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Posted Sept. 15, 2025

Postgraduate study on your terms

Postgrad study on your terms

If you’re reading this, there’s a high probability that you’re considering a postgraduate qualification. 

Maybe you’re a recent graduate looking for a masters degree. Perhaps you’re looking to move your career to the next level with a Postgraduate Diploma. Alternatively, you might be looking to enhance your earning potential or academic credentials with a PhD or MRes.

Allied to this, you may well be juggling paid work, perhaps a family – along with the time pressures that come with those things – and an ever-evolving and fast-moving employment market. 

Meeting the demand for urgency 

Whatever your situation, the chances are you don’t necessarily have the luxury of a whole year’s cycle to ‘wait and see’. You make decisions quickly, compare options on your phone, and expect rapid, clear answers. Unfortunately, many universities still run on a slow, seasonal recruitment cycle. 

The smart ones, however, have started to meet prospective postgraduate students where they are: always-on, modular, responsive. If you don’t want to be held captive by an old-school and outdated admissions cycle, that’s where you should focus your search.

Why this matters even more for postgrads

Postgrad study is now a huge part of UK higher education. In 2023/24, postgraduate taught (PGT) qualifications became the most awarded type of qualification in the UK for the first time on record. This shows that the market is large, competitive and evolving quickly.

Furthermore, the current landscape is volatile, and the last few years have been bumpy for postgraduate students. Living costs are up, visa and funding rules have shifted, and many people are studying while they juggle work and family responsibilities. As a result, the traditional, once-a-year admissions model signals delays; weeks for an offer, one fixed start date, and paperwork at the last minute.

Built for your pace? What to look for… 

When you’re doing your research on universities and courses, look for signs that the provider is designed around your pace:

1. Multiple start dates & rolling decisions: If a course only recruits once a year and takes weeks to acknowledge your application, that could be a red flag. Providers who have kept pace with the needs of the modern student will offer different intakes, turn decisions around quickly, and keep places open as people move in and out of the funnel. (Your time is valuable – treat it that way!).

2. Modular, credit-bearing pathways: Student-centred providers let you build stackable, credit-bearing short courses and micro-credentials into a PGCert/PGDip/masters.

3. Flexible delivery that respects real life: Blended/online options, evening seminars, block teaching and recorded content aren’t simply ‘nice to have’ anymore. They’re the difference between what’s possible and what’s not. Postgrad.com’s blogs discuss the role of part-time and blended formats in making study work around your commitments.

4. Career outcomes you can verify: Short, employer-set briefs; live industry projects; placements aligned to part-time schedules; and explicit support for micro-internships between modules. If a course page can’t articulate those kinds of offerings clearly, you might want to move on. 

5. Support you can reach and rely on: Think 24- to 48-hour responses from admissions; named contacts for visas, accommodation, and recognition of prior learning (RPL); and realistic timelines for references and CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) issuance, if you’re an overseas student. If a provider is slow to reply before you apply, imagine what happens when you need help mid-semester…

How to pressure-test a program in 15 minutes

1. Skim the course page: Note start dates, decision times, microcredential/RPL info and delivery mode.

2. Email admissions: Ask some practical questions, such as turnaround times, entry requirements, or how they support part-time or international students, if such things apply to you. Time their reply.

3. Check student voice: Look for recent student blogs or LinkedIn posts from current learners, paying attention to timelines (how long did each step take?).

4. Map your next 90 days: Could you realistically start this course next term without your life falling apart? If not, consider moving on.

Go where the pace matches your ambition

As a postgraduate student, you’re not just buying content; you’re buying time. Agile, student-centred universities will publish multiple intakes, make decisions quickly, let you stack credits, and enable you to design your learning around your life and commitments. 

If you can’t see that on the page (and in their emails), don’t wait. Choose a provider that moves at your speed. That was my challenge to universities – move faster because students already are – and it’s the litmus test you can use to pick the right course and provider for your needs. 

Author’s bio: Joe Etchells is a Higher Education Specialist and Business Director at Anything is Possible. This article adapts ideas from ‘Students move fast. Smart universities should move faster’. 

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