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Foundation Degrees

What is a Foundation Degree?

A Foundation Degree is an intermediate, work-related higher education qualification which combines academic and work-related learning. It is broadly equivalent to a HND/HNC qualification and can be studied in a wide range of subject areas. The Foundation Degree focuses on employability. A person will learn the technical skills and academic knowledge which will transfer easily into the workplace. In Northern Ireland, Foundation Degrees are developed and delivered in a partnership, involving one of the Northern Ireland universities or the Open University, a Further Education college and employers.

Strategic Importance of Foundation Degrees

The further development and expansion of Foundation Degrees is critical to a number of the Department’s strategies, specifically:

Higher Education Strategy for Northern Ireland

The forthcoming Higher Education Strategy for Northern Ireland (encompassing an integrated Regional Strategy for Widening Participation in Higher Education).  Foundation Degrees, particularly in terms of the flexible delivery options they offer to learners, will play an important role in ensuring that Higher Education is accessible to all with the ability to learn.

‘Success through Skills – Transforming Futures the Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland’

Foundation Degrees provide a key means of up-skilling and re-skilling the workforce.  The strategy outlines the Department’s commitment to “working closely with industry” and continuing “to expand Foundation Degrees in key skill priority areas”. The implementation plan for the Skills Strategy includes a project and  associated target aimed at increasing the number of learners studying full-time or part-time for a Foundation Degree in order to support the expansion of higher level skills

Further Education Means Business

Further Education Colleges are identified as an important route into Higher Education and graduate skills and states that, “the Department will work with the other stakeholders to ensure that Foundation degrees become the dominant sub-degree provision within the Further Education sector… and will, therefore, substitute over time the HND/HNC provisions”.  

Evaluation of Foundation Degree Forward

The Department carried out an evaluation exercise to assess the effectiveness and value for money of the work that was undertaken by Foundation Degree Forward (fdf) in supporting the development, delivery and promotion of Foundation Degrees in Northern Ireland in the period May 2007 to the end of March 2011 with a view to assessing the extent to which it fulfilled its objectives. The evaluation report also provides recommendations in relation to how the Foundation degree qualification might be best developed and supported in the future in Northern Ireland post-Fdf.

Northern Ireland Framework for the Validation of Foundation Degrees

The Department for Employment and Learning, in consultation with key stakeholders, has developed a framework which provides all of the partners involved in the development and validation of Foundation Degrees with a clear timetable for progression towards validation.

The framework is designed to accommodate the existing institutional validation practices and processes used by the individual Northern Ireland institutions by identifying the key stages involved in the process of developing and validating Foundation Degrees.  The framework aims to provide greater clarity on the levels and detail of the information required, the roles and responsibilities of those involved and a clear timetable for progression towards validation.

Accredited Prior Experiential Learning

The Department for Employment and Learning is committed to the principle that higher education, and Foundation Degrees in particular, are open to all those who have the ability to benefit from higher education.  To help bring this about the Department wishes to encourage more people, who may have little or nothing in the way of formal qualifications, to consider applying for places in higher education on the basis of accredited prior experiential learning (APEL).

The Further Education Colleges and Universities have agreed to the procedures for a 'Northern Ireland Colleges and Universities APEL' scheme.  The scheme represents a model for implementing and achieving uniform APEL policy and practice and the Good Practice Guidelines should be read in conjunction with individual College Admissions Procedures.

If you are a prospective student interested in applying for a Foundation Degree course through the APEL process at one of the Further Educational colleges please contact the relevant college for further information and advice.