• Question: If any of you have completed a foundation degree before, what exactly does it entail?

    Asked by anon-320552 on 10 Mar 2022.
    • Photo: Alex Bainbridge

      Alex Bainbridge answered on 10 Mar 2022:

      I didn’t do one myself but did help teach degree modules when i was doing my PhD, so have a bit of experience. The foundation degree is basically a normal degree with an extra year at the beginning. In that extra year you study a more intensively delivered (and a bit more streamlined) version of the material that would (or at least should) have been taught during the A-levels that would normally be a requirement for your degree topic, plus a few bonus modules to help bring you up to speed.

    • Photo: Daisy Shearer

      Daisy Shearer answered on 10 Mar 2022:

      I haven’t done a foundation degree, but I have done some teaching on one! They’re really great for getting you up to speed with a subject and I actually think they put you in a better position for your undergraduate degree. Our students get taught concepts that are between A-level and degree level so it’s a bit of a gentler transition if that makes sense. We can certainly tell those who have done a foundation year in the undergraduate degree as they have a much better handle on lab concepts like errors and are more confident with it too as they do a big experimental design project and learn how to write a proper lab report.

      Here’s the equipment for a fun experiment we do with our foundation year students in labs where they use their phones as a magnetic field sensor (the phone goes into the strap):

      Mag_field_foundation_experiment

      The lab experiments they get to do are a bit more interesting than what you do at A-level which is cool!

    • Photo: Diego Schmider

      Diego Schmider answered on 11 Mar 2022:

      I did an Engineering Foundation Degree! In my experience, this was a degree set-up to give you the foundations needed to then go onto study a university degree… much like A-Levels, however I am not 100% sure as I did not do A-Levels.

      The actual Degree is treated as any other university degree; with modules, assessments, exams and so on. These are all tailored to the stream that you would have chosen before joining, I myself had modules on Pure Mathematics, Further Mathematics, Fundamentals in Physics, Mechanics for Engineering and English. If a Chemistry or Aerospace degree was chosen then these would have been tailored specifically for them as well.

      After the degree I got a ‘grade’ which then can be used to apply to University as you would normally with A-Levels. When I compared this with my peers once I started at University I realised that this path may have been a bit easier to get through as there is considerably less pressure than when going through A-Levels.

      Hope that helps!

    • Photo: Lucy Lawrence

      Lucy Lawrence answered on 14 Mar 2022:

      Hey Aleena,

      Foundation degrees are ideal if you’re unsure about what route to take or want to study while you work. They mean you can get professional and technical skills to further your career – within a shorter time frame than a full degree.

      They usually take two years full-time to complete, or longer for part-time students.
      Normally you can continue for a further year to gain a full honors degree, which is useful if you decide to go for a full degree after all.

      I didn’t go down this route, but have a few friends who did and haven’t regretted it! ✨🥰

    • Photo: Alistair McShee

      Alistair McShee answered on 15 Mar 2022:

      I’ve not done one myself, but I have friends who have! Like the others have said, it is a good introduction to the degree as well as a chance to slightly broaden the subject more than you probably would with traditional A-levels!

      It is also a chance to live the university lifestyle for an additional year; I did a lot of growing up in this time and know the experience can be useful!

    • Photo: Dean McGarrigle

      Dean McGarrigle answered on 21 Mar 2022:

      I didn’t do a foundation degree but went to uni with a few people that did. They did engineering foundation degrees that generally have much lower entry requirements than standard university degrees and it takes about 2-3 years to do the foundation degree but then they could enter on the second year of a university engineering degree course after completing their foundation. They seemed to have much more practical experience compared to the standard uni students which were more focused on theory, those students coming from foundation degrees generally performing better on average when compared to the standard uni degree students.

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