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Get Started taster courses

Our Get Started taster courses are a free programme of courses which aim to give people without experience of studying at a UK university an opportunity to try out a university level course. 

About our taster courses

Our Get Started taster courses offer the opportunity to try out evening study at Birkbeck. Each course runs for between four and five weeks with one face-to-face or online evening class a week. As part of the course, participants also receive additional video content or recommended reading which they can access in their own time.

Each taster course focuses on an academic subject but also includes a reflection session where participants are supported to think about their next steps in their education and provided with more information about other informal and formal learning opportunities. 

We are currently working with the following programmes to offer taster courses: Psychology for Education, School of Psychological Sciences; History and Archaeology, School of Historical Studies; Legal Methods, Birkbeck Law School; and Community Leadership, School of Social Sciences.

Taster courses for the academic year 2023-24

  • Term 1 (autumn): Law
  • Term 2 (winter): Criminology
  • Term 3 (summer): Computer Science

Who our taster courses are for

Our taster courses are open to anyone living in the UK without a degree from a UK university. We particularly welcome people who face barriers to accessing higher education, including those who:

  • are not currently in education/formal learning with a five or more year gap between their last experience of formal education  
  • don’t have friends or family who have experience of higher education 
  • are living in a low income household (less than £25,000)  
  • have a disability
  • are forced migrants
  • hold non-traditional entry route qualifications (e.g. a BTEC or Access qualification) and/or have limited or poor prior attainment 
  • are from an ethnic group which is underrepresented either in the student body and/or in academic teaching staff and/or whose heritage is unrepresented in the university curriculum.  

Find out more and sign up

We advertise our taster courses through our mailing lists and partner organisations.

To find out more about our current taster courses and to sign up to one, please .