Master's course, or its overseas equivalent, with an element of research training, is a prerequisite for entry to a PhD; research proposal must be included with the formal application materials; students whose 1st language is not English require an overall IELTS score of 7.0 with 7.0 in the writing component or a TOEFL score of 600 (paper-based test), 250 (computer-based test) or 100 (internet-based test).