sacked

[PiesAreGood]

When I was doing some homework on Unis for WPette, must be 9-10 years ago now, I was interested in Stirling due to her running background. The facilities looked excellent, but the 4 year courses puzzled me and of course, 4 years fees were undesirable.

I contacted the faculty and asked about it. In a nutshell most students need year 1 to bring them up to the old year 1 level.
If she could get 60 more points (BBB from CCC if I recall) she could start at year 2 and make it a 3 year course.

In the end it didn't make the short list, she got ABC and went to her first choice Bangor.

I usually lurk rather than post I thought it was worth defending the Scottish Education System at this point though.

The Scottish system is just set up differently from that in England/Wales/NI which is probably where the confusion comes from. In a nutshell the Scottish system is setup so that a pupil can spend one year less at secondary school but one year more at University.

*As I understand, there is no direct equivalent to the 'A-level' in the Scottish system. After doing the GCSE equivalent Scottish pupils spend one year doing "Highers". "Highers" are not quite as advanced as A-levels, I believe that a top grade in a Higher is about equivalent to a C in an A-level. "Highers" are what Scottish Universities generally ask for to gain entrance, so one year after finishing GCSE (equivalent) the Scottish pupil can enter University, but the Batchelor degree is four years (rather than three in England). Alternatively in the second year after completing GCSE (equivalent) the Scottish pupil can stay on in school and do "Advanced Highers" these are a touch more rigourous than A-levels, a grade A at "Advanced higher" is equivalent to an A* at A-level. With "Advanced Highers" the Scottish pupil can enter Year 2 of a Scottish University course or year 1 of an English University course. In practice many Scottish pupils spend the second year improving their "Higher" grade or studying more "Highers" before entering university.

England
GCSE+1 A-level year 1
GCSE+2 A-level year 2
GCSE+3 University year 1

Scotland (pupil 1)
GCSE+1 Highers
GCSE+2 University year 1
GCSE+3 University year 2

Scotland (pupil 2)
GCSE+1 Highers
GCSE+2 More Highers
GCSE+3 University year 1

Scotland (pupil 3)
GCSE+1 Highers
GCSE+2 Advanced highers
GCSE+3 University year 2

Scotland (pupil 4)
GCSE+1 Highers
GCSE+2 Advanced highers
GCSE+3 English University year 1

Confusing no? It is swings and roundabouts. One advantage with the Scottish system is that it allows pupils to do a wider range of courses to a more advanced level, rather than specialising down after GCSE's. A pupil could do 5 or 6 Highers then specialise to 2 or 3 Advanced Highers before University.

I went Scottish pupil 4 route and did more than fine at an English University.

*Caveat - I went through the system 20 years ago, qualification names may have changed etc etc.