31st Jan 2006
BA HONS ARRIVE IN HALIFAX!

Full BA Honours degrees are to be offered for the first time in Halifax from September in three subjects. The new courses are among those outlined in Calderdale College’s new Higher Education Prospectus for 2006/7 and are in addition to the top-up BA Hons degree in Visual Arts which began at Todmorden Community College last September.

Counselling, Graphic Design and Performing Arts are the three disciplines in which would-be graduates can now study for the full three years at Calderdale College to gain a Bachelor of Arts degree. Until now, students wanting to reach this level have completed a two-year HND (Higher National Diploma) at the college and had to travel to universities such as Leeds, Bradford or Huddersfield to do a final year to top up to degree level.

Fourteen new Foundation Degree courses are also offered at Calderdale College in 2006, including Exhibition and Events Design and Management, Fashion Retail and Buying, Health and Social Care, Interior Design and Marketing, Landscape Design and Architecture, Legal Studies, Computers in Design, Construction (Site Management and Quantity Surveying) and Sport and Exercise Science. Foundation Degrees in Public Service, Sports Development and Coaching and Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation will be on offer in 2007.

“Foundations Degrees are new qualifications which are work based and which fuse the academic and vocational routes to higher level qualifications. They can be topped up to an Honours degree with further study”, explained Karen Shead, marketing manager at Calderdale College. “As a work based qualification, a Foundation Degree allows you to earn and learn at the same time and its flexibility means that, whether you have work or family commitments, it can fit around your personal circumstances.”

“There are many people for whom travelling is a barrier to higher education and our aim is to widen access and increase participation by those under represented at this level”, said Calderdale College principal, Monica Box. “Looking to the future, we hope to be able to provide a dedicated centre for higher education in the town centre within a five-year timescale. A feasibility study has been commissioned by Yorkshire Forward to see how we can move this forward and we are anticipating its completion at the end of March.”

Further information and copies of the new Calderdale College Higher Education Prospectus are available on 01422 399399.