WSET Diploma Course Registration Information
As a new Diploma student, you will "register" with WSET for three "academic years." The cost for three-year registration is included in the initial payment you make for Units 1 & 2, either for class instruction or home study.
WSET's academic years run from August through July. For that reason, most students begin their studies in the fall. Students who begin their studies in the winter lose half an academic year. However, if students don't complete all Units within three years, they can re-register for an additional three academic years, giving them a total of six years to earn the Diploma.
Diploma Registration and the IWS
Your price for Units 1 and 2 (home study or class enrollment) includes three-year Diploma registration which we in turn pay to the WSET in London. Diploma registration now entitles you to free membership as a student member of the Institute of Wines and Spirits for the entire three years of your Diploma registration. Otherwise, to become a full member of IWS you must be a Diploma graduate and pay £75 per year to the IWS. IWS membership benefits include:
- Full access to the Just-drinks.com website
- World's most thorough website for wine-related news articles and detailed research papers
- Daily email alerts with links to new items (approximately 20 every day), and other features-- an invaluable aid for your coursework assignments.
- This alone normally costs £125 per year.
- Market data from Canadean, arguably the world's most comprehensive source for information about wine production and other information relevant to Diploma study, plus free entry to their website and student area.
- A news magazine (prepared by the WSET)
- Frequently Asked (Diploma/ WSET) Questions
- Industry links
- An Events diary
- A members-only online forum
- A members-only Chat-room. So far students have used this to share strategies for Diploma study. And, when one student pointed out an apparent contradiction within the Vinification textbook, Understanding Wine Technology, by David Bird, David Bird himself responded to resolve the discrepancy.
- A job shop, with industry vacancies. (So far, mainly keyed to the UK, but with plans to expand its US coverage).
- Low-cost educational trips to wine regions. To date regions have included the Loire, Jerez, Bordeaux and Germany.
- Discount membership in the Purple Pages of jancisrobinson.com (with its online access to her complete Oxford Companion to Wine).
Diploma Course Sequence
WSET requires that Diploma students take Units 1 and 2 first. Units 3-6 can be taken in any order after that. You must take (but not necessarily pass) the Unit 2 exam before or on the same day as subsequent exams.
More information about planning the sequence of your Diploma study.