londonbased Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Has anyone done one of these courses? General course structure: http://www.edexcel.org.uk/VirtualContent/24231.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceonetrev Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Has anyone done one of these courses? General course structure: http://www.edexcel.org.uk/VirtualContent/24231.pdf...well im currently studdying the 2 year course in Advanced Stage Management and Technical Production, newcastle-upon-tyne college if that helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 20, 2006 Share Posted March 20, 2006 Has anyone done one of these courses? General course structure: http://www.edexcel.org.uk/VirtualContent/24231.pdf...well im currently studdying the 2 year course in Advanced Stage Management and Technical Production, newcastle-upon-tyne college if that helps! Newcastle are a bit unusual - what they actually do is a National Diploma in Production, an RSPH LVL 1 Foundation Certificate Health & Safety in the workplace, an NCFE LVL 1 Certificate in Drugs Awareness and an OCR LVL 2 Introducing Performing Arts - phew! The two level 1 components are at quite a basic level, but never look a gift qualification in the mouth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londonbased Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 Is an Advanced diploma the same or below a graduate diploma? Which is best & how does a Diploma of HE fit into it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 There is no such thing as an 'advanced' diploma - it is just a working title adopted by some colleges to ad a bit of kudos to a programme that is the same, or similar all over the country. The UK system is a bit confusing Schools and colleges use a 'level' system. The snag being that as ages of people doing these things are varied, the depth and breath also vary. This means that a college offering a Level 2 BTEC to people already in work, is pretty much the same kind of course offered to 16 year olds at college who didn't do too well in their GCSEs, and top set people doing it as an extra while they are doing their GCSEs! LEVEL 2 = BTEC FIRST DIPLOMA, CERTIFICATE, AWARD = GCSE LEVELLEVEL 3 = BTEC NATIONAL DIPLOMA, CERTIFICATE, AWARD = A LEVEL(AS/A2)LEVEL 4 = BTEC HND, Professional Diploma, Foundation DegreeThings get tricky from here on A two year HND can in some cases be used as a foundation component at some unis and get converted (topped up) into a BA. They may consider it worth two years of a degree, or more often nearly two years, so the BA may take maybe 18months. Foundation Degrees, Diploma Degree are maybe best thought of as a conventional degree with a stop-off point. So somebody not sure if they have three years available could elect to do one of these sub-degrees, and then carry on if they want. The snag with all these things is that the full degree programme is validated by the individual universities, and if they accept people on to it with part of a qualification, they have to take care what has already been done fits with what they would have done in that period. So, if you have already covered material they do again, or not done things they have done, expect to take a bit longer to get through it. At a uni, the power to award a degree is theirs - pretty well they can do what they want, so comparing between them is difficult. At schools and colleges, the choice is of programmes approved by the government, not the exam boards. Only a few years ago, a college could design their own HND courses,so they would be unique. Then, the rules changed so that if it had been approved, 'anybody' could steal it. Now colleges can not generate their own at all - they are truly National, as in National Diploma etc. In most cases, the actual qualfications fit a National framework, and once approved, people can get the funding they need to go on them. Very often other people provide qualifications - SAE for example have been training studio people for years, very well, it happens - but their 'qualification' was not recognised by any kind of national framework, so people on it had to pay the full cost - and that is a lot of money! They offer degrees - they are validated by the university of middlesex. This system allows them to teach the courses, and have the benefit of a real degree on offer. The university work with them and it is that name that is on the piece of paper. A good system, very common nowadays. SAE get access to a real degree, the uni collect funding for not actually teaching - good eh? It gets better, as because the course has the middlesex 'label' UCAS understand it, and you can get your funding, student debt (sorry, loan) If SAE, using them as the example, DIDN'T have the link with Middlesex, then the training would be just as good, but the end paperwork would just say SAE, and you couldn't tag BA or whatever (I think they do a Masters degree too) after your name. Qualifications are damn complicated. when you see any qualification advertised, if it is sub-degree, look for NQF, QCA in the wording. If it is above this look for the name of a university. Britishly, a univerity have the power to award a degree - not the government, so that is why so many old polytechnics now have the word 'university' tagged on the end. In my area, we had Anglia Polytechnic University (APU) who have spent ages trying to change their name to remove the polytechnic tag - they are now Anglia Ruskin University, and appear much happier. They also offer HND's - which are amazingly similar to Edexcel's with some small changes - why break something that works is the quest, I suppose, but they seem to favour foundation degrees at the moment - same thing, different label. They are very big in the franchise business too. They even offer colleges Edexcel HNDs franchised through them - very complicated, but it does work. If you understand this - please explain it to me sometime!(or PM Ken Coker..................) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londonbased Posted March 21, 2006 Author Share Posted March 21, 2006 what about here: http://www.nwkcollege.ac.uk/progdir/perfor...photography.htm not sure wether to do a C&G course in sound or do a National Award in Performing Arts (Stage Management) then onto courses at uni or NWK college. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Lewis Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 Paul, An excellent reply.... it isn't easy stepping through the minefield of national Certificates & Diplomas and their constantly changing UCAS points;-) One small issue though.... The Foundation degree differs from the normal honours degree inasmuch it needs only one A level (or equivalent) for entry as opposed to two for degree entry. This throws up an anomaly, as many institutions appear to offer a 2 year foundation degree followed by a 1 year degree top up. Unless there are matching or bridging sections condensed into the top up year, it would appear that a student with a single A level can join a foundation degree and get a full BA/BSc in the same 3 year period. Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted March 21, 2006 Share Posted March 21, 2006 this happens whenever qualifications get transfered - I guess the thing is equivalance. If the first two years of a three year course have some kind of worth, either in points or a 'title' then I don't see anyone can really have an issue with turning it into something else. So I guess getting to a BA with no A levels at all isn't a problem either. It's fairly common in FE to take on mature learners who have the skills and attuitude that fit, say, an HND. after two years of this they do a top up to a BA with no qualifications of any kind, bar maybe a CSE from 25 years ago. I think I'd have more objection to somebody being too lazy or plain dim who just got GCSE, just scraped a rubbish A level, or Pass level BTEC who just gets the bare minimum to get a degree.If something is wrong with the system that's it. I bumped into an old student of mine recently who told me gushingly about his degree. If he got one, there is no hope. And he hadn't changed, not one jot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
londonbased Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Been looking at SAE but didn't think I'd get funding for it. Looking at doing a C&G Sound as well as stage management Edit: read the website wrong, non-degrees don't get funding. SAE does look a good place, people go on to do theatre. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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