Music Schools in United Kingdom

Advanced music study in the United Kingdom takes place in specialist conservatoires and in university music departments. Conservatoires offer performance-based higher education in music, drama, screen and production at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and their courses use a separate application route (UCAS Conservatoires) in which the conservatoire assesses applicants, usually by audition, interview, portfolio review or recording. Typical award titles seen on conservatoire pages include BMus (Hons), MMus, and graduate, artist and professional diplomas. Higher education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland sit in one framework and Scotland has a separate one; the official level list places honours degrees at level 6, master's degrees at level 7 and doctorates at level 8. Music therapy is a regulated health profession, and the title is protected.

Source: ucas.com/conservatoires

Conservatoire award titles

Trinity Laban lists BMus (Hons) programmes in composition, performance and jazz, a BMus with an integrated foundation year, a Master of Music (MMus), and Graduate, Artist and Professional Diplomas, plus a research degree programme; the diplomas are named separately from the degrees. Source

Qualification levels in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

The government list of qualification levels places honours degrees such as a BA (Hons) at level 6, master's degrees such as MA or MSc at level 7 (with postgraduate certificates and diplomas), and doctorates such as PhD or DPhil at level 8. The Quality Assurance Agency notes there is one framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and a separate one for Scotland. Source

Doctoral routes in music

A London conservatoire's site lists a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) under its research degrees, alongside a Bachelor of Music and taught postgraduate study. Source

Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)

Regulates arts therapists; music therapist is one of the protected titles, and an individual must be registered with the HCPC to use it.

Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA)

Publishes the qualifications frameworks that set out the levels of higher education qualifications in the UK.

Levels follow the national qualifications frameworks; no equivalence with other countries' qualifications is claimed here. The Office for Students Register page could not be read for a definition during research, so the register is not described here.

No degree on this site guarantees admission, funding, employment, a visa or teacher registration, and nothing here is visa or credit-transfer advice.

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Admissions and auditions. UCAS Conservatoires is the application route for performance-based courses. The assessment depends on the discipline: music performers normally play two or more contrasting pieces in a live audition at the conservatoire, although a recording is sometimes accepted; musicians may be tested on scales, sight-reading or singing, or aural skills and may have an interview; composers often submit a portfolio and may be interviewed. Some courses require more than one assessment, for example a joint main specialism requires two auditions. University music departments may use different routes, so check each course page. Source

• UCAS Conservatoires
• UCAS - conservatoire assessments
• HCPC - professions