College partnership route makes post HSC studies economical

Scotland is fast emerging as a desired education destination for international students due to high quality of study and low cost of living. Today around 13% of Indian students who go to the UK for higher studies are enrolled in Scottish universities.

To help make Scotland even more attractive, one of Scotland's biggest modern universities, the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) has launched a  affordable and flexible degree route for international students. This Scottish Government funded project, is led by UWS in partnership with six publicly funded and accredited Scottish colleges. These are Ayr College; Cardonald College; Cumbernauld College; Dumfries & Galloway College; Reid Kerr College; and Stow College.

The programme will enable international students post class XII to pursue a 2-year Higher National diploma (HND) in the above mentioned colleges and enter into the third year of the degree programme at UWS. This means that they will pay nearly 50% lesser fees in first two years as compared to a regular UWS degree. "Until now for international students this route was risky," pointed Clare Nicolson, international partnership coordinator, UWS. She added, "International students could apply only to colleges offering a HND and after course completion they would have to start searching for possible entries to a degree which was not necessarily guaranteed." Further this entry might have been granted to year 1, 2 or 3 of the degree courses. It was also difficult for students to know what degree options would be open to them after the HND. But under the partnership project all UWS courses have been aligned to the partner colleges to ensure that the modules studied in the HND are comparable to year 1 and 2 of the degree.

Under the college partnership study route courses in fields of science, engineering, computing, business, creative industries and sports are available. Students will achieve both the qualification of HND and Bachelor Degree in three years of study.

Postgraduate diploma/masters can be obtained through a final 4th year of study.

Students can also choose specialisations. For instance, a student who completes HND in Mechanical Engineering can progress to the third year of BEng in Mechanical Engineering or Motorsport Design Engineering or Product Design Engineering or Engineering Management or BSc Quality. Students will have access to university facilities, events and support services throughout their studies as also two years assistance post graduation in finding employment in Scotland.