Degree or HND + top up year at Uni

vertical_fool

Hi all.

I was intending on going to Uni this year, however, this week I discovered the option of the HND route. Now this option apparently is a 2 year HND course which costs £1200-1500 a year (as opposed to the £3K a year at Uni) which can then be followed by a one year top up/conversion course which then leaves you with a degree. There is a further golden egg (the first being lower fees) and that is that there is a one year fastrack HND from Sept - Sept with no holidays.

So does anybody have any experience of this route particularly from the employment point of view i.e. What do employers think of these compared to a degree.

I look forward to your views, opinions and experiences.

Vertical

WeirdoMagnet

I did a HND and then a BSc eight years go, before students had to pay tuition fees, so I can't really comment on that aspect.

As far as how do employers view it, I don't tell them! I just state that I have a BSc (Hons), and as the two qualifications were completed over the same time, they wouldn't know. I have a certificate to say I have a HND, and a certificate to say I have a BSc (Hons), so I just use the degree one.

I'm currently working in an Educational Institution (Agricultural College) and our courses run alongside each other - someone enrolling on a HND would study exactly the same first and second years as a student who had enrolled on the degree. Likewise, if you enrol on the degree and leave after completion of year two, you would simply graduate with a HND.

Would a graduate endowment apply to you, or does that only apply up here in Scotland? Basically if you enrol on and graduate with a degree, you have to pay the endowment once you hit the earnings threshold. However, if you start on a HNC/D, and progress to the degree, you don't have to pay it!

The tuition fees are all changing this year, but as you state it is cheaper to start on the HND and progress to the degree - you will probably follow the same course either way.

HTH

Good luck, whatever you decide.

Georgie

kar

what subject would it be in??

Can't see why employers would have a problem with it you would have a degree at the end so i don't think it really matters how you get there.

ka7e

My son has gone this route for his degree (2 yr HND and 1 yr top-up) and is slightly worried that his degree will not be "valued" in the same way that a conventional one will. His main concern is that all of the highly-rated universities would only take him on as a second-year student - not directly into the 3rd year.
He worries that an HND (with Distinction, from our top-rated local College) plus a projected 1st class Degree from his Uni (UWE) will not be seen to be the same as a Degree from Cardiff or Exeter.

vertical_fool

Hi Georgina, thanks for your reply. I`ll have to look into the endowment that you have mentioned as well as the funding in general.

Hi Kar, my original intentions were to study either a BA in Financial serivises at Manchester Metropolitan University or either Economic or Accounting and Finance ( they both come under the same course title/code) at the University of Manchester. I`m at present studying an Access course at Mancat college, this is where I have discovered that they do the HND course. If I do the HND it will be in Business ( this is what I heard it was referred to as, it may have another title). I`m still worried what employers would think of this.

Hi Ka7e, I`m greatful that you have menioned that some Uni`s will only take HND`ers into the second year as opposed to the third, this is something I will have to look into.

Thanks, I`d still appreciate more replies.

belleooo

vertical_fool wrote:

Hi all.

I was intending on going to Uni this year, however, this week I discovered the option of the HND route. Now this option apparently is a 2 year HND course which costs £1200-1500 a year (as opposed to the £3K a year at Uni) which can then be followed by a one year top up/conversion course which then leaves you with a degree. There is a further golden egg (the first being lower fees) and that is that there is a one year fastrack HND from Sept - Sept with no holidays.

So does anybody have any experience of this route particularly from the employment point of view i.e. What do employers think of these compared to a degree.

I look forward to your views, opinions and experiences.

Vertical

Have you looked at the Open University for prices? The vast majority of courses are way below these prices. You can study at your own pace, in your own home and carry on working! So you are not building up any debt. May be worth checking out?

Jersy

tbh i dont know if it is cheaper to do the hnd, it may well be, but that is not written in stone

im currently in 2nd year of HND and going on 2 3rd year of the degree (but more about that bit later)

i was talkin 2 my lecurer the other day and she was sayin that my current place will b charging 2500ish next year and not the full 3k they r intitiled 2.

now on 2 the top up degree. last year i got 5 D 3 M.. and this years so far I have 2D 1M and 5 results pending. my offer for uni is in 2nd year 6D 2M or 7D 1P. but as i have already failed one (well got a merit) the pressure is really on

but 2 get 2 my point, should i meet my offer i have to take part in a bridging course. this uni would take me in2 2nd year with average grades, however to get into the final year they want me 2 go 6 weeks of classes and one week of exams in the summer (end of july - sept) i only hve to pass to get through this course, it will not go 2wards my final degree, just show im capable.

i looked at doing the top up at manchester met.. i decided against it for a few reasons. main one being that its over the water (im in sunny northern ireland) and secondly its a glorified polytech. before anyone has a dig at me for saying, i currently go to a tech, while it doesnt have the repuation for a proper university it gives u all the help and support u need 2 get you through, they really work for you and with you.

im rambling, so ill stop now lol

casson2006

Yeh but it will have more value if you go to university and do a full degree instead of that. I did a BTEC natational diploma instead of A-levels and ive found that i am of a disadvantage because its not seen as good as a-levels even though its the equivalant. I was advised to do a HND after my BTEC but they said i would have less credability than if i did a degree at uni, and i am glad i went to uni now.

mitcho_uk

I am just completing a top up degree after undertaking the HND and I would say go for it. The end qualification is exactly the same ie you get a degree qualification. I am studying at the same college that I did my HND but the course is validated and awarded by Staffs Uni.

elisebutt65

I started off doing the HND in Tourism Business Management, but was getting D++ so went on to start the 1st year of the Marketing BA. Totally hated it so am now on the 2nd year of the BA(hons) for Tourism. And sticking an extra year onto my loan - sigh - had to do it the hard way!!

I'm at the Birmingham College of Food but our exams etc are accreditted by Birmingham University.

TBH tho - how many employers look at where you got your degree from? Wouldn't they be more concerned whether you got a First or Second - etc? Unless it's a job really in demand and they can't make up their minds between candidates, I wouldn't worry too much.

Having said that if I'd done the full HND then the top up - it was a further year + an extra semester to top up to a degree, not just a year.

WeirdoMagnet

casson2006 wrote:

Yeh but it will have more value if you go to university and do a full degree instead of that. I did a BTEC natational diploma instead of A-levels and ive found that i am of a disadvantage because its not seen as good as a-levels even though its the equivalant. I was advised to do a HND after my BTEC but they said i would have less credability than if i did a degree at uni, and i am glad i went to uni now.

Hi casson,

A degree or a HND plus top-up degree years are worth the same. They invariable follow the same course and lessons. If someone starts at an institution on a HND and progresses onto the Degree, it is 'worth' the same. As I mentioned above, I did a HND and topped-up to a degree, but I never tell anyone - it is a degree and is/was a validated programme of study! One of my lecturers said 'never give a potential employer reasons not to employ you', so I don't! It's not a lie, I do have a degree!

A BTEC ND and A Levels are a different kettle of fish. Although it was marketed as 'an equivalent qualification', it is vocational and so is not as 'academic' as A Levels.

Georgie