There are so many different ways of studying and different qualifications that you can get that aren’t talked about anywhere near enough. Sadly, this means that students and professionals alike may end up missing out on the courses and qualifications that could have been perfect for them simply because they didn’t know. In this article, we’re shining a light on a term that you may or may not have heard of top up degrees.
TLDR: a top up degree is where students, who have the appropriate lower-level qualifications, can achieve a degree qualification without having to do the entire degree programme, but can instead only do a year or two more to “top up” the qualification they already have into a full degree. This can be done at both undergraduate and postgraduate level for bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
While this brief answer has given you an idea of what a top up degree is, the rest of the article will go into much greater detail and answer all the questions you might have about top up degrees from who can do them to how student finance works.
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What is a top up degree?
You may have heard the term “top up degree” in passing and be wondering what it is exactly. The easiest way to explain what we mean by a “top up degree” is to break up the term.
First of all, “top up” in this context is just as it sounds. The exact definition is to make up the full quantity, capacity or amount.
You can learn more about this definition by checking out this page from the Merriam Webster dictionary.
The next bit we’re looking at is “degree”. So, what actually is a degree?
A degree is a higher education academic qualification that students complete at university. Different university degrees can be at different qualification levels between level 6 and level 8. The typical bachelor’s degree is at level 6, a master’s degree is at level 7 and a doctorate degree is at level 8.
You can learn all about degrees by checking out this Think Student article. You can also find out so much more about degrees and university by checking out the many other articles on the Think Student website.
When you put this all together, this means that a top up degree is a qualification that is making up to the full capacity of a degree. This means that if you have a lower-level qualification that would still be considered a part of a degree level qualification that you can “top up” this qualification into a full degree by doing an additional year or two studying.
This is instead of starting the degree from scratch. You can learn more about top up degrees in this page on the Northumbria University website.
Do all universities offer top up degrees?
As degrees and therefore by extension top up degrees are forms of higher education, they are not standardised across the UK. This means that different universities can have very different policies and offer different types of courses.
Drawing back to the topic of this article, this also means that not all universities will particularly offer top up degrees.
However, a large range of universities do offer top up degrees and some may still do even without explicitly calling it a top up degree. If you’re interested in a particular university, it’s best to look on their website directly for more detailed information.
Despite this, here is a brief list of the universities that offer top up degrees:
- Anglia Ruskin University
- University of Bedfordshire
- Birmingham City University
- University College Birmingham
- Bournemouth University
- University of Bradford
- Cardiff Metropolitan University
- University of Chichester
- University of Coventry
- De Montfort University
- Edinburgh Napier University
- University of Greenwich
- Herriot Watt University
- University of Hertfordshire
- University of Huddersfield
- Keele University
- Lincoln University
- Middlesex University
- University of Northampton
- Northumbria University
- Plymouth University
- University of Portsmouth
- Sheffield Hallam University
- University of South Wales
- University of Sunderland
- University of Westminster
- University of the West of England (UWE)
- York St John University
Also, it’s important to note that while many universities do offer top up degrees, these may only be in a limited range of subjects. You can learn more about these universities by checking out this article from Edify.
Which courses can you “top-up” into a degree?
As we’ve established, a top up degree is where you continue studying to end up with a full degree after already doing a lower-level qualification. However, we didn’t quite go through which lower-level qualifications would be eligible for a top up degree.
When we’re talking about top up degrees, we’re primarily referring to bachelor’s degrees. These are level 6 qualifications and typically last 3 years. You can learn more about these by having a look at this Think Student article.
To top up your qualification into a full bachelor’s degree, it will need to be at higher education level but below the level 6 of a bachelor’s degree.
This means that it will need to be either a level 4 or level 5 qualification. For more on what higher education is, have a look at this Think Student article.
Have a look at the following list of level 4 qualifications:
- Certificate of higher education (CertHE)
- Higher national certificate (HNC)
- Higher Apprenticeship
- Level 4 certificate/ diploma/ award
You can learn more about level 4 qualifications in greater detail by having a look at this Think Student article.
The following list contains some examples of level 5 qualifications:
- Foundation degrees
- Diploma of higher education (DipHE)
- Higher national diploma
- Higher Apprenticeship
- Level 5 certificate/ diploma/ award
You can learn more about these qualification by having a look at this Think Student article.
However, not all level 4 and level 5 qualifications will be accepted. The main ones that are accepted are BTECs, higher national certificates (HNCs), higher national diplomas (HNDs) and foundation degrees. Although the exact criteria will depend on each university.
You can read more about this by having a look at this page of the Coventry University website.
Can you do a top up degree for a master’s degree?
In the last section we looked at which courses you may be able to do as top up degrees at undergraduate level. However, you might be wondering if it would be possible to do a top up degree for a master’s degree.
First of all, let’s go through what a master’s degree is.In the UK, master’s degrees are level 7 qualifications and are typically 1 or 2 years long.
The main thing that differentiates a master’s degree from other level 7 qualifications is that students will need to complete a dissertation. You can learn more about master’s degrees in this Think Student article.
While it is possible for students to top up their qualifications into master’s degrees, this is a bit different to how it works for undergraduate level.
To top up a course into a master’s degree, the course will still need to be at postgraduate level, meaning that you would need. This means that it would still need to be a level 7 qualification, just like a master’s degree itself.
The main level 7 qualifications are postgraduate certificates (PGCert) and postgraduate diplomas (PGDip).
A postgraduate certificate is a postgraduate qualification that takes about half a year to study full-time or about a year of study if done part-time. It’s worth 60 credits and therefore is about 1/3 of a master’s degree.
A postgraduate diploma is another postgraduate qualification that takes about 1 year of full-time study or 2 years of part-time study. This is worth 120 credits and is about 2/3 of a master’s degree.
Topping up a PGDip is a bit simpler as students will generally just need to complete the dissertation but some other modules too. However, for a PGCert, students will need to take another year of study and take some more modules as well as do the dissertation.
You can learn more about this on this page of the University of Hull’s website. You can also learn more about topping up postgraduate level courses on this article from the Prospects website.
Can you get student finance for a top up degree?
In the UK, student finance refers to the tuition fee loans and maintenance loans that students can receive from the govern to help pay for their higher education studies. While it works slightly differently in each country of the UK, it is generally only for a student’s first degree although there are some exceptions.
This means that students doing another undergraduate level qualification, or a second degree will most likely not be eligible for student finance, particularly if it’s at the same level. You can learn more about this by checking this Think Student article.
However, for top up degrees, there is a slight grey area. This means that students might be able to get some funding from student finance, but it will be limited. You can learn more about this on gov.uk.