The University of Sheffield
Institute for Lifelong Learning (TILL)

Glossary of terms used about courses at TILL

The following table explains some of the terms associated with courses and studying:

Access to Learning Fund A pot of money from the Government, administered by the University, intended particularly to support part-time students. For more information on it, visit the Student Services Information Desk website.
Certificate A two year part-time programme, equivalent to Level One of university study
Credit All of our modules are 10 or 20 credits. As a rule of thumb, for a 10 credit module you can expect 24 contact hours (as seminars, tutorials, or lectures), and an assessment task that is 2000 words long. These figures are doubled for 20 credit modules.
Degree A six year part-time programme, giving you either a Bachelor of Arts (BA) or Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree.
Foundation Degree A four year part-time programme, covering Levels One and Two of university study. At present, we run one Foundation Degree in Working with Communities.
Foundation Programme A two year part-time programme, at Level Zero of university study. The course is designed to help adult learners returning to study, and most students go on to part- or full-time courses here and at other universities.
Level At TILL we talk about Levels rather than years, as part-time study means that you spend two years per Level. So Level One is equivalent to the first year of a full-time degree, and so on. Level Zero is broadly equivalent to A Level study.
Student Finance England What used to be known as the Local Education Authority or Local Authority, responsible for determining funding for students in higher education.
Module A single unit of study, such as 'Shakespeare in Context', or 'Effective Web Page Design'. A module usually lasts 12 or 24 weeks.
Named award Another name for all of the awards we run, including Certificates, Foundation Degrees, Honours Degrees (eg. BA and BSc).
Programme A unified course of study, eg. Foundation Programme; Degree in Natural and Human Environments.
TILL The Institute for Lifelong Learning