Postgraduate Admissions FAQ

Once an applicant commences a new application, the system requests core documentation for that programme i.e. certified transcripts for each year. This information aligns to requirements set out by Faculties on each programme page. Once the system confirms that all mandatory application information has been received, it becomes available on the Registry team dashboard for review.

If an application is missing mandatory documentation at application stage, the application remains in a holding stage “submitted” and the system prompts the applicant by email for the missing documents. The application will only be passed to Registry for assessment once all required documentation has been submitted.

During the Registry assessment, Registry will note any incorrect documentation submitted on the system and the applicant is prompted to provide it.

In the case of documentation that is not available until later in the admission cycle i.e. final year exam results, a note may be added on the system that the item can be added as a "condition" to any potential offer. 

Order of Preference Assessment and Offer

DCU process applications in the order of preference selected by the applicant. If a applicant receives an offer for their first preference, other preferences remain at submitted stage. There is no requirement to assess lower preferences, unless the applicant is unsuccessful for their first preference. In this case, admissions will proceed to assess lower preference applications.

Assessment and Offer Decisions

Faculty and Registry have an agreed list of programmes that fall into the following assessment categories.

Offer Decision - Registry

Registry assess each document provided matches the published requirements for the programme and the applicant meets all Faculty approved admission criteria. An offer is made to eligible applicants.

Borderline cases are forwarded to Faculty for review. 

Offer Decision - Faculty

Registry assess each document provided matches the published requirements for the programme and the applicant meets all Faculty approved admission criteria. Registry make a recommendation, which is then passed to the Chair for a final decision. The application must be returned to Registry for an offer to be processed.

In cases where the Faculty need to carry out an assessment, the application remains with the Faculty until the application status is changed to “marked complete”. Only then does the application move through the workflow back to Registry. To expedite processing, it is essential that the faculty assessor provides a decision and assessment notes in the internal notes section. This is particularly important for those being offered a conditional offer and those that are unsuccessful. Provided adequate information is available in the internal notes, Registry will process these decisions daily.

Offer Process

Please see "Assessment Process" above for an overview of how offers are made.

Acceptance Deadlines

At the beginning of the admissions cycle, applicants have 14 days to accept an offer. Later in the admission cycle, this is reduced to 7 days.

Follow this link to see your postgraduate admissions point of contact in Registry. 

For fees queries, please contact the fees team here.

The university has established a CRM2 Operations Working Group which has representatives from every faculty and unit that uses the system. All discussions and decisions about how CRM functions happen through this forum. Please check with your Faculty who represents your unit on this group.

If you have a technical query, please contact ISS - iss@dcu.ie or your can raise a ticket here.

Once a programme has Accredited and Validated, please follow this link which outlines the appropriate steps that need to be taken. 

Please allow enough lead in time for the set up of a new programme as the task often involves engagement with several units across the university.