Scholarship information on your ATAS form

When you are filling in your ATAS form, you will need to complete the compulsary box asking for information on how you will fund your studies. 

If you are paying yourself - type in SELF FUNDING.  You may need to enter your home country in the Country box to be able to continue to the next page.

If you are in receipt of a scholarship - type in the full details.  If you still waiting for your scholarship, you can complete the ATAS application with details of your intended scholarship as this is how you intend to fund your studies in the UK.

If the details change at any time, you can let the ATAS team know by contacting them with your ATAS ID number on the contact email address on the FCO's site.

Course code or JACS code?

You need the JACS code to enter on your ATAS application.  The JACS code will be given to you in your ATAS email from your chosen university.

You may have a different course code on your offer letter and your CAS.

For example: your course code could be H850.  Your JACS code H800.

You need to enter the JACS code on your ATAS application.

If you have any doubts, contact your chosen university for advice.

When to apply for ATAS clearance

If you have a standard start date of September or October 2012, you need to think about applying for ATAS clearance now.

Ideally you should apply approximately 5 months before your start date, so if you have a non-standard state (for example starting on 1st November, 1st December or 1st January) make it 5 months before the start date.

Make sure you have the following information:

1. JACS code
2. Your course title
3. Your research statement

This information is available from your HEI/University.

ATAS certificates and deferring your offer

What happens if you decide to defer your offer?  

It depends on how long you have decided to defer your start date.  

The ATAS certificate is valid for 6 months prior to your start date, so if you have an ATAS certificate dated June 2012 and you have deferred your start date from 1st October 2012 to 1st November 2012 or 1st December 2012, you can still use the same ATAS certificate.

Any start date after that time, you will need to re-apply by beginning another ATAS application.

If you have changed your start date to the following year, for example from 1st October 2012 to 1st October 2013, you will need to re-apply approx 6 months before your new start date.

Keep your ATAS certificate safe because you can use the same information to re-apply.

If you have changed your JACS code or your course/research area, do not re-apply for ATAS clearance until you have checked out the details with the supervisor of your course.

Points to remember:

The ATAS certificate is valid for 6 months prior to your start date.

You will need to re-apply for ATAS clearance nearer to your start date if you decide to defer your offer.

 

What is a JACS code?

A JACS code is a course code.  JACS means Joint Academic Coding System.  

For a full list of JACS code, see the Higher Education Statistics Agency's website Higher Education Statistics Agency

You will need the JACS code for your course when you apply for your ATAS certificate.

The first place to look for the JACS code is on your offer letter.

When you apply for ATAS clearance you will need to enter the first letter and the first number of the JACS code.

For example:  if your JACS code is C182, you will enter C1 on your ATAS application.

Some JACS code may have more letters, for example: FJ25.  You still need to select the first letter and the first number such as F2.

Do not be tempted to guess at your JACS code because it needs to be correct to tie in with your offer letter.

The list of JACS codes that require ATAS clearance are found here on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's website:

For Taught Masters courses such as MSc

For PhD/Doctoral courses such as PhD

For Masters by Research courses such as MRes

For Undergraduate degrees that lead to a Postgraduate qualification such as MSci

For enhanced Undergraduate courses such as an M.Eng

Do I need to pay for an ATAS certificate?

There is no fee to apply for your ATAS certificate.  If you are applying for the second or third time there is still no fee.

How do I apply for ATAS clearance

Once you have been issued with an offer from a UK university, you will receive an offer letter.  The offer letter will give you your JACS code (course code) and the title of your course.  You will need these details to apply for ATAS (Academic Technology Approval Scheme) clearance and receive an ATAS certificate.

Your university/higher education institution Admissions Office will email you with the JACS code, your course title and the ATAS statement wording needed.

Some universities/higher education institutions will wait until you accept the offer to send out the ATAS inormation, some will email you as soon as they make the offer.

You do not need the hard copy offer letter to apply for ATAS clearance, but you do need to have received an offer.

You will need to apply for your ATAS certificate approximately 6 months before your start date, do not apply any earlier.  So if you have a start date of 1st October 2012, you can begin your ATAS application in March 2012.

Also do not apply too late.  It can take up to 20 working days for your ATAS certificate to be granted and at busy times of the year such as August, September and October the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) may take longer to respond.  

Remember if you do not have ATAS clearance, you cannot obtain a visa which means you will not be able to study in the UK, so it is important to apply in plenty of time but not too early.

Once you have the information you need from your university, you can make an ATAS application by visiting the FCO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office's) website at Begin your ATAS application

You should read this information before you begin your application ATAS application information