We are looking forward to offering a range of full honours degrees for the first time.
The University Centre can already validate a wide range of qualifications, including foundation degrees, under its own powers.
But now, following a successful application to the Office for Students (OfS), we have gained full degree-awarding authority. That means we will be able to offer three year bachelor’s degrees and validate ‘top-up’ options, for our foundation degrees, ourselves.
Dean of Higher Education, Dr Sarah Marquez, says the change will make it easier for students to gauge the University Centre’s academic offering against those of other higher education (HE) institutions.
Exciting times ahead
She said: “We are delighted to have secured these degree-awarding powers, which confirm the quality of our courses and standards.
“We will now be redesigning our curriculum to reflect this, and are looking forward to offering full three year honours programmes across our provision for the first time.
“So students will be able to more easily compare our offer against those of our competitors, and we can also now offer validated higher-level Continuing Professional Development to further support local businesses and professionals.”
She added: “This means we can respond to employer needs quicker, too, in terms of introducing new courses or adapting existing provision - and that is particularly important at a time when we are looking to expand our Higher Technical Qualifications and apprenticeships offer.”
The University Centre will now be able to work with other education providers, who don't have awarding powers, to either validate their provision or enable them to offer our programmes.
