Press Releases
New collaboration makes higher education more accessible – University of Reading
Release Date : 11 May 2004
The University has joined forces with Newbury College in an exciting initiative aimed at making university-level education more accessible to adult learners in the area. From September 2004 the University's School of Continuing Education will expand out from its existing Reading base to offer a programme of Certificates of Higher Education at Newbury College's state-of-the-art Monks Lane site. Dr Brian O'Callaghan, Head of the School of Continuing Education, explains: "These Certificates are a well-established part of a broad range of adult education courses which have been successfully offered by the School for several years now. The Newbury collaboration is certainly a welcome opportunity to share an already tried and tested programme more directly with another local community in the region." The Certificates give anyone wishing to return to education the chance to study during the evening on a part-time basis. They stand as a qualification in their own right, but by being equivalent to the first year of a degree, they also provide a fantastic alternative route directly into the second year of a university degree at Reading. The subjects of Archaeology, English Literature, History and History of Art and Architecture have been on offer at Certificate level at Reading for some time. However, students at Newbury will be the first to encounter greater learning flexibility in the form of a new Certificate of Higher Education in Combined Studies, which allows them to 'pick and mix' across the subject areas. The initiative between the University and Newbury College is viewed as part of a long-term strategy through which the University aims to set up a network of similar collaborative ventures that will provide adult learners in the region with increased opportunity to study at a location nearer to home. For further information regarding the University of Reading @ Newbury College, please contact Debbie Doyle on 0118 378 5340. End For media enquiries, please contact Craig Hillsley, the University's press officer, on 0118 378 7388, or e-mail: c.hillsley@reading.ac.uk