United Kingdom’s Northern Consortium launches educational programme for students

The Northern Consortium of the United Kingdom (NCUK), an association for higher education, on Wednesday launched it's International Foundation Year (IFY) programme in Ghana for high school students.

Mrs Maria Mckenna, the Regional Director of NCUK, who launched the programme in Accra, said the IFY provided Ghanaian students with exclusive pathways to study and gain their Bachelor’s degrees in the UK or in other countries globally.

The programme was launched in partnership with the Global Heritage Professional College (GHPC), a Ghanaian private university.

It primarily targets international students who have completed high school and have the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 5.0 or its equivalent and wanted to study in universities abroad.

The programme is also opened to students who want to improve upon their British Curriculum A-level results, with the minimum age being 17 years.

Students who have already completed the NCUK’s International Year One programme are guaranteed access directly to the third and final year of a UK degree at one of the eligible NCUK universities.

Mrs Mckenna said the GHPC was the only NCUK’s centre in Ghana, and called for applications for admissions from interested persons starting from April 24, 2019, to be accessed at www.ghpcghana.com, info@ghpcghana.com or call (+233)208940004 for further information.

She stated that being a consortium, made up of 16 leading universities of the United Kingdom, the NCUK was dedicated to giving international students guaranteed access to universities outside their countries and helping them to succeed.

“Our qualifications are recognised by our universities and by most others across the UK, including many in the Russell Group, and also by universities internationally,” she said.

“And far more than other qualifications, they prepare you to hit the ground running.”

She said the IFY included three academic subject modules plus an English Language for Academic Purposes Module taught over nine months with an average of 20 teaching hours per week.

It also guarantees access to over 4,000-degree programmes including faculties of Engineering, Business, Architecture and Medical Sciences.

Mrs Mckenna said an Independent UK Governmental Study found NCUK’s IFY broadly comparable to a two-year A-Level programme, in which the International Year One included eight to 10 academic modules (depending on subject areas) and mirrored the format and assessment of a standard UK university first-year degree programme.

It was also designed for students who have completed level three (IFY, A-Level, IB Diploma, SATS/AP etc) and these guarantees them access directly to Year Two of a UK degree programme across 10 NCUK universities.

Mr David Atsutse, the GHPC Director, said the total fees for the IFY programme in Ghana was 6,000 pounds sterling, with an additional examination fee of 670 pounds sterling, which was highly subsidised and far cheaper compared to what was being charged in the UK and other universities abroad.

He said the September 2019 academic year would start with courses in Business and the Humanities before the gradual introduction of the sciences in subsequent years.