Abertay University is the first higher education institution north of the Border to unveil a three-year fast-track Scottish honours degree.
Its new structure allows students to fit four years’ worth of study into three years.
Students enrolling this September will be able to finish their degrees in August 2017 instead of July 2018 on the conventional timetable.
The option is being offered on seven degree programmes and depending on interest, the option will be added to other degrees. Abertay is the first university in Scotland to make the move.
The traditional four-year undergraduate degree has often been regarded as a non-negotiable ‘gold standard’, but Abertay believes that its new model preserves the gold standard while offering students greater flexibility and choice.
The university’s market research found healthy demand for the fast-track option. Focus groups of sixth-formers and parents seeing the benefits of getting to the jobs market sooner with lower student debt due to reduced living costs.
The degrees in the pilot programme are Business Studies, Computer Arts, Computer Games Application Development, Ethical Hacking, Food and Consumer Sciences, Game Design and Production Management, and Sports Development.
For more on this story see Wednesday’s Courier.