Do University's accept Open University qualification?

Hey, asking on behalf of a friend that is 27 in May. Hes thinking about doing an Open University Course for higher education certificate in October but is worried that a real university would not accept him then on a foundation course afterwards. Also he plans on paying the fees for the open university which is about £2000 but is worried he wont get student finance when he is going to a foundation course year after. Please help. Thanks.

Reply 1

Davidswift9

Original post by Chalkiee3

your friend can take open university modules and use them as an equivalent of year 1 and transfer straight into 2nd year of brick uni
example for science degrees....
http://www.open.ac.uk/choose/openplus/

Reply 2

JoeTSR

Yes. I'm doing an Access course (not Open Uni, but in a similar vein) and I've got offers from all but 1 of my choices (Greenwich, failed literacy test on interview day), plus 1 due to interview (St George's).

It'd be a good idea for him to contact the unis he has in mind and ask them, as I know there can be issues with the Open University.

What course(s) is he looking at? An access course may be an option also (as I'm on one, I can give some guidance on that), may be faster, and fees will be lower (mine's £13-1400).

Reply 3

Chalkiee3

Thanks for the replies, there are no access courses in Wales(that we can find) so open university is the best option in that sense. The money isn't really a problem for this year it's getting the finance for next year. He's looking to do a foundation in computer security but they said he needs to get a certificate in higher education or something to that level.

Reply 4

JoeTSR

Original post by Chalkiee3

What about an Access to Science course (maybe with a computing/IT A level on top, I don't know if that'd be necessary or not, but either way, still cheaper than an OU course)?

If he's doing the Access course via distance learning, he could do it from Wales and start at any time (so an extra 5 months, as he could get a start now).

Reply 5

SuperCat007

Original post by Chalkiee3

For science, some universities don't think that OU is equivalent to first year, so transferring into second year isn't really an option. But they ought to accept it as enough to get into a foundation year or year 1.

As it's higher education for every year you study with them you'll lose a year of your full time entitlement. So he can only really study for one year with the OU if he wants to be funded for the entirety of his new course. The Welsh rules are slightly different, but I think they follow basically the same pattern.

Reply 6

JoeTSR

Original post by SuperCat007

Yeah, I think it does limit your options a bit.

On the second paragraph, are you sure? I thought that only applied to courses that were fundable by student loans (though obviously depends what OU course you go for, I know you can do BScs through them)?

Reply 7

Klix88

Original post by JoeTSR

On the second paragraph, are you sure? I thought that only applied to courses that were fundable by student loans (though obviously depends what OU course you go for, I know you can do BScs through them)?

A Certificate of Higher Education is the equivalent of the first year at uni. If it's done at the OU over two years, then it uses up two years of his Student Finance entitlement - even if he doesn't apply for it. If he then transferred into the second year of brick university degee, he would get SF for both of those years. However if he needed to start a new degree from scratch, he would have to fund the first year himself. If he went into a Foundation year (which I wouldn't expect with a Certificate of Higher Education) then he would have to fund that himself along with his first undrgrad year. His SF entitlement would kick back in for his second and third years.

Basically under the current rules, every year of uni-level study he does wih the OU, reduces his SF entitlement by a year. And that's even if he's part-time at the OU.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 8

SuperCat007

Original post by JoeTSR

Of course I'm sure. Any higher education course will be taken into account when calculating student finance entitlement. It doesn't matter what qualification it leads to.

Reply 9

JoeTSR

Original post by Klix88

Ah, gotcha, wasn't aware they only offered CHEs and above. Thanks :smile:

Original post by SuperCat007

Of course I'm sure. Any higher education course will be taken into account when calculating student finance entitlement. It doesn't matter what qualification it leads to.

I apologise for not knowing that OU only does HE, no FE (unless you want to do modules).

Reply 10

~Tara~

Actually for every brick uni year, you get 2 open uni regardless of intensity that you study. Because it's classed as part time.

The problem with OU or certainly under the old module layout, is that they hindered progress in early stages so you had to wait and this slid your modules into a new financial year. My old sfe timetable was feb-Feb when they started moving modules to fit into sept-June this also moved modules into new sfe year.

I used the equivalent of 1 and half years for OU study so I could only transfer into second year.

You get 4 years ft allowance for general UG degrees. (3 years + 1 resit year)

---

To be honest to get the certHE before a foundation degree makes no sense at all. You may as well save yourself time and money and just use your very HE to transfer into second year or as entry criteria for the year 1 UG. Unless the foundation degree is absolutely mandatory to entry into the UG