Applying to university has become more and more accessible over the years. After all, now universities accept a range of qualifications from students from all different backgrounds! Not only A-Levels are accepted. There are plenty of other routes students can go down to get into their dream university, such as BTECs, HNDs and HNCs! However, NCFE qualifications are less widely talked about. This can make students question whether they are really equivalent to UCAS points and whether they can be used as a route to university!
Put simply, NCFE qualifications do equate to UCAS points. This means that they can be used as a route to many different universities. The amount of UCAS points the NCFE qualifications equate to depend on the level and grade a student got in each qualification.
Check out the rest of the article if you want to discover more about how many UCAS points NCFE qualifications are equivalent to and what this actually depends on!
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Which NCFE Qualifications receive UCAS points?
Not all NCFE qualifications receive UCAS points. This is because some types of NCFE qualifications are not equivalent to university entry requirements.
For example, Level 2 NCFE qualifications are seen as being on the same level as GCSEs. You can’t get into university with just GCSEs! Consequently, the Level 2 qualifications do not equate to any UCAS points.
However, if you do a Level 3 NCFE qualification, you will receive UCAS points, as this qualification is equivalent to A-Levels. NCFE qualifications with levels above this will also lead to UCAS points. However, you do need to be aware that not all universities will accept NCFE qualifications.
Therefore, even if you do have enough UCAS points, you still may not be accepted. Consequently, it would be useful for you to thoroughly research your university options to see if they accept them!
If you want to discover what the NCFE qualification really is and whether it is actually a recognised qualification, check out this article from Think Student.
How many UCAS points do NCFE qualifications equate to?
The amount of UCAS points you will receive from your NCFE qualification depends on the type of qualification you have completed!
NCFE qualifications can be described as an award type, which will take around 120 hours to complete. An NCFE qualification can be described as a certificate type if it roughly takes between 121 – 369 hours to complete.
Finally, a NCFE qualification will be described as a diploma type if it takes more than 370 hours to complete!
If you want to find out more about the different types of NCFE qualifications, check out this article from the Online Learning College website.
Due to the differences in the amount of time each takes to complete, it can be inferred that the award level will most likely lead to the least amount of UCAS points and diploma level the most!
The grade you get in each of these qualifications also determines the amount of UCAS points you receive. After all, lower grades will receive the least and higher grades will receive the most UCAS points.
NCFE offers a range of different qualifications. However, the points these qualifications are equivalent to are mostly the same in regard to the different types of awards. These UCAS points for level 3 awards are displayed in the table below:
| Grade | UCAS points for NCFE level 3 award qualifications | UCAS points for NCFE level 3 certificate qualifications | UCAS points for NCFE level 3 diploma qualifications |
| A* | 28 | 84 | 168 |
| A | 24 | 72 | 144 |
| B | 20 | 60 | 120 |
| C | 16 | 48 | 96 |
| D | 12 | 36 | 72 |
You can find this data and view the UCAS points for other NCFE qualifications if you check out this document from the NCFE organisation.
What are the old and new UCAS tariff points for NCFE Qualifications?
The amount of UCAS tariff points each NCFE qualification equates to changed from 2017 onwards. The amount of UCAS points for each NCFE qualification before 2017 were greater than the ones afterwards!
For example, before 2017, the amount of UCAS points a Level 3 NCFE qualification in childcare and education was 35 for an A*. However, after 2017, this went down to 28 UCAS points.
You can see these differences in more detail if you check out this document created by the NCFE organisation, also linked above. Therefore, it is important that you use the correct UCAS points when trying to work out how many you have when applying to university!
It can be useful to use a UCAS tariff point calculator, which can be found on the UCAS website if you click here. Also, if you are reading this article quite confused about what UCAS points actually are, check out this article from Think Student to help you get a deeper understanding!
Can NCFE qualification UCAS points be used to get into university?
Yes, absolutely! NCFE qualifications can definitely provide another pathway for students to get into university. The UCAS points generated from these qualifications can be used to meet your entry requirements on university applications.
Not all universities accept NCFE qualifications. However, a lot of them do! Even some Russel Group universities are shown to accept these qualifications as entry requirements, as found on this article from the NCFE website. NCFE qualifications are also respected by employers, meaning you may just be able to enter the workplace immediately.
Consequently, A-Levels are clearly not the only route to university. There are plenty of other ways you can get into higher education as well as NCFE qualifications.
For example, HNC and HND qualifications are ideal routes for students wanting to get into university who may have not gotten the A-Level grades that they really needed. You can discover in detail what these qualifications are if you check out this article about HNCs, and this article about HNDs, both from Think Student.