A Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) is a

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

in the United Kingdom.

Overview

The Certificate is awarded after one year of full-time study (or equivalent) at a

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

or other higher education institution, or two years of part-time study. A CertHE is an independent tertiary award, an award in its own right, and students can study for a CertHE in various academic disciplines. At Level 4 on the national qualifications framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the CertHE was once viewed as the academic equivalent of the

Higher National Certificate A Higher National Certificate (HNC), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is a higher education/ further education qualification in the United Kingdom. Overview In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the HNC is a BTEC qualifica ...

, which was perceived to be vocational. However, universities have since integrated both qualifications into the first year of an undergraduate honours degree and they now can be considered equivalent academically. Prior to 2015, the CertHE was equivalent to an NVQ Level 4. In Scotland, a CertHE is at Level 7 on the

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is the national credit transfer system for all levels of qualifications in Scotland. Awards are classified under the framework at ''levels'', and study undertaken at that level is valued ...

. On completion, students are permitted to use the postnominals CertHE, sometimes followed by the course name in brackets and the university from which they earned their qualification. Sometimes, having a CertHE can exempt the holder from some of the requirements of a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

; for example, it might reduce the length of study by one or two years, or reduce the number of courses necessary to complete the qualification.

Comparison with other qualifications

A Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) is equivalent to the first year of a bachelor's degree which is any Level 4 qualification. A

Diploma of Higher Education A Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and Sweden. Overview United Kingdom The Diploma is awarded after two years of full-time study (or equivalent) at a university or other higher educa ...

(DipHE) is equivalent to the second year of a bachelor's degree or any Level 5 qualification.

References

Education in Scotland Higher education qualifications in the United Kingdom {{UK-edu-stub

Overview

Comparison with other qualifications

See also

References