Guidance for EU Students and Staff
This page was last updated on 22 January 2022
Brexit Guidance for Current and Prospective EU Students, and Staff
While the UK has left the European Union (Brexit), QMU is an outward looking, internationally focused university that values our European students and connections greatly, recognising their crucial contribution to our academic and cultural richness.
We warmly welcome students and staff from across Europe to be part of our academic community. We are determined to ensure that this continues beyond Brexit.
The guidance below is for prospective students, current students and staff. We will continue to update this guidance as appropriate.
APPLICANTS AND STUDENTS
See below for information for different student categories and also information on the EU Settlement Scheme and the new graduate route visa.
Undergraduate students entering in the academic year 2021/22
As a result of Brexit, higher education students from the EU starting their studies from academic year 2021-22 will no longer have the costs of their tuition fees met by the Scottish Government unless they have already obtained pre or settled status in the UK. ‘Home fee’ status for EU students has come to end, and they arevclassified as international students for the purposes of tuition fees. However, we are discounting our full-time international fee to £7000 per year for some undergraduate programmes, with details as shown further below on this page.
The Scottish Government has confirmed that undergraduate students from the Republic of Ireland who commence their studies in 2021/22 will have the same fee status as students from the rest of the UK, excluding Scotland. This means that full time students from the Republic of Ireland commencing in 2021/22 on an honours programme will be required to pay fees for the first three years of study (£9250 per annum). No fee will be charged in year four. A tuition fee loan of up to this amount will be available from the Student Awards Agency Scotland for Republic of Ireland students.
Irish nationals living in the UK and Ireland whose right to study and to access benefits and services will be preserved on a reciprocal basis for UK and Irish nationals under the Common Travel Area arrangement. So Irish students who started in January 2021 will not require a visa to travel or study in Scotland.
EU and international undergraduate student fee discount: 2021/22
For 2021/22 entry we will be discounting our full-time international fee to £7000 per year for the following undergraduate programmes:
- BA (Hons) Business Management
- BA (Hons) Event and Festival Management
- BA (Hons) International Hospitality and Tourism Management
- BA (Hons) Media and Communications
- BA (Hons) PR and Marketing Communications
- BSc (Hons) Nutrition
- Master of Dietetics
- Master of Nursing
- Master of Occupational Therapy
- Master of Physiotherapy
- Master of Podiatry
- Master of Radiography: Diagnostic
- Master of Radiography: Therapeutic
- Master of Speech & Language Therapy
The discount for the above programmes applies to all full-time undergraduate EU and international students with international fee status. The discount will apply for the duration of the programme (up to a maximum of four years).
This discount does not apply to students from the Republic of Ireland as there are special arrangements as set out further up this page.
EU and international undergraduate student fees: 2022/23
The EU and international undergraduate fee discount introduced in 2021/22, which discounted our full-time international fee to £7000 per year for many of our courses has been embedded from 2022/23. Please see our fees page for the courses to which this fee applies.
Postgraduate students entering from 2021
Please note that EU students (with the exception of Irish nationals) commencing study from January 2021 onwards require a student visa to study in the UK.
Irish nationals living in the UK and Ireland whose right to study and to access benefits and services will be preserved on a reciprocal basis for UK and Irish nationals under the Common Travel Area arrangement. So Irish students who started in January 2021 will not require a visa to travel or study in Scotland.
Fees and transitionary scholarships for postgraduate EU students in academic years 21/22 and 22/23
The Scottish Government have confirmed that, as a result of Brexit, higher education students from the EU starting their studies from academic year 2021-22 no longer have the costs of their tuition fees met by the Scottish Government unless they have already obtained pre or settled status in the UK (but see exclusion below for students from the Republic of Ireland). ‘Home fee’ status for these students has come to end, and they are classified as international students for the purposes of tuition fees. As part of our management of the Brexit transition, for many of our courses, we have introduced an EU transitional scholarship for EU full-time postgraduate students commencing their studies on campus in academic years 2021/22 and 2022/23. This provides a 40% discount on international tuition fees. The scholarship is available to EU students for whom the international fee rate applies and covers the majority of our postgraduate programmes. See our fees page for confirmation of the courses to which this scholarship applies. This transitional scholarship is not applicable to students from the Republic of Ireland, who will continue to be eligible for the home fee rate.
