Your foundation degree, what next? : Professional courses

Professional courses allow you to enter and practise a specific profession. Professional bodies usually regulate their own qualifications and entry routes and provide a list of courses that are acceptable for their varying levels of membership.

If you need to have professional registration for your chosen career you should check whether your foundation degree will be accepted towards the programme requirements.

Foundation Degree Forward  provides a publication called Choosing a Foundation Degree While Working  and this includes questions which foundation degree graduates can ask professional bodies about entry requirements.

Not all professional bodies require an honours degree for entry and many offer different levels and tiers of membership, based on an assessment of your academic ability, subject studied and industrial experience. For example, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)  offers Associate membership for those with a foundation degree, while the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)  offers Affiliate Professional membership, which progresses to Associate membership if you get an honours degree. The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)  can offer part exemption to exams and entry depending on experience, degree subject, awarding institution and final year of completion.

If you are interested in a professional course, check whether the qualification is valued by employers if it is not taken while in relevant employment. Many professional courses have traditionally been taken by people already working in a related role and those who take the course without such experience can struggle when they compete for jobs.

Explore types of jobs and industry insights to research individual occupations and areas of work, including details of training routes and professional qualifications.

AGCAS

Written by Emma Bumpus, AGCAS

Date: 

May 2011

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