Modular courses
The ultimate pick’n’ degree is the modular course. Not everywhere offers them and they vary from university to university (at some they’re no more than jumped up combined honours degrees), but the general idea is that you’re free to study ‘modules’ in just about any subject. You might do, say, four or five modules in a year and, so long as you pass them, you pick up credits. Get enough credits, you get a degree.
It’s not all cherry-picking though. Most modular courses require you to take (and pass) certain ‘core’ modules — usually ones you need for certain careers — and your choice is further compromised by a range of ‘pathways’ where they tell you what you can and can’t mix.
A big advantage is that you get to do a little of a lot of different things. It’s a big disadvantage too. Many students on modular courses do tend to find themselves choosing modules in the second and third year that they could have done within a more traditional course structure. But, hey: it doesn’t matter how you get there, just that you get there.
For students who may need to come and go out of higher education, however, the system really works. You can just keeping dropping in and out, doing a job for a while, coming back to take a module or two, and so on, stashing up the credits until either you’ve got a degree or as much of one as you want. (This isn’t just messing about with the system. It’s a recognised scheme called CATS — Credit Accumulation and Transfer — designed to help people continue education and improve their qualifications throughout their lives.)
Last updated on: 23 April 2008