South East Asia

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.

The South East Asian nations currently represented at Imperial include:

• Brunei Darussalam
• Indonesia
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• Singapore
• Thailand
• The Philippines
• Vietnam

At the undergraduate level, the College is a partner in NTU's (Singapore) Renaissance Engineering Programme which allows the top 50 engineering students at NTU to train at Imperial (or other partner universities) for one year of their four-and-a-half year integrated programme. The programme combines the study of engineering, science, technology, business, economics and entrepreneurship.

Find out more about Imperial's ties with South East Asia on the Global Imperial website.

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.

Applying 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. Find step-by-step instructions on how to apply; you can also visit the UCAS website for more in-depth advice.

If we want to offer you a place, but you have not yet taken your final school exams, then we would usually make you a 'conditional offer'. This means we will guarantee you a place at Imperial subject to you satisfying the conditions of your offer, such as achieving certain scores in your final qualifications and gaining an ATAS certificate for certain courses.

You can submit your results after you have applied; this is usual practice in the UK and is the reason why you must let us know which qualifications you are taking on your UCAS application.

Academic entry requirements

Exact entry requirements vary by course - see the entry requirements section on our course pages  for details of the range of international qualifications we accept. 

If your school qualification is not on the list of accepted qualifications, you may be considered by taking an accepted Foundation programme, or an accepted qualification at an external provider - see our course pages for details.

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.

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.

National Service

If you need to complete National Service and you apply to Imperial two years before you are due to complete this, you should initially apply for deferred entry at the point of applying through UCAS.

If your place is confirmed within the UCAS cycle in which you apply, you can then contact the relevant Admissions team the next September to request another deferment of your place to the following year (i.e. the year you are due to complete your National Service).

We try to accommodate all deferment requests but these are subject to approval.

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 for postgraduate taught or postgraduate doctoral study.

Academic entry requirements

Exact entry requirements vary per course, but to be considered for admission to a Master's e.g. MSc, MRes, MBA etc, you should hold a Bachelor's degree. 

To check if your international qualification meets the College minimum requirement, please see our accepted qualifications.

Departments may also often  set higher level requirements, due to the demanding and competitive nature of our courses. 

For the vast majority of our degrees, we do not require additional testing such as the GRE or GMAT. If we do require any additional testing it will be clearly stated on the course page.

If you're applying for a Doctoral degree, you should hold a Master's degree – the grades you require will be specified by the Department you're applying to. In addition, you'll need to hold a Bachelor's degree passed at the prescribed level.

If we want to make you an offer, but you have not yet graduated, then we would usually make you a conditional offer subject to you achieving a certain grade or score. This means your place at Imperial is guaranteed providing you meet the conditions of your offer.

You can submit your overall average after you have made your application, which is normal practice in the UK.

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.

You can search all of our scholarships in one place.

Examples of scholarships for students from South East Asia include:

Undergraduate students

• World Scientific Scholarships

Master's students

• Imperial College London - GREAT Scholarship for Malaysian students
• Imperial College London - ASEAN - UK SAGE: Women in STEM Scholarship
• Chevening Scholarships

Research students

• President's PhD Scholarships
• Islamic Development Bank – Imperial College Scholarship

Undergraduate, Master's and Research students

• Commonwealth scholarships (developing countries)

• UK scholarships and fellowships for Singaporeans

Medical Biosciences student Kah Yan (Malaysia)

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If life at Imperial was all labs and lectures, we wouldn’t have around 350 clubs and societies to get involved with, and state-of-the-art sports facilities right on campus.  

Imperial College Union organises and funds our huge range of student activities. And if you find there isn’t a society for the things you love yet, they can help you can set one up!   

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

• Bruneian Society
• Filipino Society
• Indonesian Society
• Malaysian Society
• RED Project Borneo
• Singaporean society
• Thai Society

Multi-faith provision

There is a student-run Islamic prayer room on campus with separate male and female areas available. Three multi-faith prayer rooms are also available in the Chaplaincy Multi-Faith Centre for use by all faith groups.

All university accommodation is self-catered. Halal and vegetarian options are also available in catering outlets on campus

Virtual tour

To get a feel for life on our South Kensington Campus, take a virtual tour.

Cultural diversity at Imperial

In our new Shifting The Lens series, Imperial staff and students have opened up about their culture and heritage.

Read about their lives outside of the College – from the festivals they celebrate to the challenges they have faced.

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 South East Asia these include:

• Imperial College Alumni Association of Indonesia
• Imperial College Alumni Association of Malaysia
• Imperial College Alumni Association of Singapore
• Imperial College Alumni Association of Thailand