Beyond school

Qualification routes

Download the document below to view a table which shows the range of qualifications which can take you from school to employment or on to further or higher education.  The table covers for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and for Scotland.

An outline of the most common route for those who choose to continue their study beyond a Bachelor's degree is given below and do remember that financial support is available through various sources for each stage.

• 3 year Bachelor's degree (this can be a 4 year combined Masters e.g. MPhys, MEng)
• 1 or 2 year Master's degree, these can be taught, research based or both
  and/or
• Doctorate degree ( PhD), usually contains some teaching but is largely research based and takes around 3 or 4 years to complete

Alternative routes

2plus2 scheme - a flexible and affordable route to a physics or chemistry degree. 

No previous qualifications are required, you start by studying two years part time with The Open University (OU) and then complete your degree by studying two years full time, face to face at one of the partner universities. Generous financial support is available from the OU for many students. For example, you could be earning up to £30,000 and still receive help with your fees, or a student earning £16,000 living at home with parents could be eligible for all their fees to be paid while studying with the OU.

For further details and information on how to register, visit www.open.ac.uk/2plus2