How long are highers valid

One subject unit is equivalent to approximately 40 hours of learning. HNCs and HNDs are designed to equip you with both practical skills and theoretical knowledge in your chosen subject. They are vocationally focused and are therefore geared towards specific careers. Most of these courses consist of 16 subject units and one guidance unit, with a subject unit equivalent to around 40 hours of learning. Over the years, the SCQF has been updated, so you may have different qualifications to the ones currently being offered.

However, these older qualifications are still valid — and you can compare them with the current ones using this handy timeline.

For more information, please download the following leaflet:. NARIC offers information on vocational, academic and professional skills, international education and training systems, plus wide-ranging qualifications attained outside the UK. You can find out more here:. If you would like to know more about how long schools keep GCSE certificates, I would recommend reading this helpful article.

You may be curious about how long their results are kept with the exam boards. Basically, exam boards send the original GCSE certificates to schools, but they always keep copies of the results safely recorded in their database.

They are generally kept for a lifetime — so their records go back a long way. The results can be found by simply contacting the exam board itself which we will have a discussion about later on in this article. It is even possible to find your results with the correct exam board from as far back as the s!

We now know that GCSE results are valid for life, but how much do they matter? And why are they so important? In essence, GCSE results are very important especially as they help you determine what sixth-form college you can attend. Most colleges have specific GCSE result requirements. And it goes without saying that they are crucial when it comes to deciding what you are going to study for your A-levels.

After that, they will play a part in your university or further study applications. However, their importance does not stop there. In fact, GCSE results can also be important for getting a job , especially if you do no t have work experience. Employers are especially on the lookout for students with good grades in English and Maths, and GCSE results are often the only way to prove this.

This means that long after your GCSEs, employers would favour work experience and higher qualifications. In other words, once you have A-Levels or a degree, you have even more evidence of your academic achievements, and your knowledge will be much more specialised than it was at GCSE level, which is the thing that employers often look out for.

However, do not mistake this to mean that your GCSE results will be of no use later on. There are many employers out there who may ask you for your GCSE results decades later, so it is crucial that you keep your certificates safe.

Even if you are never required to provide them, it is better to have them in your possession just in case! Losing your credentials can be an absolute nightmare, but as we have seen throughout the article, your results will still be on record somewhere — it is just a matter of finding them! Search our database. We don't list every country, and sometimes there are several grading systems operating within a single country. If you hold qualifications not listed, or you are unsure if yours will be valid for entry, contact us before you apply.

If you are not automatically eligible, our Admissions Panel will consider you on an individual basis. The Admissions Panel will consider qualifications which are not published under the Qualifications for Entrance Schedule, incomplete qualifications e.

If we cannot accept you with your current qualifications and experience, we will advise you what qualifications you could take in order to become eligible in the future. These can all be found on our course pages. Some of our member institutions have identified specific equivalent qualifications from around the world for entry to their distance-learning courses. What happens after you apply? We are committed to ensure that all decisions taken by the Admissions Office are clear, transparent and consistent.

But we understand that you may wish to appeal against decisions made by our panel. I wish to appeal a decision concerning eligibility. Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.