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Courses for Adults at UCEN Manchester

A young person wearing a graduation cap and gown

Why choose us for adult courses?

Full-time, part-time, a year at a time

Whether you entered employment at 16 or studied at college or university before starting a career, the prospect of returning to education as an adult can be daunting.

At UCEN Manchester you can build your confidence, skills, and qualifications a year at a time. At every step of the way, you can choose whether to continue your progress or take a break as it suits you with our range of one-year qualifications that you can build on a step at a time.

If you continue to the next level you’ll still earn a degree in three years but benefit from the peace of mind that if things change or you need a break, you can step away after a year and still hold an industry-recognised qualification.

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Contact us about adult courses at UCEN Manchester

Our dedicated team are available daily between:

Monday to Friday:  between 9am - 4pm

*For Access to Higher Education, Professional, Teacher Education & Construction courses call: 03333 222 777

 

 

Degrees step by step

You can achieve a degree at your own pace and around your life and work commitments:

Year 1 – Higher National Certificate: HNC or Foundation Degree: FdA/FdSc

Year 2 – Higher National Diploma: HND or Foundation Degree: FdA/FdSc

Year 3 – Honours Degree: BA (Hons)/BSc (Hons)

Concise timetables and flexible course options

Adult learners have busy lives to balance with their courses. At UCEN Manchester, you can choose either face-to-face for on-campus support or take up the best of our blended learning (some face to face learning mixed with some online). You'll benefit from how learning can flexibly fit in and around your commitments – we mean listening to lectures on the school run, catching up on classes after work, and chatting to your tutor in a time and way that suits you best.

Plus for most of our courses, we keep our timetables to two days a week, meaning that if you are travelling to campus you only have to do it a few days a week for a full day of classes – we find this helps students especially those balancing work, childcare or family commitments.

Employability support for adult learners

Our Future U Student Support Services understand students, particularly adults, may need to work part-time while studying and can help with careers advice, CV support, and financial guidance. If you’re preparing for work, the Careers and Welfare team can help you answer questions around any aspect of employability. 

Make an immediate impact in your workplace

If you're currently working and looking to upskill to better your progression and career outcomes, you'll quickly see the impact of studying towards degree-level qualifications. We teach you practical skills based on current industry practices so you can immediately apply your newfound knowledge to your role or business to make an instant impact.

Hear from Lisa about her reasons for, and experience of, returning to education later in life. 

Lisa is currently studying towards a BSc(Hons) in Applied Sport and Exercise Science with us. 

Chat to a student

Find out more about what it's like to return to education as an adult.

Our students say it best, and with half of our student population being mature learners, we know what it takes to balance returning to study later in life and how to best support you in achieving your goals, whether that's starting, changing or progressing in your dream career.

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You can read more information about how UCEN Manchester uses your personal information by reading our privacy policy here.

Finances for Adult Courses

Providing you’ve not studied a degree in the UK before you’ll likely be eligible to get a Student Finance Loan to cover the cost of your tuition.

You’ll only start making repayments if your income is over the repayment threshold, which is currently £24,990 a year, £2,082 a month or £480 a week in the UK.

If your income falls below the repayment threshold, your repayments will stop and only restart when your income is over the threshold again.

 

You can get advice on finance, careers, course and more by emailing careers&welfare@ucenmanchester.ac.uk

You can find out more about how Student Finance works on the government website.

It's important to understand what your tuition fee pays for.

  • Your teaching 
  • Access to award-winning support services including welfare, careers and housing advice
  • Counselling support
  • Industry-standard facilities, software and equipment 
  • 1-2-1 support and smaller than usual class sizes
  • Brand new state-of-the-art campus facilities
  • An amazing student experience

Got a Question?

Our teams are here to help, whatever your query.