Higher education includes undergraduate study and postgraduate study. The undergraduate study, including bachelor degrees, comes after further education, and the postgraduate study, including master degrees and doctorate degrees, comes after undergraduate study. As illustrated in the diagram below, the most common path for UK students entering higher education is to move from School Education to Further Education and then on to Higher Education, following either an academic route or a vocational route.
For pursuing top universities, most students follow academic route, which is from GCSEs to A-levels, followed by an undergraduate degree. Click the link for details of other access courses. For those bearing in mind of their career interests, could follow a vocational route or a combined route from GCSEs to a BTEC National Certificate or Diploma, followed by a BTEC HND or Foundation Degree, and then go on to top-up to an undergraduate degree by completing an extra year or two of higher education. However, due to visa requirements, the vocational route to higher education is not available for non-European students.
Many universities in the UK offer university foundation courses for international students to help bridging any gap from their home country in order to entering to a UK university. International students are also required to demonstrate English language skills to a minimum score of IELTS 6.0 to 6.5 or an equivalent.
Live Our Dreams is committed to provide an integrated consultancy service to Chinese students who wish to come to the UK to study a university degree. Bearing in mind the differences between British eduation and Chinese education systems, although university rankings are considered the most important factor for Chinese students in choosing a university, we encourage students to look beyond the university rankings and look in details of a particular course at a particular university in a particular city that could directly affect the student’s university experience and learning outcome. Click the links for UK education league tables, and check it out below for available course programmes and how we can help.