University of Edinburgh's Access Programme

The University of Edinburgh’s Access Programme is an entry route for WP groups including mature students, students from Scotland’s most deprived communities and those who have care experience. The programme aims to foster diversity and inclusion through creating specific opportunity for adult returners from diverse backgrounds and under-represented groups to study with us, and supporting them through the transition to degree study.

The University of Edinburgh’s Access Programme is a part-time programme that aims to provide adult returners with the skills, confidence and qualifications to study for a degree in the University’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. The Access Programme offers an integrated and inclusive programme of skills-based courses at SCQF level 7 and, through a holistic approach, fosters transformative learning.

Students study 60 credits over two semesters, with an emphasis placed upon early formative work and learning from feedback, ahead of a range of summative assessments in semester 2. Successful completion of the Access Programme can result in progression to a degree programme within the University.

The University of Edinburgh’s Access Programme, offered by the Centre for Open Learning, is for adult returners who do not already have an undergraduate degree, who want to study a degree but maybe haven’t completed Highers (or equivalent) qualifications and have had a continuous gap of at least 3 years at some point in their formal education. The first Access cohort of 50 students began their studies in August 2018 with almost half coming from SIMD20 areas and all those students completed the course and received conditional offers for undergraduate study.