Latest news: FTSE 100 company to offer degrees

Pearson, owners of Penguin Group UK, the Financial Times and the Edexcel exam board, is to become the first FTSE 100 company to award its own degrees. 15/08/2012

The leading UK company said it aims to recruit ‘the brightest and most entrepreneurial students' for its college courses, developed with a number of businesses. 

Companies including BT, Cisco, the Peter Jones Foundation and Atos have helped develop the course, with validation coming from Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, part of the University of London.

The degree will include a guaranteed internship programme and company-based mentoring.

Pearson will recruit close to 100 undergraduates from September 2013, charging each of them £6,500 a year for the three-year course.

Students are expected to be eligible for government loans, with Pearson also offering a 'performance scholarship' to help exceptional candidates pay their fees.

The new college comes after a government move to allow private companies into higher education, with students studying at Pearson's offices in Manchester or London. There is also residential course option, based at Royal Holloway's campus.

Roxanne Stockwell, managing director of Pearson College, said 'Our degrees are designed by business, delivered with business, for students who are serious about succeeding in business.'