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Entry Requirements for Scottish Universities

I am currently living in Poland and am planning on continuing my higher education in Scotland. However I noticed that the grade expectations for Poles are very high for our Matura. Is there any way for me to take the Scottish Highers or something equivalent to that. I should also like to point out that I am done with my Secondary School Education
Reply 1
I am not too sure on this, however if you wanted to take our Higher exams they would most likely need to be private exams and funded by yourself, don't quote me on that though.

What is the problem with your equivalencies?
Reply 2
You can apply to colleges in Scotland that allow you to sit Highers but you have to meet their entry requirements. Also, you probably will have to fund the course yourself if you haven't lived in Scotland for a certain amount of years etc
Original post by TopherC
I am not too sure on this, however if you wanted to take our Higher exams they would most likely need to be private exams and funded by yourself, don't quote me on that though.

What is the problem with your equivalencies?

Scotland has VERY high expectancies of Polish nationals. 3 Advanced subjects at a minimum of 85%. Less than 1% of the students that take the exam receive that kind of score.
Original post by rhiifuu
You can apply to colleges in Scotland that allow you to sit Highers but you have to meet their entry requirements. Also, you probably will have to fund the course yourself if you haven't lived in Scotland for a certain amount of years etc

Thats what i wanted to know. Can I take the highers not having gone to Seconday School in Scotland and having finished School in Poland. Will they say that since I finished school in Poland I cannot be eligible for The Highers? Will they say that only the Polish Exam counts?
Reply 5
Feel free to PM me and I will try to answer all your questions, I'm Pole myself and commencing studies in Scotland (Uni of Aberdeen) this year. They're actually quite lenient when it comes to requirements. My condition was to score 75% from advanced Maths (along with overall 75%, 75% from advanced IT and 70% from advanced English but I fulfilled them) and I got in with 56% . My guess is that with introduction of percentiles in Polish matura they are looking more at them rather than the score itself (because my percentile from maths was 75%).

What Uni are you interested in?
(edited 8 years ago)
Original post by DevonPL
Feel free to PM me and I will try to answer all your questions, I'm Pole myself and commencing studies in Scotland (Uni of Aberdeen) this year. They're actually quite lenient when it comes to requirements. My condition was to score 75% from advanced Maths (along with overall 75%, 75% from advanced IT and 70% from advanced English but I fulfilled them) and I got in with 56% . My guess is that with introduction of percentiles in Polish matura they are looking more at them rather than the score itself (because my percentile from maths was 75%).

What Uni are you interested in?


Well I don't want to go to a uni at the bottom of the list so was thinking something like Stirling University but could I get in with just two Advanced Subjects Math and English for instance. But to be quite honest I wanted to take the Scottish equivalent.
Reply 7
Original post by pteargriffin20
Thats what i wanted to know. Can I take the highers not having gone to Seconday School in Scotland and having finished School in Poland. Will they say that since I finished school in Poland I cannot be eligible for The Highers? Will they say that only the Polish Exam counts?



It honestly just depends on your current qualifications. I would find out the colleges around your current location in Scotland and phone up to see whether they would consider you or what route should you take instead.

You can always do a HNC or HND. A HNC is one year and takes you into your first year of Uni if your pass with an A or a B. Whereas, the HND is a two year course and takes you into your third year of university usually.

Original post by pteargriffin20
Well I don't want to go to a uni at the bottom of the list so was thinking something like Stirling University but could I get in with just two Advanced Subjects Math and English for instance. But to be quite honest I wanted to take the Scottish equivalent.


To get into first year for Stirling University you only require about 4-5 highers and at least a national 5 English and maths. You don't really need to do advanced highers really unless you want to go straight into your second year of uni.
Reply 8
Do you really want to waste one year and all that money to take Scottish final examination whilst you could directly go into uni? What course are you interested in? And to be honest Stirling University isn't the top one either. Have you considered Aberdeen / Dundee / Heriott-Watt / Strathclyde? These are the best unis after Glasgow / Edinburgh in Scotland. And requirements are listed above, so they aren't that big :smile: Dundee for example gave me such condition - 'Average of 70% in the Advanced Subjects including 65% in Mathematics and IT and IELTS Overall Score 6.0, 6.0 in Writing, 5.5 in Listening, Reading, Speaking'. Btw I'm for Computing Science.
(edited 8 years ago)
Stirling although good for certain things such as primary school teaching etc isn't one of the higher universities in Scotland. Those would be more Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh etc. There aren't as many unis in Scotland compared to the RoUK so "something like Stirling" can be quite subjective as it all depends on the course. For example my uni Strathclyde not that many people have heard of it, however for Engineering subjects it's very well regarded in Industy.

Sorry I couldn't be any help regarding grades. I think you're best option would be to call the universities and ask?
Original post by pteargriffin20
Well I don't want to go to a uni at the bottom of the list so was thinking something like Stirling University but could I get in with just two Advanced Subjects Math and English for instance. But to be quite honest I wanted to take the Scottish equivalent.
Original post by DevonPL
Do you really want to waste one year and all that money to take Scottish final examination whilst you could directly go into uni? What course are you interested in? And to be honest Stirling University isn't the top one either. Have you considered Aberdeen / Dundee / Heriott-Watt / Strathclyde? These are the best unis after Glasgow / Edinburgh in Scotland. And requirements are listed above, so they aren't that big :smile: Dundee for example gave me such condition - 'Average of 70% in the Advanced Subjects including 65% in Mathematics and IT and IELTS Overall Score 6.0, 6.0 in Writing, 5.5 in Listening, Reading, Speaking'. Btw I'm for Computing Science.

Thats what im saying- with the grades I can get in the Polish Matura I probably won't get in. So thats why I wanted to take the Highers. The scottish expectaions of Polsih students are a bit high. So can I take the Highers while already done with Polish School?

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