Certificate of Higher Education
A Certificate of Higher Education (Cert.HE/CertHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom.[1]
It is awarded after one year of full-time study (or equivalent) at a university or other higher education institution, or two years of part-time study.[1][2] A Cert.HE is an independent tertiary award, an award in its own right, and students can study for a Cert.HE in various academic disciplines. A Cert.HE is the academic equivalent of the more vocational Higher National Certificate,[1] awarded following further education and training courses, and is equivalent to an NVQ Level 4.[3]
In Scotland, a Cert.HE is worth 120 credit points at Level 7 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.
A Cert.HE is not externally regulated but is accredited by a university itself.
On completion, students are permitted to use the postnominals CertHE after their name, sometimes followed by the course name in brackets and the University from which they earned their qualification.
Sometimes, having a CertHE can exempt the holder from some of the requirements of a Bachelor's degree; for example, it might reduce the length of study or number of courses necessary to complete the qualification. The year reduction is between 1 - 2 years.