Awards available on flexible study routes

This section summarises the awards available for students accumulating credit through one or more of a range of routes, available through the ‘Credit Accumulation and Transfer’ (CATS) programme:

credit-rated short courses at UH,
credit-rated short courses at externally-accredited providers,
Accredited Prior Experiential Learning (APEL),
Accredited Prior Certificated Learning (APCL),
negotiated work-based learning,
as well as registration on traditional modules from across the University,
and also the awards available for both small volumes of credit (‘small awards’) and larger volumes of credit (‘large awards’).

Awards may be generic or semi-generic.

Generic awards (Professional Development Studies)

The University has ‘Professional Development Studies awards that recognise a ‘bundle’ of credit which may not be fully coherent nor align with an existing named award. It allows externally accredited providers of credit to have awards for candidates accumulating credit without the need to validate an award at the partner. They are generic and can be used by any school.

Certificate in Professional Development: 30 credits at levels 4, 5, 6 or 7.
Diploma in Professional Development: 60 credits at levels 4, 5, 6 or 7.

The CATS programme operates three separate Boards:

The CATS APL/WBL Board considers and approves all claims for APCL and APEL from candidates wishing to achieve an award through the CATS programme. It also confirms credit gained through the generic Work Based Learning (WBL) short courses;
The CATS Approvals Board (see below); and
The CATS Programme Board subsequently recommends those awards on the basis of the satisfactory completion of that profile.

Semi-Generic awards

Semi-generic ‘large awards’ are available for candidates who are accumulating credit through various routes which are not part of a validated programme, where there is an appropriate measure of coherence within the credit being offered.

The CATS Approvals Board approves candidates’ award titles on the basis of their previously-completed and intended study profile.

For example if a candidate had a collection of credit which is predominantly related to engineering, it might be appropriate to give an award title of say ‘Engineering Studies’ or ‘Engineering Practice’, rather than simply an award in ‘Professional Development Studies’.

The full list of titles available through the CATS programme is shown in the table below:

List of semi-generic award titles available through the CATS programme, by academic School

Available for single, joint and major-minor combinations of the designated titles. Honours awards are available ‘with a Year Abroad’ and ‘Sandwich’.

	Academic titles	Professional titles
Hertfordshire Business School	Business and Management Studies	Professional Practice in Business & Management
School of Creative Arts	Creative Arts Studies Media Studies Studies in the Humanities	Creative Arts Practice
School of Health and Social Work	Studies in Health Studies in Health & Social Care Studies in Healthcare Leadership Management
Hertfordshire Law School	Studies in Law Studies in Education	Professional Practice in Law Professional Practice in Education
School of Life and Medical Sciences	Bioscience Studies Studies in Sport Geography & Environmental Studies Health Science Studies Psychology Studies Medical Studies Healthcare Studies
School of Physics, Engineering and Computer Science	Computing Studies Engineering Studies Studies in Physics Studies in Mathematics Technology & Innovation Studies	Engineering Practice Professional Practice in Computing Technology & Innovation Practice

Small awards

The University has two ‘small awards’, available at all academic levels, to provide a more realisable target for work-based learners:

Certificate in Professional Development: 30 credits at levels 4, 5, 6 or 7
Diploma in Professional Development: 60 credits at levels 4, 5, 6 or 7

The awards are untitled, although the academic level is indicated, e.g. Certificate in Professional Development (Level 5) and both are awarded only through the CATS programme. The underlying principle follows that adopted in the QCA Qualifications and Credit Framework, where both Certificates (for 13-36 credits) & Diplomas (for 37+ credits) are available at academic levels up to Doctorate.

Again, the CATS Approvals Board approves these awards on the basis of the previously-completed and intended study profile, and will need to be satisfied that the study profile meets both the academic level requirements (as defined in the QAA (2019) Frameworks for Higher Education Qualifications for UK Degree Awarding Bodies and credit requirements as defined above). The CATS Programme Tutor will be able to advise on the procedure for taking proposals to the CATS Approvals Board, using the CATS Programme of Study form (see HertsHub).

It is worth noting that small awards may have an effect on the ELQ (equivalent or lower qualifications) status of an individual. Any student accumulating credit without it contributing towards an award can continue to do so with no ELQ ramifications. But those accumulating credit and who subsequently achieve a small award (for, say, 30 credits at level 4), and then decide to enrol on a first degree might have to be classified as ELQ, at least for their first year and the University would not be able to claim funding for that student from HEFCE.

All forms, including the CATS Programme of Study Form, are available for UH staff on HertsHub (login required).