Birkbeck, University of London

Birkbeck is unlike every other university and the difference has to be understood before applying, not after. Birkbeck teaches primarily in the evening. It presents this as an advantage — students 'can study alongside London's working professionals and pursue an internship or part-time work opportunities during the day' — and for a Londoner already in work it is one. For an international applicant it raises a question that arises nowhere else: whether the intended course is full-time. A Student visa requires full-time study, and a part-time programme will not support one. Against that, Birkbeck is the most open institution here on qualifications. It states that 'we welcome applications from students with no previous qualifications or those with no recent experience of higher education', and invites applicants who are unsure to apply anyway and explain their background. Where LSE will not accept the Kazakh school certificate at all and Glasgow does not accept Kazakh national qualifications, that is a genuinely different posture. Every University of London institution awards its own degrees and admits independently. King's, UCL, LSE, Queen Mary, Royal Holloway, SOAS, Goldsmiths, Birkbeck, City St George's and Brunel are all members of the federation, and naming two of them on a UCAS form uses two of the five choices.