Special arrangement for students from the Republic of Ireland: Postgraduate students from the Republic of Ireland commencing their studies from 2021/22 have the same fee status as home/rest of UK students. Details of home/rest of UK fees for each postgraduate course is available on our 2021/22 postgraduate fees page. Eligible students from the Republic of Ireland are also be able to access a tuition fee loan from Student Awards Agency Scotland.
EU Settlement Scheme Guidance
Note that this scheme closed on 30 June 2021. The withdrawal agreement which facilitated the UK’s departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020 includes an agreement on citizens' rights during the transitional/implementation period which was in place until 31 December 2020. During this time, EU, non-EU EEA and Swiss citizens could come to, or remain in, the UK on the same basis as they were able to prior to the UK’s departure from the EU.
The Student Route (visa) is now open to EEA students as well as international students. EEA students resident in the UK on or before 31 December 2020, should not apply through the route if they had applied for the EU Settlement Scheme by 30 June 2021. Students arriving in the UK from 1 January 2021 onwards will need to apply for a student visa if they are studying a course which is longer than six months in length.
More information on the Student Route (visa)
More information on the EU Settlement Scheme
Visa information for students arriving from January 1st 2021
EU/EEA and Swiss students coming to the UK on or after 1 January 2021 need to apply through the Student Route (visa), ahead of arriving in the UK. This includes those who begin their course remotely in autumn 2020. Further guidance for EU/EEA and Swiss students.
More information on the Student Route (visa)
If you have any specific queries regarding studying at QMU please contact our Admissions Team who will be pleased to help: admissions@qmu.ac.uk.
Our international team are also always ready to help current and prospective international (including EU) students: international@qmu.ac.uk
Further information for EU students
Information from the British Council:
Information from the Scottish Government:
EU citizens staying in Scotland: package of support page.
Factsheets explaining the rights of EU citizens in Scotland with settled and pre-settled status.
Information from UKICSA:
STUDENT MOBILITY AND BREXIT (Erasmus and Turing schemes)
The Erasmus academic mobility scheme will continue until the end of the 21/22 academic year. While the Erasmus scheme will end after that, as a result of Brexit, the UK Government is launching a new global student mobility initiative, the Turing Scheme. We will publish more information on the Turing Scheme when available.
EU STAFF
On 21 June 2018, the Home Office published details of a Settlement Scheme for EU citizens in the UK. EU citizens living in the UK and their family members will need to make an application under this scheme to obtain their new UK immigration status. They will need to demonstrate that they have been living continuously in the UK for five years to be granted settled status. EU citizens living in the UK for fewer years will be granted pre-settled status until the five year point is reached. The application will essentially involve providing evidence under three categories: (1) Identity - the applicant will need to prove their identity; (2) Eligibility – the applicant will need show that that they live in the UK; and (3) Suitability (Criminality) – the applicant will need to declare that they have no serious criminal convictions. Following a phased introduction, which included a pilot scheme open to higher education employees including those at QMU, the scheme was fully operational by March 2019. The deadline for applications was 30 June 2021.
Settled and pre-settled status for EU citizens and their families.
The Scottish Government has prepared an EU citizens staying in Scotland: package of support page. The Scottish Government has also worked with JustRight Scotland to publish a number of factsheets explaining the rights of EU citizens in Scotland with settled and pre-settled status.
Please note that EU citizens can also sign up to receive email updates directly from the Home Office at Stay Informed.
For further advice, please contact our Human Resources team, who will be .
See the statement from our Principal issued at the time of the referendum result in June 2016.
