Access Course

This is a course specially designed for those students who lack the appropriate formal qualifications to enter HE. Successful completion of the access course will equip the student to enter many HE courses directly, without the need for further qualifications.

Bursary

This is a financial grant awarded by universities or other funding bodies to students with particular financial needs who satisfy certain financial criteria.

Entry Requirements

These refer to the prior qualifications that a university or college specifies are necessary for a student to begin an HE course. For a course operating at level 4, these would typically refer to qualifications gained at level 3, and so on. For students who have traditional formal qualifications gained at A Level, for example, these requirements are often defined in terms of a UCAS Tariff (see below). However, for many of the courses we offer, applicants often come from work-based routes and we are happy to give credit for relevant work experience instead of formal academic qualifications.

Foundation Degree

Foundation Degrees are flexible qualifications designed to equip students with the tools to understand a subject and to apply that understanding to practical situations. Work-based learning is a key component of all Foundation Degrees. These relatively new Degrees are recognised university qualifications in their own right and enable the successful student to use the letters FdA or FdSc (for arts-based or science-based Degrees respectively) after their name. Foundation Degrees typically take two years to complete and can be ‘topped up’ to a full Honours Degree by progressing to the final year of an appropriate Honours Degree course.

Graduate

A graduate is the name given to someone who has successfully completed a Degree course. The ceremony at which the Degree is conferred is called graduation. Students who are working towards their first Degree are often called undergraduates and those who are working towards a higher Degree (such as a Masters Degree or a Doctorate) are often called postgraduates.

Honours Degree

An Honours Degree is the most common first Degree offered by universities. It is often called a Bachelors Degree and usually takes three years full time. Successful students can use the letters BA or BSc (for arts-based or science-based degrees respectively) after their name.

Lecture

A lecture is one of the common techniques used to deliver course material in HE. It is often slightly more formal and less interactive than many classes in school or FE colleges. It is quite an efficient method for transmitting large amounts of information about a subject to students. It would normally be accompanied by less formal teaching methods such as seminars or tutorials.

NQF

This acronym stands for the National Qualifications Framework which describes how all standard academic and vocational qualifications relate to each other and what can be expected from people who have successfully achieved each qualification.

Seminar

A seminar is an interactive class in which a tutor and a group of students meet together to discuss a particular topic. Seminars support what is taught during lectures and can allow students to really test their understanding of a topic.

Tutorial

A tutorial is used to describe a meeting between a student (or group of students) and a tutor who has a particular responsibility for their oversight and support during their course. Tutorials can often be focused on practical support and help, as well as one academic matters relating to the course.

UCAS Tariff

The UCAS Tariff is a points system used to report achievement for entry to HE in a numerical format. It establishes agreed comparability between different types of qualifications and provides comparisons between applicants with different types and volumes of achievement. The Tariff works in the following ways:

· points can be aggregated from the different qualifications included in the Tariff

· there is no ceiling to the number of points which can be accumulated

· there is no double counting – applicants cannot count the same or similar qualifications twice

· achievement at a lower level will be subsumed into the higher level, i.e, AS points will be subsumed into the A Level points for the same subject. The same principle applies to Scottish Highers and Advanced Highers, VCE A Levels and Double Awards, and Key Skills and Music awards at different levels or grades

· all certified Key Skills in Application of Number, Communication and IT will attract points  whether achieved through proxy or not.

Helpful tables can be found online at www.ucas.ac.uk/students ucas_tariff/tarifftables/