll be welcomed into a city where over 300 languages are spoken and where over 100,000 students from 200 countries come to study each year.

Imperial is ranked as the UK's most international university and located in the central heart of the Best Student City in the World – London. Each year we welcome students from nearly 140 countries.

East Asian nations currently represented at Imperial include: China, including Hong Kong, Macau; Taiwan; Japan and South Korea.

In addition, the College is very active in the East Asia region, with several key institutional partners particularly in China and South Korea.

An undergraduate degree at Imperial normally lasts three years for a Bachelor’s level qualification or four years for an integrated Master’s.

Some departments offer a year abroad or a year in industry which can add to the overall length of your degree.

Apply via UCAS

To apply for a full-time undergraduate programme at Imperial, you must make an online application via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service – UCAS. The UCAS code for Imperial College London is I50. 

UCAS allows you to apply to a maximum of five courses in one cycle. Our How to Apply page has detailed step-by-step instructions; you can also visit the UCAS website for more in-depth advice.

Academic entry requirements

Our degrees require suitable school leaving qualifications in certain subjects for entry.

All departments expect you to pass these subjects, normally with an A* or A at A-level or an overall grade of 7 or 6 at Higher Level of the IB or grade 5–5* in HKDSE (or equivalent). Successful applicants would have studied the right combination of the relevant subjects in their qualifications.

The subject and grade requirements for each course are published on our course pages. Our subject requirements are defined as follows:

• Required subjects: specific subjects we will expect you to have studied; we will also require to achieve certain grades in these subjects – the grades we expect you to achieve vary by course.
• Recommended subjects: subjects that are not required by the Department and will not affect admissions decisions, but they can provide useful preparation for the course.

You can submit your results after you have applied; this is usual practice in the UK and is the reason why you must specify clearly which exams you are due to take on your UCAS application.

Minimum academic standard required for entry

For the minimum College entry standard for all the qualifications that we accept for entry, please see our Admissions website. Please note we review our minimum entry requirements annually so they are subject to change.  

If your country or qualification is not listed in the table, please contact the relevant Admissions Team for guidance.

Qualifications that are not accepted for entry

Please note that we do not consider the following qualifications sufficient for entry to any of our degrees at Imperial, but you may be considered by taking an accepted Foundation programme, or an accepted qualification at an external provider:

• Chinese National College Entrance Exam (普通高等学校招生全国统一考试 / 高考)
• Japanese High School Diploma (高等卒業証書 / そつぎょうしょうしょ)
• Korean High School Diploma (고등학교 졸업장 / 고등학교 과정 수료증) or High School Graduation Equivalency Examination
• Taiwan Senior High School Graduation Certificate (台湾高級中等學校畢業證書)

English language requirements

All applicants should also achieve the required level of English language and provide evidence of a valid English language qualification to qualify for a place.

Please note that there are two levels of English language requirement at Imperial:

• Standard
• Higher

See the English language requirement on the relevant course page to see whether your chosen course requires the standard or higher level. Our English language requirement page has more information about the requirements for each level.

You do not need to have reached the required level before you apply. We can assess your academic profile without your English language qualification. Should we decide to make an offer, we would give you a target grade to meet as part of your offer.

If you have studied one of our recognised English language qualifications as part of your High School studies (e.g. IGCSE English, HKDSE English, IB English etc.), you may be exempt from the need to provide additional evidence of your English language ability. Check our English language requirement page for full details.

English language proficiency tests should have been obtained within two years of the start date of your chosen course.

A Master's degree at Imperial normally lasts one year, though we do offer some degrees which you can take part-time over two years and PG Certificate and PG Diploma qualifications which vary in length.

A PhD with us will usually take 3–4 years of full-time study to complete. 

How to apply

To apply for a Master's or Doctoral course, you need to submit an application via our online application system.

Find out more about how to apply.

Academic entry requirements

Postgraduate study at Imperial is intense and intellectually demanding. Successful applicants would normally be expected to hold or to have achieved a minimum of an Upper Second Class (2:1) honours degree from a UK university or an equivalent standard from a recognised overseas university by the start of the course.

To check if your international qualification meets the College minimum requirement, please see our Country and Region Index.

Please note that requirements or acceptability may differ for specific or other types of institution. Departments may also often  set higher level requirements, due to the demanding and competitive nature of our courses. 

English language requirements

Successful applicants will need to achieve a certain level of English to qualify for a place on their chosen course.

Each course specifies either a Standard or Higher language requirement, which is the level of English required for entry on to that particular course, even if English is your first language. 

Full details can be found on the relevant course page and English language requirement page.

Re-applying

If you have previously applied to Imperial and were unsuccessful, you will need to submit a new application.

If you have successfully requested deferred entry, you do not need to complete a new application.

Examples of scholarships for students from East Asia include:

Undergraduate students

• President's Undergraduate Scholarships
• Yanai Tadashi Foundation Scholarship (Japan)

Master's students

• Leonard Chow Engineering Scholarship (Hong Kong)

Research students

• President's PhD Scholarships
• CSC Imperial Scholarships
• Lee Family Scholarship (China and Hong Kong)
• Stephen and Anna Hui Fellowship (China and Hong Kong)

Igor, second-year Mechanical Engineering, Japan

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If life at Imperial was all labs and lectures, we wouldn’t have over 380 clubs and societies to get involved with, and state-of-the-art sports facilities right on campus.  

All of our clubs, societies and projects are open to all students, though below are some that you may find of particular interest.

And if there isn’t a society for the things you love yet, you can set one up!  

All of our societies are open to all students but here are some you may find of particular interest:

• Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA)
• Chinese society 
• Japanese society 
• Korean society
• Taiwan society 
• K Pop society  
• Shorinji Kempo 
• Shaolin Kung-Fu 

Virtual tour

To get a feel for life on our South Kensington Campus, visit our virtual tour website, Imperial360.

Your relationship with Imperial does not end when you graduate. Some of our international alumni stay in the UK, for instance on a Start-up Visa. 

Meanwhile, the new Graduate Worker Route, launching in 2021, will enable graduates to work in the UK for two years after completing an undergraduate or postgraduate Masters degree, or three years after completing a PhD.

Others move abroad again, and as an Imperial alumnus you will join a community of over 190,000 former students in 200 countries.

We have alumni groups worldwide and you can join our online platform Imperial Plexus to help you build links with other former students. In East Asia, these include:

• Alumni Association of China (Beijing)
• Alumni Association of East China (Shanghai)
• Alumni Association of South China (Shenzhen)
• Alumni Association of Hong Kong
• South Kensington Kai, Japan
• Alumni Association of South Korea
• Alumni Association of Taiwan