2021-22
Short Courses: Certificate and Diploma of Higher Education
Short Courses provides opportunities to follow courses in a wide range of subjects offered in Arts, Science and Social Sciences, leading to the award of the Certificate or the Diploma of Higher Education. The Certificate or Diploma will carry an additional designation related to a specified field of study in which appropriate courses have been taken, in accordance with a number of schemes as set out in the regulations.
REGULATIONS
1. General
a) With the authority of Senate, a Certificate or Diploma of Higher Education may be conferred by the University of Glasgow.
b) Supervision of the arrangements for the Certificate or Diploma of Higher Education will be by the University Services Board of Studies.
c) The level and standard of the Certificate and Diploma of Higher Education shall be comparable with the level and standard of the Certificates of Higher Education awarded in the Colleges of Arts, Social Sciences and Science & Engineering.
d) Candidates who have qualified for the award of the Certificate or Diploma of Higher Education may apply to the Colleges of Arts, Social Sciences and Science & Engineering for admission and, if admitted, may have some or all of their credits recognised towards a higher level award.
2. Minimum Requirement for the Award of Credits
2.1 Instructions from Short Courses
Candidates shall be required to comply with such instructions as are prescribed by Short Courses. Such instructions may require candidates: to attend specified lectures, tutorials, laboratory or practical sessions, field courses, examinations and other events; to provide themselves with such books, equipment and other materials as are necessary for the course; to submit items of work, including essays, dissertations and project reports, by such dates as may be instructed.
2.2 Minimum Requirement
Credits for courses contributing to a candidate’s curriculum shall be awarded subject to the fulfilment of required conditions. The minimum requirements for the award of credits are set out in the Code of Assessment at §16.40 - §16.44 of the section ‘University Fees and General Information for Students’ in the University Regulations.
3. Minimum Requirement for the Award of a Certificate and a Diploma
The minimum requirements for the award of a Certificate and Diploma, hereafter referred to as a minimum curriculum, are expressed in terms of §3.1 credit-bearing courses at various levels; §3.2 Merit and Distinction; and §4.1 subjects relating to Certificates and Diplomas, each set of requirements as defined hereunder:
3.1 Credit Bearing Courses
a) Approved courses (normally bearing credits in multiples of 10) at any level may, where appropriate, form part of a candidate’s minimum curriculum.
b) A candidate shall be eligible to receive the Certificate of Higher Education if they have completed courses, drawn from Short Courses’ Certificate of Higher Education programme or from courses offered by the Colleges of the University, totalling at least 120 credits with a grade point average[1] of at least 9.0. Credit derived from courses above SCQF level 7 may be included.
c) A candidate shall be eligible to receive the Diploma of Higher Education if they have completed courses, drawn from Short Courses’ Diploma of Higher Education programme or from courses offered by the Schools of the University, totalling at least 240 credits with a grade point average of at least 9.0. At least 80 credits must be at SCQF level 8 or above.
d) Where the candidate has accumulated more than the required credits, the credit counted in the calculation of the grade point average shall be reduced to minimum required credits (i.e. 120 or 240) by disregarding all of the credit for certain of the courses in such a way as to maximise the grade point average while meeting all other requirements of the regulations.
3.2 Merit and Distinction
The Certificate or Diploma of Higher Education shall be awarded with Merit where the grade point average over the courses being counted for the award of the Certificate is at least 12.0, and with Distinction where the grade point average over the courses being counted for the award of the Certificate is at least 15.0.
4. Final Awards: Type of Certificate
4.1 Subjects Relating to Certificates and Diplomas of Higher Education
a) Each Certificate and Diploma of Higher Education has its own specific requirements as to which credits are eligible for the award. These specifications shall be determined in accordance with a number of stated schemes as set out in the Programme Specification available on the Senate Office website (§4.1(c)).
b) Certain of the courses will be compulsory.
c) The subjects relating to each Certificate and Diploma are set out in §4.2 and on the Senate Office website: https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/senateoffice/programmesearch/.
4.2 Certificates and Diplomas of Higher Education
Certificate of Higher Education
Certificate of Higher Education: Art History
Certificate of Higher Education: Creative Writing
Certificate of Higher Education: Egyptology (Languages)
Certificate of Higher Education: Egyptology (Material Cultures)
Certificate of Higher Education: History
Certificate of Higher Education: Psychology
Diploma of Higher Education
Diploma of Higher Education: Creative Writing
Diploma of Higher Education: Egyptology
5. Approval of Qualifying Courses
Subject to the approval of Senate, Short Courses shall identify and recognise courses which may contribute to the Certificate and Diploma. The University Services Board of Studies shall also determine which of the University’s courses correspond to each of the qualifying subjects for certificates and diplomas.
6. Recognition of Prior Learning[2]
6.1 Generic Undergraduate Regulation §4 applies.
6.2 Candidates who have accumulated credit at SCQF level 7 from courses of study taken at institutions of tertiary education approved by the Senate may be exempted from up to 50% of the qualifying credit for the Certificate or Diploma of Higher Education.
6.3 Although appropriate prior learning may be recognised for the award of credit, all such credit is ungraded for the purposes of the University except that credit obtained in earlier study at the University of Glasgow may be graded.
6.4 For the purposes of awarding the Certificate and Diploma of High Education, ungraded Accredited Prior Learning (APL) credit will be treated as credit at grade D.
6.5 For the award of Merit and Distinction, ungraded APL credit should not be counted and therefore APL students’ grade point average should be calculated only on the basis of credits studied and assessed at the University of Glasgow.
6.6 Assessed prior experiential learning cannot be counted for credit on the Certificate or the Diploma of Higher Education.
7. Conditions Governing Qualifying Courses
a) Courses deemed by the University Services Board of Studies to be overlapping or identical may not form part of the minimum curriculum.
b) Not all courses are available each session. It may be necessary to restrict entry to a course or to withdraw a course in the light of staff changes, or if it is under subscribed.
c) Normally, at least 50% of the credits should be drawn from Certificate and Diploma of Higher courses in Short Courses.
8. Recognised Qualifying Courses
Short Courses, subject to the approval of Senate, will offer a range of courses in subject areas offered by the College of Arts, College of Science & Engineering and College of Social Sciences. Qualifying courses and courses offered by these Colleges may be available to suitably qualified candidates registered for the Certificate or Diploma of Higher Education (Continuing Education) as part of a minimum qualifying curriculum for individual cases. Candidates wishing to enrol for such courses should contact the office of the Chief Adviser in the appropriate College.
For information on recognised qualifying courses see the Undergraduate Course Catalogue.
9. Appeals by Students
The Code of Procedure specified for College Appeals Committees in the University Regulations will be applicable to candidates registered for the Certificate in Higher Education. Appeals will be heard by the College Appeals Committee.
[1] The grade point average is determined with reference to the schedule of grades and grade points contained in Schedule A and Schedule B of the University’s Code of Assessment. The grade point average is calculated by taking the product of each course’s weight and the candidate’s grade points and dividing the sum of these products by the sum of the courses’ weights. The weights shall correspond to the courses’ credit ratings unless specified otherwise in the relevant programme documentation. The grade point average is expressed to one decimal place (§16.34(a) of the Code of Assessment). In determining whether a candidate has achieved a required grade point average, no further rounding is permitted. For example, a candidate achieving a grade point average of 8.9 would not satisfy a requirement for a grade point average of 9.0.
[2] Guidance on the inclusion of ungraded APL credit in the application of degree regulations is set out in the University’s APL policy.