Access to Higher Education

Access programmes are designed to prepare adults for entry into Higher Education (HE). The programmes provide the knowledge and skills needed to progress to Level 4 of study at University or College and enable adults who may be lacking in confidence, formal educational backgrounds and who have other commitments to succeed in Higher Education.

A typical Access programme may be studied for 1 year full-time or 2 years as a part-time student. Programmes offered during the day are generally organised to allow students to fit their study around their home, family and work commitments.

Access courses lead to a national qualification (the QAA-recognised Access to HE Diploma) which is accepted as a standard entry qualification by UK universities.  OCNWMR currently works with around 40 centres across the region, which offer over 150 Access to HE Diplomas in such areas as Nursing and Health, Teaching, Social Work, IT, as well as more general Science, Social Science and Humanities routes.  These centres registered more than 4000 Access students last year, many of whom are now at university.

Please note that we now have a calendar which records all Access to HE events and it can be found by clicking the following link below.