Normally, foundation year programmes offer students who successfully complete the year admission to an undergraduate programme thereafter. While many will take advantage of this conditional offer, others might decide to move on to another university. In this post, we will explore the possibility of whether you can change universities after the foundation year.
Can You Change University After The Foundation Year?
Imagine this: you have successfully obtained a place on your dream foundation year course, have made the most of it, and are now just days away from successful completion of the programme. You are excited by your achievement; you feel one step closer to achieving your dreams. Just one problem: you don’t think the university where you have done your course is the best fit for you.
This could be for any number of reasons. Maybe the culture of the university or town is not what you expected, and you haven’t found it agreeable. Perhaps, while the foundation year on offer was exactly what you wanted, your subject of choice has more attractive full-time undergraduate programmes elsewhere. Or, perhaps, quite simply, you just want a change of scenery.
Regardless of your reasons for wanting a change, you now find yourself asking whether or not it is possible to change universities after the foundation year. The short answer, you will be pleased to know, is yes!
The Foundation Year: A Short Introduction
In our previous post on the foundation year, we outlined in detail what it is, who qualifies, and why you might want to undertake one. We won’t rehash that discussion in full here, but it is still important to understand the basics of the foundation year and its structure.
A foundation year is a one-year programme that enables eligible students to experience academic and social life at university for a year prior to starting an undergraduate course. These programmes are meant to bridge gaps for those who may not have performed to the best of their ability in secondary education, as well as those who may have been out of education for some time or come from underrepresented backgrounds.
It is also a tool for changing career directions if your A-level courses do fulfil admissions criteria for your programme of choice. For example, you might undertake a foundation year if you studied arts and humanities subjects at A-level but now want to do engineering. At some universities (i.e. University College London), it is also an opportunity for international students to improve their academic English before starting their course.
In many cases, eligibility for a programme and/or funding hinges on meeting baseline socioeconomic or circumstantial criteria. In short, applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds will be eligible for more programmes and/or financial support. No matter your circumstances, though, the year provides the support and foundations necessary to help ensure success upon beginning full-time university studies.
Transitioning To Undergraduate Study
While some universities, like the University of York, directly integrate their foundation years into a degree programme, others do not. Universities like Cambridge and Oxford, for instance, have recently launched foundation year programmes in order to help address issues of attainment and accessibility for diverse groups in the higher education sector.
In the case of programmes like the ones offered at Oxford and Cambridge, the foundation year awards a qualification called a Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE). Rather than a qualification specific to your subject, these programmes tend to offer more generalised introductions to broad fields (i.e. arts and humanities). The aim is to prepare participants for entry into a specific subject within the field. It is important to note that not all universities offer foundation years in every subject: Cambridge, for instance, only offers it for prospective arts and humanities students.
While a CertHE is awarded by the university at which you undertake your foundation year, it is a transferable qualification recognised by most higher education institutions. As such, you can do your foundation year at one university and, upon successful completion, can use the CertHE to support your application to another university’s programme. If your university does not award a CertHE upon completion of the year, it is still possible to use your experiences to apply for entry to another university. You might use your experiences to bolster your personal statement, for example.
How Do I Change University After Completing My Foundation Year?
So, you will successfully finish your foundation year and have decided you want to switch universities. Now what?
As you might know from your foundation year course, it is possible to carry on into an undergraduate degree programme straight from your foundation year, as long as you have successfully completed it. Unfortunately, this only applies to the university where you complete your foundation year and (in some cases) from which you receive your CertHE. To move on to any other university, you will need to go through the regular application process via UCAS.
It is important to do your research and ensure that the programme you have completed is compatible with the programme you are applying for. Just because you have done a foundation year does not necessarily mean you can skip out on any prerequisites of the new university’s programme. That is to say, if your target university does not recognise your foundation year as fulfilling certain pre-university education requirements, then you might need to complete additional coursework before entry. Every university is different, so it is important that you check the specific requirements of the programme(s) you are interested in before applying.
If you know from the beginning that you might want to switch universities, then it could be worth looking for a foundation year that is stand-alone and not integrated into a degree programme. These, including those programmes offered by Cambridge and Oxford, will give you a CertHE qualification that is recognised by most other universities. Those foundation years integrated into degree programmes (i.e. University of York) do not award a separate qualification at the end of the foundation year. This, however, does not mean that changing universities after the foundation year is not possible.
A Note For International Readers:
It is important to note that, different to the United States and other higher education systems, the foundation year is not meant as an indiscriminate transfer route to cut time off from undergraduate study. UK universities, unlike those in countries like the US, do not require students to fulfil general education requirements. Rather, students study their subject of choice from the beginning and apply directly to that subject when making university applications. With the question ‘Is it possible to switch universities after a foundation year’ slightly reminiscent of the US tendency to use community college and the Associate’s Degree as a way to save both time and money, it is important to keep in mind that we are talking about a very different education system. Rather than decrease the amount of time and money you spend on your degree, the foundation adds to it.
Conclusion:
When deciding whether or not to undertake a foundation year, therefore, weigh up your reasons for doing so. Be sure to consider what programmes you are interested in before choosing your foundation year programme. Changing university after your foundation year, while very possible and a good opportunity to experience more than one university environment, can be more complicated than it’s worth.
Some Questions To Consider Might Include:
- Why am I doing a foundation year? If you are simply doing it to buy yourself more time to settle into university life or to take care of prerequisite coursework not done at A-level, you could apply for an undergraduate degree course that integrates an optional foundation year at the beginning. If you are less sure, something more open-ended (i.e. Oxford or Cambridge) offers more flexibility in choosing your undergraduate course.
- Does the programme I’m looking at award a qualification at the end of the foundation year? If you think you might want to switch universities after your foundation year, choosing a programme that awards a CertHE or similar might make this process easier (and give your applications a helpful boost!).
- If the university I want to attend doesn’t have a suitable foundation year, does it have something else in place that would avoid my having to transfer? Looking at other options for support and pre-programme exposure to university life offered by your dream university might help you avoid changing university after a foundation year. Gonville and Caius College at Cambridge, for example, offers a free one-week bridging programme for a select group of new students. The aim is to lessen the burden of the transition to university life by giving them a taste of what social and academic demands will be like.
At Graduate Coach, we believe there is no better way to prepare for your future career than to choose a university and course that will set you up to achieve your goals. It is never too early to think about your next step, so have a look at our careers-planning resources (including free online career courses) to get started.
Photo by SHVETS production
Written by Lauren Dooley
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