If you used Clearing in 2024, how did you find it?

Beware of Awarding Bodies like NCC Education: My Experience with Poor Standards

I want to share my story to assist others in navigating their educational choices. My experience with NCC Education has been quite disappointing, and I feel it's important to shed light on their practices for anyone considering enrollment. During my time with them, I struggled to find any reviews, so I hope my feedback can be helpful!

For those unfamiliar: NCC Education is a British awarding body and educational provider that was founded in 1966. They offer a range of diploma programmes in IT and business, primarily through approved centres around the world. One of their key selling points is that students can use these diplomas to gain entry into undergraduate degree programs or top-up years at partner universities. They heavily market their courses, especially in developing and least-developed countries.

The Negative Aspects:
Regrettably, my experience with NCC Education did not align with their advertising. The organisation shows little accountability for the unethical practices and poor teaching standards at its approved centres. Despite their claims of upholding high educational standards, the teaching quality and consistency monitoring I encountered was subpar. There seems to be minimal enforcement of the standards laid out in their policies, suggesting that their main focus is on selling degrees rather than ensuring that their centres provide quality education.

My perception of NCC Education has changed because they do not seem to take their responsibilities seriously. This raises concerns about the credibility of their degrees, even if most universities recognise them. While their foundation programme may have helped some students access reputable universities at a low cost, the long-term outcomes of their undergraduate diploma programmes are quite disappointing. The education and support offered do not meet the standards necessary for a successful learning experience. As a result, I cannot endorse their long-term programmes.

Specific Issues I Experienced with NCC Education:

Quality of Teaching: At the approved centre I attended, many instructors lacked the necessary qualifications and seemed unprepared to effectively teach the course material. This led to significant confusion among students, and we often found ourselves needing to self-teach just to complete assignments.
Support and Guidance: Academic support was extremely limited. When we encountered difficulties with course materials or had questions about assignments, it was challenging to get useful responses from the NCC Education Center.
Lack of Accountability: Even when complaints were raised regarding the centre’s practices, such as inadequate facilities, poor teaching quality, and ineffective communication, NCC Education took little meaningful action. It felt as though their primary concern was increasing enrollment rather than ensuring educational quality.
You might wonder why I’m not focusing solely on the centre instead of NCC Education. The reason is that NCC Education has the ultimate responsibility to effectively monitor their approved centres. It is their duty to ensure quality, and when their centres provide misleading information about their performance, it reflects a failure on NCC Education’s part to enforce standards. They should be fully aware of what is happening. In fact, we even wrote a letter to NCC Education detailing these issues, but their response was disappointing. They simply stated that they handle student registration through the centre and claimed to monitor them, yet no significant action was taken. They continually directed us to contact the centre directly, despite its lack of responsiveness. Despite NCC's claims of oversight, they did very little to address the concerns we raised.

The Positive Aspect:
While I've mostly discussed the negative sides of my experience, one positive aspect is that you can obtain an affordable foundation degree that offers a pathway to the first year of university. I would only recommend their level-3 programme.

My Final Thoughts:
Educational providers like NCC Education Centres often target vulnerable populations, attracting students with the promise of affordable education. However, even at a low cost, the value received often doesn’t justify the investment. If you’re considering furthering your education, I strongly encourage you to explore reputable universities and seek out scholarships instead of settling for organisations like this one, which seem to neglect their responsibilities.

If any employees from NCC Education are reading this, I sincerely hope you can restore your reputation as a reputable education provider. This is my wish for you, as more students may seek alternatives if improvements aren't made.

If you’ve encountered a similar situation with NCC Education or any other education provider, I encourage you to share your experiences. Your perspectives could help others steer clear of risking their futures with organisations that fail to prioritise genuine education.