Certificate of Continuing Education( CertCE)
• Equivalent to the first 60 credits of an undergraduate degree.
• On completion, these can be used towards a full undergraduate degree.
Certificate of Higher Education( CertHE) and Diploma of Higher Education( DipHE)
• These are levels within a degree course – a CertHE is the same as one year of study and a DipHE is the same as two years.
• They are often awarded if a student leaves a course early, but can be taken as qualifications in their own right.
Foundation degree
• These have abbreviations such as FdSc( science foundation degree) FdA( arts foundation degree) and FdEng( engineering foundation degree).
• Equivalent to an HND or two-thirds of a bachelors degree.
• They focus on specific job or sector skills, in areas as broad as arts and media management, electronic engineering, healthcare and wildlife conservation. Some include work placements for hands-on learning.
• Most take two years to complete full time, or longer if taken part time.
• Usually students can choose to study for an additional year to gain a full degree.
• Taught at university or college, or often both.
Foundation diploma / foundation year
• These are one-year qualifications that can be a stepping stone to a bachelors degree course for students who want to explore a particular subject area for one year or who don’ t meet the degree entry requirements.
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My daughter chose a foundation course because she couldn’ t decide exactly what she wanted to do. We believe this is going to be a great entrance for her into university life.
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Bachelors degree
• Also known as an undergraduate, first or honours degree, this is the most common form of higher education qualification.
• There are different qualification titles but many subjects fall under BSc( Bachelor of Science), BA( Bachelor of Arts) or BEng( Bachelor of Engineering). Other common titles are BM( Bachelor of Medicine) and LLB( Bachelor of Laws).
• Some subjects, such as psychology or geography, are available as BA and BSc courses. The BSc is likely to have more scientific or technical content while the BA will focus more on human or social aspects of the subject.
• Courses can focus on a single subject( single honours) or two subjects( combined or joint honours, or major / minor).
• An undergraduate degree usually takes three years of full time study to complete – some courses take four years including a year abroad or a year’ s work placement.
• Some students choose an integrated Masters degree – usually a three-year bachelors degree which leads straight into a further year of Masters-level study.
You’ ll find more information about choosing a university course and the application process in section“ Going to university” page 44.
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