Your foundation degree...what next? : Degrees

Where to continue to study

There are several options open:

• At your current institution - As a requirement for establishing a foundation degree, all institutions must provide a suitable progression route. Most graduates opt to take this route and it is likely to be the most straightforward option and may only be dependent upon completing your foundation degree.
• The institution where you degree was validated - If you have studied at an institution that cannot award degrees, such as a further education college, progression to the institution where your degree is validated may be the most straightforward option. Before you commit to anything, you should investigate what will be different about studying at another institution and how you feel about this.
• A different university - Progression to a different university is another possibility. This may be more complicated as some of the onus will be on you to investigate things further and establish whether this is a realistic option.

UK Qualification frameworks and credit systems

Credit systems were originally designed to provide greater flexibility and easier transfer between courses at different institutions. Students awarded credit by one institution may have that credit recognised by another.

Foundation degrees are classified as an intermediate qualification, as shown in the table below:

Even with the Credit Accumulation and Transfer system (CATS), universities do not have to offer progression to foundation graduates of other universities - the final decision will always rest with the academics running the course. Students may have to demonstrate that the credits they have obtained are specific to that course.

Sometimes entry requirements will stipulate that a student must reach requirements by carrying out an extended year, summer school or additional modules. It is vital you discuss with your institution, or potential institution, how credit points are managed and allocated, as the systems used differ from institution to institution and from course to course. For further details about credit schemes, see the Southern England Consortium for Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SEEC) , the Northern Universities Consortium for Credit Accumulation and Transfer (NUCCAT) , the National Council for Training and Education in Wales (ELWA)  and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) .

The broad study options for foundation degree students are as follows:

• honours degree;
• ordinary degree;
• postgraduate course;
• professional qualification.

It should be noted that these are not exclusive groups; some degrees and postgraduate courses include a professional qualification; you receive professional recognition as well as an academic award.

Progression to honours level

 Of the 72,000 current foundation degree students, most will progress onto further study, usually a one-year honours degree. The majority ‘top up’ immediately after graduating, although a significant minority will return to ‘top up’ at a later point in their career (Foundation Degrees: Key statistics 2001-02 to 2007-08, HEFCE, 2008).

• Joining at year three - Most programmes offering direct progression to honours level specify one academic year as the normal length for completion. Some routes though, may involve taking a ‘bridging’ programme – typically an extra 20-40 credits or the equivalent of an extra term’s full-time study.
• Joining at year two - You may be offered the option to join an honours programme at year two, for example if you want to study for an honours degree that isn’t a natural progression from your foundation degree, or if the subject is different. Entry requirements for this route are less demanding than for one-year (or one-year and one-term) ‘top-up’ courses. If this is the case, you will need to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of taking on a longer period of study.
• Joining at year one - Some students may consider joining an honours programme from year one. This is an option mostly taken where no transfer is possible because the subject is completely different or because of professional requirements (many medical professions, for example, are entered mainly or exclusively via a three or four-year degree with a strictly defined syllabus laid down by the relevant professional bodies). This may also be an option for those who feel their first subject was the wrong choice.

What are your options on graduating?

If you intend to progress to an honours degree, you will need to find out where it can lead you and what your options will be upon graduating. For help with this, you should look up the destination data for previous graduates from the course. All institutions and courses have to collect and publish such information. You may also want to refer to options with your subject for details of individual, subject-specific destinations.

In practice, a large number of vacancies do not specify a subject. Class of degree however, is often significant to employers, with some specifying an upper second, or better, as a minimum requirement for their graduate training schemes. You should carefully consider your chances of doing well in an honours programme if these competitive schemes are of interest to you. The changed pace or style of learning in the honours degree can cause difficulties for some foundation degree graduates, in particular the emphasis on research and the move away from work-related learning.

BA and BSc degrees are normally offered with honours; ordinary and unclassified degrees are available to those who struggle to meet the requirements of honours degrees - in the past, this option has been offered to HND holders. Evidence from graduates with ordinary degrees, though, has shown that it has been a difficult entry point in the labour market and, therefore, may not offer a greater advantage over a foundation degree.

A useful resource when researching progression to honours level is the annual survey of graduate destinations, What Do Graduates Do? 

AGCAS

Written by Nicola Abbott, Durham University

Date: 

April 2009

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