What is a foundation degree?
Foundation Degrees are a new type of undergraduate degree that combines vocational training with academic study. They were introduced by the Department for Education and Skills in 2000 to address skills shortages in the workforce, to widen participation in HE and to encourage lifelong learning.
A Foundation degree is shorter than an Honours degree comprising 240 CATS points at Certificate and Intermediate level. This is equivalent in credit terms to the first two years of a full-time Honours degree. They are designed specifically to equip you with the practical and transferable key skills required by today’s employers. In addition, the Foundation Degree provides the necessary academic and theoretical basis for you to progress to the final stages of an associated Honours degree on completion of the Foundation degree if you wish. Foundation degrees have the following additional key characteristics:
- are accessible to students with a non-standard background
- provide work based / work relevant training
- provide progression to the final stages of an Honours degree on completion or other higher level professional qualification
- are developed in collaboration with employers or employer representatives
- may be developed in partnership with FE Colleges
Birkbeck’s part-time Foundation degrees take two years and two terms ie eight terms. A part-time Honours degree at Birkbeck takes four years or 12 terms ie a Foundation degree takes two thirds of the time of an Honours degree. For the current Foundation degrees it is the first year of the Foundation degree which is just two terms long and these programmes start in January. In these two terms students take 60 credits at Certificate level. The subsequent two years follow the normal academic year starting in the autumn. Students take modules to the value of 90 credits in each of these years, some at Certificate level and most at Intermediate level.
In addition, all Foundation degree students undertake Personal Development Planning throughout the degree. The two new Foundation degrees start in the autumn, and it is the final year in which students complete just 60 credits towards the Foundation degree.