A Certificate of Higher Education (Cert.H.E./CertHE) is a

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

in the United Kingdom.

Overview

The Certificate is awarded after one year of full-time study (or equivalent) at a

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

or other higher education institution, or two years of part-time study. A CertHE is an independent

tertiary Tertiary ( ) is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start ...

award, an award in its own right, and students can study for a CertHE in various academic disciplines. At Level 4 on the national qualifications framework for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the CertHE was once viewed as the academic equivalent of the

Higher National Certificate A Higher National Certificate (HNC), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is a higher education/further education qualification in the United Kingdom. Overview In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the HNC is a BTEC qualificatio ...

, which was perceived to be vocational. However, universities have since integrated both qualifications into the first year of an undergraduate honours degree and they now can be considered equivalent academically. Prior to 2015, the CertHE was equivalent to an

NVQ National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) are practical work-based awards in England, Wales and Northern Ireland that are achieved through assessment and training. The regulatory framework supporting NVQs was withdrawn in 2015 and replaced by the ...

Level 4. In Scotland, a CertHE is at Level 7 on the

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is the national credit transfer system for all levels of qualifications in Scotland. Awards are classified under the framework at ''levels'', and study undertaken at that level is valued ...

. A CertHE is not externally regulated but is accredited by a university itself. On completion, students are permitted to use the postnominals CertHE, sometimes followed by the course name in brackets and the university from which they earned their qualification. Sometimes, having a CertHE can exempt the holder from some of the requirements of a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

; for example, it might reduce the length of study by one or two years, or reduce the number of courses necessary to complete the qualification.

Comparison with other qualifications

A Certificate of Higher Education (CertHE) is equivalent to the first year of a bachelor's degree which is any Level 4 qualification. A Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) is equivalent to the second year of a bachelor's degree or any Level 5 qualification.

References

Education in Scotland Educational qualifications in the United Kingdom {{UK-edu-stub

Overview

Comparison with other qualifications

See also

References