Undergraduate Preparatory Certificate for the Humanities

The Undergraduate Preparatory Certificates (UPC) are for international students who have completed high school with a qualification UCL does not accept for undergraduate entry. These intensive one-year international foundation courses are taught on our central London campus. Experienced UCL subject tutors will support you to develop your academic skills, English and subject knowledge, so you can progress to a degree at UCL or another top UK university. UCL Undergraduate Preparatory Certificates (UPC) are one-year international foundation courses for students who don’t have the qualifications to enter a UCL undergraduate degree directly.

The pathway you take will depend on the undergraduate degree you’re aiming for after the UPC. We offer two options:

Undergraduate Preparatory Certificate for the Humanities (UPCH): This course is for students aiming for degrees in Arts, Business, Mathematics, Humanities or Social Sciences, including Economics and Law.

Undergraduate Preparatory Certificate for Science and Engineering (UPCSE): This course is for students who want to study degrees in Engineering, Life Sciences or Mathematics and Physical Sciences.
If you are aiming to study architecture, you will take Undergraduate Preparatory Certificate for the Humanities (UPCH) for Architecture.

To be eligible to apply for the UPC, you’ll have to meet the following criteria:

Be at least 16 years old when the course starts.

Be in the last year of high school (when applying) or have already graduated.. We will look at high school transcripts from your previous two years of study, as well as any available from your current/final year.

You should be able to show excellent grades in your annual transcripts overall and in required/relevant subjects.

Required and relevant subjects

UPCSE required subjects

If you’re applying to the UPCSE, you'll choose to study two optional subjects:

Biology

Chemistry

Mathematics

Physics.

We’ll only consider your application if you:

Meet our overall entry requirements for the UPC.

Meet our entry requirements for your two optional subjects.

Have studied your two optional subjects within your final three years of high school, including:

in your last year of high school and

one other year in high school.