UK Education News

In the United Kingdom, the following three main types of institutions provide higher education to students:

· Universities
· Colleges and Institutions of Higher Education
· Art and Music Colleges

Universities are autonomous institutions who can hold their own ground particularly in matters relating to structuring courses or modifying their content. A university may draw its empowerment from a Royal Charter or an Act of Parliament. There used to be a binary line separating universities and polytechnic institutions until the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992 erased this distinction, resulting to polytechnics achieving the right to award their own degrees and taking on university titles.

Most institutions were left to confer their own degrees following the abolition of The Council for National Academic Awards. In addition, funding was structured by creating the Higher Education Funding Councils in England, Scotland and Wales. Most universities are sub-classified into faculties which are further broken down into individual departments concentrating on an area of study. The Universities UK examines all matters of concern pertaining to universities. There are many institutions of higher education that came about as a result of teacher training colleges and other colleges merging.

Higher education institutions which do not have a university title also provide degree courses, some non-degree courses as well as postgraduate qualifications. These are validated by external bodies which may be a local university or the Open University. Some institutions may apply for authority for awarding its own degrees on the condition that it must be able to show a good record of offering degree courses as validated by external universities.