Global Food Security and Nutrition (Online Learning) MSc, PgDip (ICL), PgCert (ICL), PgProfDev

The University of Edinburgh has been delivering online postgraduate programmes since 2005 and is the largest provider of online programmes in the prestigious Russell Group of universities.

Our online learning technology is fully interactive, award-winning and enables you to communicate with our highly qualified teaching staff from the comfort of your own home or workplace.

Our online students not only have access to Edinburgh's excellent resources, but also become part of a supportive online community, bringing together students and tutors from around the world.

Assessment and feedback

The programme has been designed to use a range of assessment tools, both formative and summative, with multiple feedback opportunities across the programme.

Summative assessment and feedback has been designed to help students develop the key skills associated with the learning outcomes and tied to practical applications such as report and grant writing.

Formative assessment (e.g. MCQs and discussion groups) will be included in each course to provide opportunities for feedback before assessment deadlines. Opportunities will be provided for formative feedback on assessment drafts.

Studying online at Edinburgh

Find out more about the benefits and practicalities of studying for an online degree:

• Postgraduate online learning

The degree programme is structured to allow sequential progression from individual courses to Certificate, Diploma and MSc phases. Students may also exit the programme on completion of each phase.

The programme is designed to be taken part-time over three years at 20 hours per week, with the option to complete in up to six years if required.

The completion times are as follows:

• PgCert: 1-2 years
• PgDip: 2-4 years
• MSc: 3-6 years

The programme is composed of:

• 90 credits of compulsory courses
• 30 credits of elective courses (chosen from a range of options such as food policy, food safety, global health, conservation, development)
• 60 credit master’s dissertation

Programme structure and content

Postgraduate Professional Development

Postgraduate Professional Development (PPD) is aimed at working professionals who want to advance their knowledge through postgraduate-level learning, without the time, or financial commitment, of a full award.

You may take a maximum of 50 credits worth of courses from within this degree over two years and gain a University of Edinburgh postgraduate award of academic credit.

It may also be possible to continue your studies after one year and put credits towards a postgraduate certificate, diploma or full masters degree. Any time spent taking courses through the PPD scheme will be deducted from the amount of time you have left to complete the higher award.

Although PPD courses have various start dates throughout a year you may only start a masters, postgraduate diploma or postgraduate certificate programme in the month of September.

Find out more about compulsory and optional courses

We link to the latest information available. Please note that this may be for a previous academic year and should be considered indicative.

The aim of this programme is to train you in the breadth of issues relating to food security and give you key skills to understand and critically assess problems across food systems.

At the end of the programme, you should have an understanding of the global context of food security and nutrition, and be able to identify and critically assess the main trade-offs between food security and nutrition and other goals in food systems.

The programme aims to give you the ability to:

• carry out independent research
• produce reports to a professional standard
• be competent in constructing logically sound arguments

By the end of the programme you will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of, and critical evaluation and assessment of the main theories, principles and concepts related to agronomic, environmental, economic, nutritional, and socio-political factors that influence food security.
• Apply food security and nutrition practical methods to scientific information and methods in the analysis of complex problems in food systems.
• Develop critical analysis skills to review complex issues relating to food security and nutrition, and formulate an original research problem and independently carry out the research needed to produce an appropriate solution in a range of scientific or policy contexts.
• Apply and enhance a range of communication, ICT and numeracy skills applicable to food security and nutrition problems.
• Work individually or as part of a group, and make informed judgements about the complex problems connected to global food security and nutrition.

This programme is designed to equip graduates with the skills to go on to careers in government and international non-governmental organisations working in a broad range of areas relating to food security.

There are increasing postgraduate research opportunities available in the food security arena, in the UK, EU and internationally.

There are also some positions in the private sector that will be attractive to graduates such as retail, food supply management, or even commodity trading.

These entry requirements are for the 2025/26 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2026/27 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2025.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in biological or biochemical sciences.

We may also consider your application if your background is not specifically related to these disciplines and you have relevant work experience in a related area. Please contact us, Food.SecurityNutrition@ed.ac.uk, to check before you apply. You may be admitted to certificate level only in the first instance.

Students from China

This degree is Band D.

• Postgraduate entry requirements for students from China

International qualifications

Check whether your international qualifications meet our general entry requirements:

• Entry requirements by country

English language requirements

Regardless of your nationality or country of residence, you must demonstrate a level of English language competency which will enable you to succeed in your studies.

English language tests

We accept the following English language qualifications at the grades specified:

• IELTS Academic: total 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each component. We do not accept IELTS One Skill Retake to meet our English language requirements.
• TOEFL-iBT (including Home Edition): total 92 with at least 20 in each component. We do not accept TOEFL MyBest Score to meet our English language requirements.
• C1 Advanced (CAE) / C2 Proficiency (CPE): total 176 with at least 169 in each component.
• Trinity ISE: ISE II with distinctions in all four components.
• PTE Academic: total 65 with at least 59 in each component. We do not accept PTE Academic Online.
• Oxford ELLT: 7 overall with at least 6 in each component.

Your English language qualification must be no more than three and a half years old from the start date of the programme you are applying to study, unless you are using IELTS, TOEFL, Trinity ISE or PTE, in which case it must be no more than two years old.

Degrees taught and assessed in English

We also accept an undergraduate or postgraduate degree that has been taught and assessed in English in a majority English speaking country, as defined by UK Visas and Immigration:

• UKVI list of majority English speaking countries

We also accept a degree that has been taught and assessed in English from a university on our list of approved universities in non-majority English speaking countries (non-MESC).

• Approved universities in non-MESC

If you are not a national of a majority English speaking country, then your degree must be no more than five years old at the beginning of your programme of study.

Find out more about our language requirements:

• English language requirements

Application fee

None.

Deposit

None.

Additional programme costs

None.

Living costs

You will be responsible for covering living costs for the duration of your studies.

Tuition fees

Funding for postgraduate study is different to undergraduate study, and many students need to combine funding sources to pay for their studies.

Most students use a combination of the following funding to pay their tuition fees and living costs:

• borrowing money
  • taking out a loan
  • family support
• personal savings
• income from work
• employer sponsorship
• scholarships

Explore sources of funding for postgraduate study

As this is a part-time intermittent programme, also known as invoiced-at-course-level (ICL), it is not eligible for UK government loan funding.

• Other external funding

Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program scholarships

The postgraduate study scholarships for the 2025/26 academic year will accept applications from 1 October 2024 at 10:00am until 8 November 2024 at 5:00pm (UK Time). Applicants must be residents and citizens or hold refugee status in a Sub-Saharan African country.

More information and how to apply for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program

If the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program is the only scholarship you are interested in applying for at the University of Edinburgh, please apply for the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program scholarship only.

If you receive a scholarship offer from the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program, you can then apply for the academic programme at the University.

Search for scholarships and funding opportunities:

• Search for funding