Your offer and contract

Applications for entry in the 2025-26 academic year

The information provided below is for applicants whose course will start in the 2025-26 academic year (please refer to the dates of term for the 2025-26 academic year). Please also consult the Courses starting before the 2025-26 academic year section if you applied to start your course before the 2025-26 academic year.

If you have been successful, you will receive an offer from your department outlining any conditions you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. This offer will usually be sent to you by email and further offer documentation will be available in Self-Service.

Your department offer

Your departmental offer constitutes your formal offer of a place at the University of Oxford. The offer will set out any conditions you need to make to have your place confirmed and will ask whether you wish to accept the offer of a place made to you.

If you accept the offer you will enter into a contract with the University. You will need to read the offer together with the following three documents, which can be downloaded from Graduate Applicant Self-Service and the Your contract with the University page:

1. The University’s Terms & Conditions. 
   This explains how your contract with the University works and what it contains, including key terms and your responsibilities.
2. The appropriate Course Information Sheet for your course and the year of entry. 
   This includes key information about the content of and fees for your course, and living costs in Oxford.
3. The University Student Handbook 2024/25 for entry in 2025/26. 
   This contains essential information including matters relating to Welfare, Safety and Security, the Oxford University Student Union, Sports, Clubs and Recreation, Academic Support, Residence, Intellectual Property, Examinations, Conduct, Disciplinary Procedures and the University’s Complaints Process.

You should read the Terms and Conditions, Course Information Sheet and University Student Handbook carefully before you accept your offer as they set out the content of the contract you will be entering into with the University of Oxford. We particularly draw your attention to the ‘Changes to Courses’ provisions of the Terms and Conditions, which explain the University’s right to make changes to delivery and services (including the right to move teaching, assessment and other services online) in certain circumstances including during a pandemic. 

If you have queries about your offer, you should contact the department directly.

If you are an offer holder and have been asked to arrange for an electronic final transcript to be provided officially to us directly from your institution or an accredited body, please note:

Electronic final transcripts must be sent directly from the institution that issued the transcript to the academic department at the University of Oxford from an official email address from that institution. This email address must either be recognisable as being from a department/office which issues transcripts at the institution, or from an academic or administrator who is authorised to issue electronic final transcripts. Alternatively, electronic final transcripts can be provided via a secure link either to a transcript repository on the institution’s website or via an accredited body, such as Parchment or Digitary, from which the academic department can access the document. Current Oxford students do not need to provide a transcript, but should instead let the academic department know when their results are available. 

You may not provide an electronic final transcript yourself, even if you received it from the issuing institution via a secure method.

Your offer will also indicate that you are entitled to cancel your acceptance of a place at the University within a period of 14 calendar days starting from the day after we receive notification of your acceptance of your departmental offer. You do not have to give any reason for this. If you have paid a deposit to the department and cancel within this statutory period of 14 calendar days, the University will reimburse your deposit without undue delay. You can simply email your cancellation of your acceptance of an offer to your department, or if you wish, you can use the cancellation form below. 

On occasion, we are notified of bogus letters claiming to be from the University of Oxford, offering a place and/or scholarship funding to an applicant, and requesting payment in order to secure the offer(s). Genuine communications from the University will be sent to you from [email protected] or from an ‘ox.ac.uk’ email address. The University will never ask for money to be paid in order to secure a scholarship. If you have any concerns about the legitimacy of a document that you have been sent by the University or one of its departments/faculties or colleges then please contact us using our online form. 

Your college offer

If you receive an offer from a department, you will then also receive an offer from a college, unless you have received an offer for a non-matriculated course which does not require a college place. College placement usually takes eight to ten weeks after the departmental offer is made, though in rare cases it can take longer. The college offer will be sent to you by email.

The college offer will include a Financial Declaration outlining any financial conditions that you will need to meet and the deadline by which you must provide the information required.

When you complete your Financial Declaration, you will be asked to:

• show that you have sufficient funding to cover the University and college fees for Year 1 of your course, by providing financial evidence such as a letter from your scholarship sponsor or your bank;
• give your assurance that you are able and willing to meet all University and college fees beyond Year 1, if the duration of your course is longer than a year (no financial evidence is required); and
• give your assurance that you are able and willing to meet your living costs for the duration of your course (no financial evidence is required).

The college offer will also explain how your contract with your college will be formed and may attach a form of college contract.

Your Completion of Conditions letter

If you satisfy all the conditions set by both the department and the college in their offer, you will be notified of this via email and a Completion of Conditions document will then be available to download via Self-Service.

