It continues to amaze me the amount of students that allow universities to dictate to them that they have to undergo 3 years of study for certain courses. This of course in reality isn't 3 years - its around 7 months a year (21 months of study at university). Anyway I'm sure the majority of students are happy to accept this - after all finishing school/college are daunting - and the prospect of putting off going into full-time employment for another 3 years is appealing. However, my friends son is at the other end of the scale. He's an extremely gifted linguistic and has had the benefit of living in France, Switzerland, Germany and Italy all by the age of 20. Hence he can speak fluent French, German and English and has good conversational Italian. He also is teaching himself Spanish online and has already at an intermediate level. Needless to say a Modern Languages degree for him would of interest and beneficial. Last year he started a 3 year course and after 6 weeks found himself bored, under-challenged and hitting 1st's with little to no effort. He took himself to his academic advisor and asked - is there anyway I can fast-track through this - I'll happily do all the modules, take all the exams and even pay up any fee you need to be out of here in a year. "That's not how it works, this is a 3 year course - you stay the distance and get the qualification at the end." The candidate responded using the analogy - "That's rather like telling Lewis Hamilton if he goes to live in a new country and he's required to take a driving test to drive there - he has to go through all the 10 weeks recommended lesson plan!" Academic Advisor called him arrogant. Friends son quit - now works as a leading translator for Santander earning £30,000 plus. My point of the post is - almost any other qualification you take - be it an A-Level, Diploma or license - it is RECOMMENDED that you take a period of study/instruction - however - you can take the exam to pass the course actually when you like. The above example had taken Italian, French, German GCSE all by the age of 14. Degrees should be more flexible - but no they want their money and they have enough sheep prepared to go through the system.