School of Social and Political Science

Visiting students

If you are interested in becoming a visiting or exchange student (i.e. taking courses for credit) at the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, please see the Visiting Student Office for further information.

Visiting Research Students

A visiting research student is someone who is currently enrolled full-time in a research programme at another institution, but who is conducting research at the University of Edinburgh for a period of between one month and one year. They will not graduate from the University of Edinburgh, and will return to their home institution following the defined period of research.

Research students interested in conducting research at the School of Social and Political Science must first have support from a supervisor within the School.  Please see our Staff Pages to help identify an academic with research interests related to your own and contact them before submitting an application. 

Applications:

Note that the start date must be the 1st of the month, visits can only be in whole calendar months and applications must be submitted at least 8 weeks before the intended start date.  The months of August/September and December/January are generally extremely busy and limited applications can be processed. We recommend to submit any applications around these months at least 12 weeks before the intended start date. Please do not make any travel arrangements before you receive an official offer from the Visiting Student Office.

To start an application please review the information below, download and complete the VPG Application Form and send this to the SPS PGR team at pgresearch.sps@ed.ac.uk with all required documents.

A minimum of 5 documents are required to be included along with the VPG Application Form, as listed in section 8 of the VPG Application Form. An application will only be considered as submitted once all the required documents are received and we have confirmation of support from your proposed supervisor.

Required for all applications:
  • Two Official Transcripts - Please include transcripts of your previous study and current study (e.g. an interim transcript or matriculation certificate advising you are studying in the academic year of your visit). More details regarding transcripts and Certified translations are available at the below web page. https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/applying/your-application
  • Academic Reference - At least one academic reference is required as part of the Visiting Research Student application and this should be a letter from an academic at your institution, which would normally be your supervisor, that confirms they support your visit away from your institution and recommend you as a Visiting Research student to the University of Edinburgh.
  • Personal Statement - A personal statement is required as part of the Visiting Research Student application. This should be around 500 words and explain your motivation to study at the University of Edinburgh along with any other relevant information which you feel may support your application, for example your interest and suitability for the subject area or relevant extra-curricular activities.
  • Current Research Proposal - Required
  • C.V - Optional. Please provide a C.V is your potential supervisor has requested this.
Additional requirement for all applications over 3 months:

English language Test Score - Please see section 6 of the VPG Application form and English Language Entry Requirements.

Additional requirement for all applications who require a student visa:

SPS Supervisor Letter of Support - In most occasions this can also be used as a Letter of Invitation. If you are unsure if you require a Visa please see our Student Immigration Services web pages and contact the Student Immigration Services team directly.

For general information on entry requirements, fees, and contact details, please see the Visiting Student Office website.

Visiting Taught Students

Please note that we are not able to offer a visiting student option for current taught master’s students unless there is a pre-arranged agreement between your home institution and the University of Edinburgh to this effect. It is not possible to attend the Graduate School of Social and Political Science as a study abroad option.

Fees

Information about fees for postgraduate visiting students can be found on the Scholarships and Student Funding website.

For further information about tuition fees, please contact the University’s fees team: fees@ed.ac.uk.

Evidence of English

As all students must be able to read textbooks, understand lectures, take part in classroom discussions and undertake written work in English, proof of academic-level English is required of all applicants.  

For Visiting Research Students, proof of academic-level English is only required if you stay exceeds 3 months whether consecutively or non-consecutively.  

Please follow the guidance and links to further information here.