Education

• The School of Education is one of the most diverse and highly regarded schools of education in the country.
• We encourage a vibrant, collaborative and interdisciplinary research culture within the School of Education, based around strategic areas of expertise.
• Our international community of researchers has an excellent record of winning external funding, and our research centres provide structure and support, promoting collaboration and impact.
• A PhD in Education from the University of Exeter will enable you to gain an in-depth grounding in educational research methods through ESRC recognised training. As an MPhil/PhD level student you will become part of a research-intensive School, studying with some of the leading scholars in their disciplines.
• You will benefit from holistic support including content and methodologies relevant to your research, as well as the opportunity for a personal mentor. Research students are integrated into the research culture and welcome to participate in the School’s annual staff-student conference, external conferences and the School’s Lecture series.
• We embrace a considerable variety of research activity, from large-scale externally funded programmes to small-scale collaborations with local teachers. Many of these involve links with leading researchers worldwide.
• Because of our size and the fact that we are not wedded to any one research paradigm, we can offer research supervision in many areas of educational research. We are one of only 31 educational research training outlets recognised by the ESRC and one of only 18 to receive ESRC studentship quota awards. We are also the only recognised outlet for four-year PhD (full- and part-time), distance learning and CASE research training.
• We are located on the historic and beautiful St Luke’s Campus and provide excellent support for all our postgraduate students. This ideal setting is within easy walking distance of both the city centre and the University’s Streatham Campus, where students are encouraged to make use of the additional facilities available to them.

We have focused the key areas of our research around four distinct but interdisciplinary research centres:

• Centre for Research in Language and Literacy
• Centre for Research in STEM Education (CRISTEME) 
• Centre for Special Educational Needs and Disability and Inclusive Education
• The Centre for Social Mobility

We also nurture a number of smaller and less formal research networks, which augment and complement our larger centres.

We have a group of enthusiastic high quality researchers who are committed to developing their own high quality research and high quality researchers of the future. 

If you are looking for a research supervisor or collaborator look at our individual staff pages.

Tuition fees per year 2025/26

• Home: £4,950 full-time; £pro-rata part-time
• International: £23,500 full-time

For those studying for more than one year, our fees are expected to increase modestly in line with Consumer Price Inflation measured in December each year. More information can be found on our Student Finance webpages.

Tuition Fees per year 2024/25

• Home: £4,786 full-time; £pro-rata part-time
• International: £22,600 full-time

For those studying for more than one year, our fees are expected to increase modestly in line with Consumer Price Inflation measured in December each year. More information can be found on our Student Finance webpages.

Our Postgraduate Funding webpage provides links to further information. If you are considering a PhD in the future, in addition to University of Exeter funding, we have been successful at securing postgraduate funding for PhD research through our Funded centres.

Current available funding