Second Degree in the UK When You Already Hold a Degree

Three ways to study in the UK when you already have a degree

Holding a degree closes nothing in the UK. No national rule stops you studying again at a level you have already reached, and the age limit is none. Three routes are open, and they differ in length, cost and what they prove.

A second bachelor’s is a full honours degree: 3 to 4 years, 180 credits, applied for through UCAS (undergraduate) on the same terms as a school leaver, at the ordinary overseas rate of £11,400–38,000 per year.

A conversion master’s takes graduates of any discipline into a new field in one year — 1 year of study, 90 ECTS — at £9,000–30,000 per year, and ends a level above the qualification you arrived with.

A top-up is the final year of an honours degree, designed for holders of an HND, HNC or foundation degree rather than a completed bachelor’s.

Our default recommendation is the conversion master’s. It costs one year instead of three or four, it is the only one of the three that Chevening or Commonwealth money can reach, and it changes your field without repeating work you have already done. Our UK master’s guide sets out entry requirements course by course.

A second bachelor’s in the UK

A second bachelor’s is allowed: yes. There is no national quota, no separate application track and no penalty for holding a degree already. You apply through UCAS (undergraduate) at https://www.ucas.com/ with up to five choices, and you pay what every other overseas undergraduate pays, £11,400–38,000 per year, for 3 to 4 years. Nothing in the UK matches the German Zweitstudium quota.

One restriction does exist, and it is a funding rule rather than an admission rule. Student finance in England limits support for applicants who already hold a degree — the equivalent or lower qualification restriction — with exceptions for topping an HNC, HND or foundation degree up to honours and for certain healthcare, computer science, medicine and agriculture courses. That rule reaches only UK residents with settled status, so as an overseas fee payer on a Student visa you sit outside student finance entirely and it changes nothing for you.

Entry straight into year 2 or the final year on the strength of your first degree is decided by the admitting university case by case; there is no national credit system that guarantees it. Take this route when a regulated profession demands a UK bachelor’s in the subject and no conversion master’s exists. Costs by city are on our UK cost of study page.

Changing field with a conversion master’s

The published position: Available and standard. A one-year conversion MSc admits graduates of any discipline into a new field — computer science, data science, psychology and management are the largest markets — and Bath states plainly that the course is 'designed for people who didn't study the subject at undergraduate level', open to backgrounds in business, psychology, English 'or anything else'. Law uses the PGDL/MA Law conversion, and BPS-accredited psychology conversion MScs confer Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership. No bridging modules are taken before the master's: the conversion year is the master's itself, one calendar year, 180 UK credits at FHEQ level 7. Some universities require a specified level of mathematics for computing and data conversions.

You pay the ordinary taught master’s fee. The national band is £9,000–30,000 per year; the research-intensive universities sit above it, at £16,800–47,680 per year in Edinburgh, £20,500–42,700 per year at UCL, £26,900–39,700 per year at Nottingham and £27,300–39,250 per year at Leeds.

The grade bar is the normal postgraduate one, not a lower one for career changers: an upper second-class honours degree is the mainstream minimum, with a lower second accepted on a minority of courses. English sits at 6.5 nationally, though Nottingham asks 6 and Durham 7. Compare the named institutions on our UK universities page.

HND and diploma holders: top-up routes

The published position: Available. A one-year 'top-up' is the final year of an honours degree (FHEQ level 6), entered by holders of an HND, HNC or foundation degree, and awards the full honours degree; Coventry states a top-up reaches an undergraduate degree 'with just one or two years of study' from a BTEC, HND, HNC or foundation degree. For African diplomas the entry point is set by the university, not centrally: UWL admits Nigerian HND holders with merit (CGPA 2.50) to year 1 and reserves second and final year entry for UK HNDs, Salford considers Nigerian OND and HND holders for undergraduate entry without publishing the year, and Portsmouth considers APTECH diploma holders for advanced entry onto a bachelor's or top-up programme. UK ENIC (Ecctis) is the UK national recognition agency and issues the Statement of Comparability universities use, but it compares the level only, not grades or subjects, so the amount of credit given remains the university's decision. Advanced entry is assessed case by case.

Read the entry year, not the word “top-up”. A Nigerian or Ghanaian HND often opens year 1 rather than the final year, which means 3 years at £11,400–38,000 per year instead of one. Ask each admissions office in writing which year your diploma buys, and keep the answer.

One alternative is usually better: finish the top-up at home, then apply to a UK master’s. Pathway options are on our UK foundation year guide.

Visa, age and funding for a second degree

Applying from your home country, nothing in the rules bars a second degree at a level you already hold. The Student visa tests four things — a CAS from a licensed sponsor, age 16 or over, the English level and the financial requirement — and then the caseworker assesses whether you are a genuine student. That last test is where a second degree is argued, not refused in advance: name the field you are moving into and the job it leads to. Refusal rates for our origins are NG 10.3%, KE 12.2%, GH 16.7%; ZW ~9%, UG ~9%.

The real constraint applies inside the UK, not from abroad. Appendix Student ST 14 requires an applicant switching from one Student permission to another to have completed the course the last permission was granted for, with exceptions for resits, a continuing PhD, a sponsor losing its licence, a sabbatical post, an intercalated degree and an integral placement. Time below degree level is capped at two years, so a foundation year plus a second below-degree course can exhaust the allowance.

Age is not a barrier: the limit is none, with a visa floor of 16 and no ceiling. Funding is the barrier. Commonwealth Master’s Scholarships exclude anyone who has already studied at master’s level in the UK; Chevening allows an existing master’s but rules out prior UK government-funded study. Neither funds a second bachelor’s. Work rights stay at 20 hours/week in term and Full-time in holidays, degree-level courses only. See our UK student visa requirements and UK scholarships.

How to apply with a degree in hand

1. Have your first degree read. Universities use UK ENIC (via university) for the Statement of Comparability. There is no separate certificate check to clear: no APS, and apostille needed: no.
2. Pick the route before the course. A second bachelor’s, a conversion master’s and a top-up run on different portals, different deadlines and different fee bands.
3. Check the subject conditions on each course page. Computing and data conversions often set a mathematics level, and psychology conversions state whether the degree carries BPS accreditation.
4. Apply on the right portal. Bachelor’s and top-up applications go through UCAS by 13 January 2027, 18:00 UK time (UCAS equal-consideration deadline, 2027 entry); 15 October 2026 for all Oxford/Cambridge courses and most medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine/science courses at any university. Master’s applications go direct to each university: Rolling; varies by course.
5. Enter the scholarship cycle first, because it closes earliest. Chevening closes 6 October 2026 and Commonwealth 20 October 2026, both for the 2027/28 intake.
6. Prove English. The national floors are 6 for bachelor’s and 6.5 for master’s, taken as a UKVI-approved test unless your university assesses English itself and records it on the CAS.
7. Build the money file early. You need £10,539–13,761, evidenced as 28-day bank statements or official sponsor letter.
8. Accept the offer, get the CAS, then apply for the visa: £558 plus the health surcharge of £776 per year and a TB test at US$75–165, decided in about 3 weeks.