This letter will include instructions about a form you will need to complete for your University Card if you intend to enrol at the University. You will be asked to complete and submit the University card form via Self-Service as soon as possible as a condition of your enrolment.

Once you have a confirmed place, consult the University's information on arriving as a new student available from the Oxford Students website to assist you in answering any questions you might have before you arrive and in your first few weeks in Oxford. Your department and college will also send you all the information you need regarding their services and timetable ready for your arrival in Oxford.

Please note that if you do not meet the conditions of your offer by the deadlines set by the department and the college, you will not be able to enrol at the University.

Deferring an offer

The University does not normally accept requests for deferral of entry to a later term/year. You will normally be expected to start your course on the date and term indicated in your departmental offer. However, you may apply for a deferral of entry, under exceptional circumstances, if you have met all the departmental and college conditions of your offer, including your Financial Declaration, and either of the following two criteria are met:

1. Unforeseen and unforeseeable circumstances that are outside your control will prevent you from taking up your offer on the start date indicated in your offer. This might include, for example, ill health or bereavement. In some instances, deferrals can also be requested because of visa application issues (see below).
2. You are due to hold the office of Sabbatical Trustee for Oxford SU or equivalent student union position at another UK institution during the timeframe of your course.

If you have received an offer for a research course (eg DPhil), and you meet the criteria given above, you can apply to defer for a maximum of either one, two or three terms (ie a full academic year). If you have received an offer for a taught course (eg MSc, MSt or MPhil), and you meet the criteria given above, you may only apply to defer for a full academic year.

Requests for deferral should be submitted to the relevant department before the start date of the course. They will be considered at the discretion of departments, and must be approved by the department that has made you an offer, as well as the college that has accepted you. Deferrals are not granted for more than a maximum of one year.

If you have been granted a deferral or been given permission to start your course in a term later than the one published, please note that the University cannot guarantee the following for your resultant term/year of entry:

• that there will be availability of supervision
• that the programme will remain open
• that the programme will not be amended

If supervision were to become unavailable or the course were to close subsequent to the granting of a deferral to you, the department would inform you that it has become necessary for them to withdraw its offer of a place.

If your request for a delayed start is approved for a particular course, you may not make a new application to the course to which you currently hold a place without giving up that place. If you wish to apply again to this course, you must withdraw from the place you currently hold. Applicants who have been granted permission to delay their start and who have not withdrawn, but do reapply for the same course will be contacted to confirm whether they wish to keep their deferred place or proceed with their re-application.

Funding and scholarship opportunities

If your request for a delayed start is approved, you will not be considered again for Oxford funding and scholarship opportunities. If you have already been offered an Oxford scholarship, you should consult the office which awarded it (eg Student Fees and Funding, the college or the department) to find out whether or not your scholarship can also be deferred or be aligned to the delayed start.

Starting at the University within the same academic year

If your request for a delayed start is approved and will mean starting at the University within the same academic year as that you originally applied for, your contract with the University will be based on the contractual documents available through the link provided in this offer.

Your college will also require you to complete a new Financial Declaration form.

Starting at the University in a subsequent academic year

If your request for a delayed start is approved and will mean starting at the University in a subsequent academic year, you will be sent a letter in that academic year containing a link to a new set of contractual documents (including the Terms and Conditions, Course Information Sheet and Student Handbook) and your contract with the University will be amended to be based on those documents. The contractual documents accompanying that letter may differ from those available through the link provided with this letter. You will be entitled to withdraw from the course if the new contractual documents contain a material change which you consider will have an adverse impact on you.

Your college will also require you to complete a new Financial Declaration form. 

Any deposit you have paid will be held until you take up your place.

How to request a deferral

If you wish to request a deferral of your date of entry to a later term/year, you must submit your request in writing to your department before you register with the University. The deadline for registration which applies to you will be set out in your offer. In your request, please outline your grounds for deferral and how you meet the criteria outlined above. You will get a written response from your department letting you know if your deferral has been granted.

If you are not eligible to apply for a deferral, or if you want to defer more than a year, you can always submit a completely new application (and you will need to pay the application fee) for the year in which you wish to start.

Requesting a deferral because of visa application issues 

If you have received an offer for a research course (eg DPhil) and have had your visa application delayed or rejected you may be granted a deferral for one term at a time, up to a maximum of three terms.

If you have received an offer for a taught course (eg MSc, MSt or MPhil) you cannot request to defer on these grounds, and will need to re-apply for the year in which you wish to start.

Complaints

The University will consider complaints about any aspect of the graduate admissions process that relates to an irregularity in the procedure under which the application has been considered. For detailed information, please consult our complaints procedure.