FAQs

International students are not eligible for the foundation year courses.

International students can apply for direct entry to our undergraduate courses and there is extensive information on our website at ox.ac.uk/study about the university and the application process, which we hope will be helpful. For more information about courses available at the university please see A-Z of courses.

You can also find advice about applying as an international student at Guidance for international students including information about whether the university will accept your international qualifications and what grades you would be expected to achieve.

Category 2 of our eligibility criteria states that students should attend, normally for all secondary education, non-selective state-funded schools. Therefore applicants who have studied at an independent school/college at any point in their education (including those on scholarships) would not be eligible to apply. 

If you wish to apply to an undergraduate degree directly without a foundation year there is lots of information available on our undergraduate website about the entry requirements and application process.

Category 2 of our eligibility criteria states that students should attend, normally for all secondary education, non-selective state-funded schools. Therefore applicants from selective or grammar schools would not be eligible to apply unless they are care experienced and meet Category 4 of our eligibility criteria.  

If you wish to apply to an undergraduate degree directly without a foundation year there is lots of information available on our undergraduate website about the entry requirements and application process.

Oxford does sometimes accept applications from students who are currently studying at another university, however please bear in mind that this is a foundation year course pitched at a level of pre-university study. Your full academic record would be taken into account in your application, including your A-levels (or other equivalent qualifications) and study at university level, so we would need evidence of your performance on your university course. 

If you wish to apply to an undergraduate degree course directly without a foundation year, please note that you will need to complete the full application process, including submitting any written work and interviews, required for your chosen course. For full details, please see our apply pages. 

Please be aware that you would need to inform the other institution of this application and they would have to agree to “release” you. If possible, your reference should come from one of the academic staff at your current university.  
 
We suggest that you also look into the financial implications of this option as it would involve an extra year of undergraduate study.  
 
Another option might be to complete your current undergraduate degree and then consider applying to Oxford for a graduate course.

Mature applicants may be eligible to apply for the Astrophoria Foundation Year.

Competition for places at Oxford is very strong. For students who have followed the traditional A-level route we are normally looking for a level of attainment of at least grades BBB for entry into the foundation year courses. However, we do understand that people often develop their academic interests and skills later in life, and the advantage of the Oxford admissions process is that each individual application is scrutinised carefully by our academic teaching staff.  
 
However, in order to be competitive, it is necessary to demonstrate recent academic achievement, so you need to have been studying an academic course within the past three years. This might be A-levels, or it could be an Access to Higher Education qualification, Open University course, or similar. You can find the full details of what we accept on our Astrophoria Foundation Year webpages. 

Whatever course of study you pursue before Oxford, your application is made in exactly the same way as school leavers and assessed on the same academic criteria. For details of each of our courses and their entrance criteria please see our Astrophoria Foundation Year webpages. Some will require you to have studied particular subjects before (for example, Mathematics and Physics are required to study Engineering).  

Predicted grades for any qualifications not yet completed by any candidate applying as an individual, rather than through a UCAS-registered school or college, should be included in the academic reference on the UCAS application form. We also can’t consider an application without a reference, so you need to make sure that you ask someone who can comment on your academic ability and potential to write one for you. If you don’t have a reference, your application will be incomplete and we won’t be able to consider it. Normally your referee should be a teacher or tutor at your current or most recent place of education; it should not be a friend or family member. Do make sure to approach your referee in plenty of time – there is lots of guidance for them on how to write a reference for UCAS on our advice for teachers page.

An asylum seeker is considered to be someone who is in the process of seeking asylum, or the decision is still pending. Usually your fee status is classed as ‘overseas’* and you would not be eligible to apply for student finance. Therefore because asylum seekers would likely not be eligible for ‘home’* fees student finance support for an undergraduate degree at Oxford or other university they are not eligible to apply for a foundation year course.

If your status changes in advance of your application and you are defined as a refugee or are granted humanitarian protection you would meet the eligibility in section 3 of the eligibility criteria.

* Fee status is defined by UK government regulations. More information can be found on the UK Council for International Students' (UKCISA) website.

Please email the Foundation Year Team at admissions@foundationyear.ox.ac.uk with details of the qualification that you are taking.