To apply for entry to the MSc in Holistic Science please complete and return to us the application form (see Application, below).
If you have any questions about the MSc programme please contact us by emailing holisticscience@schumachercollege.org.uk
We normally expect our MSc students to hold a first degree in a natural or a social science, but we will accept applications from non-graduates in exceptional circumstances when relevant life and work experience can be demonstrated.
MSc students must be able to converse and write fluently in English. All applicants who do not hold a GCSE (Grade C or above) in English Language, must provide evidence of their English language ability in the form of a professional English qualification, or a TOEFL or IELTS Certificate to the correct level (taken in the last two years). The university entry standards for English language are as follows:
IELTS
6.5 overall with minimum 5.5 for the written element.
TOEFL
577 (written test)
232 (computer based test)
90 (internet based test)
Pearson Test of English (PTE): 61
Other equivalent English language qualifications may be accepted.
Your local British Council office offers the English Language Testing Service (IELTS) plus, in some instances, English language tuition.
The University of Plymouth offers an English language support service for all students for whom English is a second language. This service is provided by the English Language Centre, based in the Cookworthy building on the University of Plymouth’s city centre campus. Language support is delivered through one-to-one tutorials, free English classes, workshops tailored for particular groups of students and e-mail. It is also possible for English Language Centre staff to visit the College to tutor students, individually or in groups, by prior arrangement.
This course is such an amazing experience, and so much better than I thought, that I have to keep pinching myself.
MA student, Economics for Transition
Schumacher College is simply one of the finest teaching and learning environments to be found anywhere in the World.
David Abram, author of The Spell of the Sensuous
Schumacher is a very special place – as we try and figure out what on earth we’re going to do with this unraveling planet, it’s become a thinktank for hope, a battery for positive vision.
Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org
Unfortunately this week has made me realise how mediocre the University experience is compared to Schumacher College.
Visiting University student
*Click here to download an application form *
Please note: This form must be completed, signed and hard copies sent as directed on the form. We do not accept electronic or faxed applications. The application deadline for 2012/13 is 28 February 2012.
Important: On 1 April 2009 changes to the UK’s Immigration Law came into effect. Please ensure that you have a legitimate right of entry into the UK.
For further information about Immigration Law, please visit the UK Border Agency website
The application form details the documentation you need to send with your application. This includes:
Before submitting the application form, please make sure you have familiarised yourself with how the College works. You can get more information from other pages of the website including about the college.
Click here to see term dates for the academic year 2012/2013
The College will shortlist applicants for interview. You may be asked to come to the College for an interview, or to conduct a telephone interview if you are not geographically well placed to come to the College. Subject to interview, we will select our MSc students and offer places.
We will promptly acknowledge receipt of all applications by email. We will contact applicants to either arrange an interview or advise that their application will not be progresed further, within two weeks of receipt of an application.
These fees reflect the very unique and bespoke nature of our courses.
Click here for more information on how we set our course fees
We do have a bursary fund available to help cover tuition and accomodation fees.
However, if you are interested in this course and cannot cover the fees above, please do contact us on holisticscience@schumachercollege.org.uk to discuss your situation further.
The fees quoted above reflect the extremely high level of contact time with teachers and facilitators that is unprecedented in other academic institutions.
As a student you can expect to be immersed in taught, facilitated and group learning processes for several hours five days a week, with opportunities for regular evening and weekend activities.
It also includes the cost of bringing the leading experts from around the world to engage and contribute in your learning process. Many of our experts are not teachers and academics. They are the practitioners and activists that are out there changing the world. They do not teach anywhere else. They come to Schumacher College because of the high calibre of our students and the unique learning models we use.
This is what makes our postgraduate programmes totally unique in the world.
Students may opt to live either in the College, on a fully residential basis, or they may choose to live locally. In the latter case, the College charges a fee to cover meals and beverages.
If you choose to be fully residential, you will have a private room in the Schumacher College complex, the main building of which is an historic and atmospheric old building – The Old Postern – on the beautiful Dartington Hall Estate.
All our food, which is vegetarian, organic and locally-sourced, is prepared freshly by our in-house chefs for every meal.
Fees are due in two instalments in September and January. A deposit of £500 is requested from students who accept an offer of a place, in order to secure their place on to the programme. This is deducted from fees payable in September.
Details of how to pay these fees are sent to students when they are formally accepted on to the MSc programme.
Students will need to budget for travel, books not held in the library, specialist research or University materials, bench fees, clothing, stationery and other additional items and services (e.g. photocopying) that fall outside of course fees.
Once a student is formally accepted on to the MSc Programme, their application details are scrutinised by the University of Plymouth Registry who conduct a fee assessment in order to determine the student’s fee status. A student will fall under one of three categories: UK, EU, or International. The fee status depends upon a number of factors including where the student has been living during the past three years. Students who are UK nationals and have lived in the UK for their entire life would normally be classified as a UK student. However, students should be aware that even if they are a EU national by birth, it does not necessarily follow that their fee status will be UK or EU. More detailed information on the regulations may be found at www.ukcisa.org.uk.
The University of Plymouth produces a signposting document for students looking to secure funding for postgraduate study. Click here to access this document
We are proud to have established a scholarship fund in support of our MSc in Holistic Science by the Italian company ABOCA, one of Europe’s leading producers of organic herbal remedies. The scholarship provides a contribution of £2,000 towards fees and is intended for practitioners of herbal medicine and for ethnobotanists who are interested in applying insights from holistic science to their work with medicinal plants. Extensive information about ABOCA is available on their website
To apply for this scholarship please send a supporting statement with your MSc application clearly marked “ABOCA scholarship supporting statement” (this is in addition to the supporting statement you must include as part of your overall MSc application).
Schumacher College does not have Federal Aid Accreditation. This would be a requirement of the Federal Student Aid (FSA) programme for any US student applying for a loan in order to help fund their studies for this MSc in Holistic Science. Therefore, any US student needing a loan in order to take up a place on our MSc should not apply to the FSA programme.
