“By creating we think, by living we learn” Patrick Geddes
The sooner the better, as this will provide you with the widest range of subject options in the shortest time. It also enables us to monitor and meet your needs more effectively.
To prepare and qualify students for undergraduate entry, the course consists of a Student Academic Skills course and three taught subject courses chosen from a list of options. However, some students may simply wish to choose to study just one course for interest or slowly build to qualifying for undergraduate entry.
Most subject courses have no entry requirements. However, as a result of this all students must complete a significant body of work to provide sufficient evidence that they are ready for degree-level study.
Each subject course involves an estimated 40 – 60 hours of total student effort. This works out at a maximum of 15 hours per week per subject course, although some students may require less time.
As the course has several start dates and students have up to two years to complete the course from the point they start, the numbers at any one time will vary.
Guidance is given on the application form. The subject courses you study are largely governed by the degree you want them to prepare and qualify you for.
If you wish to be considered for an undergraduate place, the sooner the better and feel free to mention your wish to attend the University of Dundee Discover Learning at Dundee programme in your Personal Statement.
Students successfully completing Discover Learning at Dundee will have fulfilled the academic criteria required to be considered for many University of Dundee courses. Student can then use these qualifications as an alernative equivalent to the undergradaute First Year entry tariff in effect at that time. For example, for entry to some degrees in September 2011, passes at BCCC via Discover Learning at Dundee were required, noting that all modules are taught at introductory First Year level. Some courses may also require an interview to confirm other requirements are met – this will be discussed when you enrol.
No. Discover Learning at Dundee is designed to qualify and prepare you for entry to University of Dundee courses and whilst they may well prepare you for study elsewhere, the undergraduate place at the University of Dundee you will earn is generally not transferable and does not carry credit as such.
Having spent a lot of effort preparing for study, it is our general advice to immediately commence your degree, as non-academic gap years can result in students losing some of the advantage they have gained from the course.
Each Discover Learning at Dundee (DLAD) module is rated at £200 (sterling) and students will be invoiced for each module individually, in advance. Students must pay the full fee seven days before each module begins to be able to start – no late starts are possible. The course is however free to all eligible UK/EU students who provide suitable evidence of adversity in time via an independent Nominator (referee), which we will verify. Students who are or become ILA registered can also use their £200 ILA entitlement to pay for one module.
Students can restart a module and have the normal module fee waived if they leave within the first three days of the programme or present a medical certificate during the module that confirms they were too unwell to study. A readmission fee of £100 per module to cover costs will be charged to all other students if they wish to restart the same module later. Reflecting course related administration costs, fees can only be refunded if a student withdraws prior to the start date of the module in question.
Please refer to our How to Payinformation page, as a number of easy options are available.
The only other possible costs are that all students require reliable access to a computer to allow them to access the course and may be required to buy some learning materials.
All other students pay for their modules, at a rate of £200 per module.
Students need to make a prepayment of 50% of their course fee at least one week before their module start date. Failure to secure payment in time will prevent module enrolment. Payment of the remaining 50% must be made within two weeks of the module start date.
Please refer to our How to Pay information page.
As more and more students want to go to University, we recognise that not everyone is able to convert their ability into our conventional entrance grades. If you have been held back by verified adversity (see definitions below) and are a UK or EU student, under EU legislation our programme offers you a free route to prepare and qualify for entry to the University of Dundee. UK/EU Applicants to the programme may qualify to join the programme without paying a subject course or programme fee if they can provide proof that they meet two or more of the following Access Criteria:
Access Criteria |
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Little or no parental experience of higher education. |
Limited family income. |
Unskilled, semi-skilled or unemployed parent(s). |
Living in neighbourhood or other circumstances not conducive to study. |
Educational progress being blighted by specific family events at critical times (e.g. bereavement, illness, separation or divorce). |
Other exceptionally adverse circumstances or factors specified by nominating institutions. |
If you do not meet these criteria the programme is available on a fee paying basis at a cost of £200 per subject course. Students pay for the programme on a course-by-course basis, enabling the cost of the programme to be spread over the entire period of study. The fee for each subject course includes all core study materials plus sitting an online examination for that subject course.
Yes. The course is registered with Learning Direct so that those eligible for an Individual Learning Account (ILA) can obtain up to £200 towards the cost of the programme.
All students will obtain as much support at they require. This will be provided in 4 main ways:
Discover Learning at Dundee is designed to help you succeed, so if you have the ability and do the work scheduling time to develop your learning to the required standard is likely to be your main challenge. You will be able to monitor your progress as you study to help you stay on track.
If you will not be able to complete work to a given deadline simply let us know the nature of the change and we will suspend your studies until you are back on your feet. Please note – as not all modules are available at once, you may have to wait for any module you leave to restart. This might take up to six months and so impact the year you enter the University of Dundee.
Absolutely. Simply click here to discover how to do this:
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/ics/services/servicedesk/
Please note: all technical questions should be routed to the ICS Service Desk. Subject Module staff may not be able to resolve technical or computer issues and this is not their role, so please do approach the ICS helpdesk with technical issues.
If you can, print out the details from page http://www.dundee.ac.uk/ics/services/servicedesk/ to have it to hand, as it offers advice that may be useful should you not be able to access the internet.
