England.  Change location

Build on your prior study

You don’t need any qualifications to study most of our courses; that’s what makes us unique. If you’ve got the motivation to study, we’ll give you the opportunity.

If you’ve already got some qualifications, such as an HNC or HND you may be able to count this towards your degree studies through credit transfer.

Request a prospectus

What is credit transfer?

Credit transfer is the OU’s process for recognising learning that you’ve already completed. This could help you reach your goals sooner, saving you time and money. Read our case study about Evie below.
 
Evie completed an HNC in Business in college at SCQF level 7 (which is the equivalent of level 1 at The Open University). When Evie had the result from her HNC, she contacted the OU and completed a credit transfer application for our Business Management degree to see if she could be given an exemption from some modules for the degree and therefore complete it in less time.

The Credit Transfer team looked at her application, weighing up how much overlap there was between her HNC and the level 1 modules for the Business Management degree. When Evie got the application back, there was information about how many modules she could skip (i.e. how much credit she could transfer) on the Business Management degree. She didn’t have to skip them if she didn’t feel ready, but the option was there so that she could complete her degree in less time if she wanted to.

The reply to the application also gave her information about how much credit she could transfer into the Open degree. This is something that’s included in every credit transfer application so people can see what their options might be with the Open degree.

With this information to hand, Evie was able to decide the best route for her and went on to receive her Business Management degree with the OU in Scotland.

Key things to know about credit transfer

  • If you’re coming straight from finishing a college qualification in the summer to start a qualification with the OU in October (when most of our modules start), you’ll need to act fast. Our registrations close in early September and you’ll need to complete a credit transfer application by mid-August to have enough time to apply for a module. 
  • You need to have a copy of your academic transcript and information about your course’s learning outcomes to complete the application, so make sure to ask your college about this before applying.
  • You can use study from different qualifications.
  • If your college qualification is in a very different subject area to the qualification you want to study with the OU, it is unlikely you will be able to transfer credit as the Credit Transfer team will be looking for overlap between the content that you’ve already studied and the OU qualification. However, any credit transfer application will always include information on the credit you can transfer into the Open degree which is not dependent on the subject area. It’s only dependent on the level of your previous study.

Find out more about credit transfer  

Want to get started? What are you waiting for?

Find out more about the OU, our courses and how we can help you build your future by contacting our team of advisers.

Request a prospectus