The programme is designed to develop Students English language skills and introduce students to essential academic and study skills before travelling to the International Study Centre to begin their academic programme.

The Pre-Masters is a three-term programme that provides the specialist academic and English language preparation students need to succeed as a postgraduate student at Durham University. Once they successfully complete this Pre-Masters programme and achieve the required grades, they can start their chosen Masters degree at Durham University. The MISCADA specialist qualification in Astrophysics is designed to equip students with the background knowledge and skills to address some of the biggest research questions in fundamental science, such as how we can use large surveys and supercomputer simulations to probe the nature of dark matter and dark energy. The course explores areas such as stellar structure and evolution, galaxy formation, large-scale structure and simulations of structure formation.