A year designed specially to get you ready to start your chosen degree.
Each Foundation Year is a fundamental part of a full honours degree, meaning once completed, you'd be able to apply for a four-year course.
We currently have three Foundation Year degree courses:
The Foundation Year will give you all the study skills and subject-specific knowledge you'll need for your degree course.
After you finish the Foundation Year successful you can move straight onto your chosen degree.
If you think your skills and ambitions would fit better on a different course, there is some flexibility in the further degree you choose.
Many of our Foundation students are mature, defined as older than 21.
If that includes you, you're not alone.
We have a high number of students who've come to the University with work and life experience which can be taken in to consideration when you apply.
So please don't worry if you don't have a formal qualification.
You might have missed the grades you need for direct entry to the course, or you want to start on a new career path and need to develop your study skills and get more subject knowledge before starting your degree.
A lot of Foundation Year students have no formal qualifications but have valuable and relevant work experience.
If you're looking to improve your career prospects with a global-recognised qualification we can offer you a programme to help you succeed.
Contact us and together we can find a way to the qualification that could change your life.
Foundation courses prepare you for postgraduate and undergraduate qualifications.
We offer three foundation courses:
The University of Sunderland in London is famous for being friendly, accessible and supportive.
You'll be taught by our academics, all experts in their fields, and will go to workshops and seminars with your fellow students.
The exact format of your year, which modules and how many you will take, will depend on your chosen degree and whether you decide to study for the Integrated course of the stand-alone foundation year programmes.
The latter consists of two years with modules split over this time, while the integrated route lasts for one year before students join the honours degree programme.
Your foundation programme will give you the skills you need to get the most out of your degree and allow you to explore the wide rage of career opportunities available to you.
You'll also have access, and support with the use of, a range of online learning materials.
You'll have support from our friendly staff throughout your course so you'll finish completely prepared for the full degree.
No, your certificate will only refer to the degree title and not include details on the length of the programme. You'll graduate with exactly the same degree as students studying a standard three year course.
It's easy to apply, just go to the programme you want to study and click 'Apply Now'.
Come and speak with us at an Open Day where our staff can give you more information about Foundation Year courses.
You can also contact our Admissions team at 020 7531 2357 or email them on admissions-london@sunderland.ac.uk.
An undergraduate degree is any Bachelor-level qualification from a university. We offer two kinds of Bachelor honours (Hons) degrees:
• Bachelor of Arts (BA)
• Bachelor of Science (BSc)
If you complete your course with a good grade, your final degree qualification will be 'BA (Hons)' or 'BSc (Hons)'.
Your final grade will decide what your degree classification is:
• First class honours (1st)
• Second class honours, upper division (2:1)
• Second class honours, lower division (2:2)
• Third class honours (3rd)
• Ordinary degree (Pass)
Undergraduate degree courses usually take three years to complete.
'Top-Up' degrees are for students who already have high-level qualifications, and want to 'upgrade' their qualification to the level of a full Bachelor degree.
They usually take a year to complete.
Find more information about the our Top-up degrees.
'Postgraduate degree' is the name given to any higher education course for which you need an undergraduate degree to study.
We offer taught postgraduate degrees and a professional doctorate research postgraduate degree.
We have three kinds of taught postgraduate degree:
• Master of Arts (MA)
• Master of Science (MSc)
• Master of Business Administration (MBA)
All of our undergraduate courses are taught in modules.
Each module looks at one specific topic in-depth and will be taught by academic staff with specialist interests in that subject.
Modules are usually taught over one semester.
Most courses have a list of core modules. These have to be taken by everyone studying on the course. There are also optional modules that let you look at your areas of interest in more depth.
The availability of optional modules is based on whether you have met certain criteria. This includes having completed your mandatory modules.
You can find out more information about any of these criteria and modules from your course leader.
Courses are carefully designed so that there is a progression from one year to the next.
This means that they build on your previous knowledge, and the work becomes harder as you move through each year.
Each module is worth a certain number of credits, depending on how much time it takes to complete.
A 10-credit module will need an average of 100 hours of study, and a 20-credit module will need an average of 200 hours of study.
How you spend your 1,200 hours will depend on the kind of study needed by your course.
Some courses involve a lot of contact time with academic staff, while with others you'll need to do more independent study.
These are meant as guidelines though.
Exactly how much time you spend studying will depend on how challenging you find the module, and how motivated you are to achieve good grades.
If you already have a higher education qualification and want to study another course at the same or lower level, then you the Government thinks of you as having ‘Equivalent or Lower Qualifications’ (ELQ) status.
If you have a Bachelors degree (e.g. a BA or BSc) and want to study for another Bachelors level course, then you have ELQ.
Also, somebody with a PhD degree who wants to study for a Masters level course will have ELQ as well.
If you want to study a course which is at the same level or lower than a degree you already have, you will have ELQ status.
If you have a Bachelors degree (e.g. a BA or BSc) and want to study for a Masters degree (e.g. a MA or MSc) then you will not have ELQ.
Also, if you have failed a Bachelors degree and want to study another Bachelors degree you will not have ELQ status.
If you have ELQ status, you won't be able to get any loan from Student Finance England.
This includes both the Tuition Fee and Maintenance Loan as well as the Maintenance Grant.
At the University of Sunderland in London, we're dedicated to making study accessible to you. We recognise that you have commitments outside of the University.
To give you the time to study, as well as work or enjoy your family life, many of our courses have teaching over just two days per week.
Unlike other universities, we also have four intakes each year. That means if you don't want to, or can't, start your course in September, you don't have to wait a whole year before applying.
Although we do this for your convenience, it does mean that timetables and term dates are done on a course by course basis. For details about the term dates of the course you're hoping to study, please contact you course leader.
Most of our courses include a wide number of modules. For more information on which courses offer which modules, take a look at our course pages.
Which optional module you can choose from is based on whether you've met the requirements of the course, including completing the mandatory modules
Your course leader can give you more information on any requirements and/or modules.
While we understand that balancing childcare and study can be difficult, timetables are complex and mean all students have access to the facilities they need.
For this reason we’re not able to personalise your timetable. But we work to ensure that most courses only have two days of teaching per week, to help you fit your learning around other parts of life.
Our ceremonies take place throughout the year during the Summer, Autumn and Winter seasons. Your graduation date will depend on the time you complete your course. For University of Sunderland in London graduates you will be attending the Southwark Cathedral in London Bridge, London, SE1 9DA.
If you are unsure when your graduation will be taking place please contact your Course leader or the Gateway team (Tel: +44 (0)20 7531 7333) for more information about your graduations.
This information was correct at the time of publication (June 2024).
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