Degree-awarding powers ushers in new era for University Centre Leeds

University Centre Leeds is looking forward to offering a range of full honours degrees for the first time.

The University Centre, part of Luminate Education Group, can already validate a wide range of qualifications, including foundation degrees, under its own powers.

But now, following a successful application to the Office for Students (OfS), the institution has gained full degree-awarding authority. That means it will be able to offer three year bachelor’s degrees and validate ‘top-up’ options, for its foundation degrees, itself.

Dean of Higher Education, Dr Sarah Marquez, says the change will make it easier for students to gauge  the University Centre’s academic offering against that of other higher education (HE) institutions.

A confirmation of quality

She said: “We are delighted to have secured  these degree-awarding powers, which confirm the quality of our courses and standards.

“We will now be redesigning our curriculum to reflect this, and are looking forward to offering full three year honours programmes across our provision for the first time.

“So students will be able to more easily compare our offer against those of our competitors, and we can also now offer validated higher-level Continuing Professional Development to further support local businesses and professionals.”

She added: “This means we can respond to employer needs quicker, too, in terms of introducing new courses or adapting existing provision – and that is particularly important at a time when we are looking to expand our Higher Technical Qualifications and apprenticeships offer.”

The University Centre will now also be able to work with other education providers who don’t have awarding powers, to either validate their provision or enable them to offer its programmes.

Crowning a year of achievement

Securing degree-awarding powers is the latest success in what has been a notable past 12 months for the institution.

Earlier this year it was awarded a silver Teaching Excellence Framework rating, and was also ranked first, among all of the city’s large (ie those with a minimum of 50 students) HE providers, in three of the seven categories of the OfS National Student Survey 2024.

University Centre Leeds’ collaborative work with employers to design and tailor its Higher Technical Qualifications, meanwhile – to produce work-ready students with the precise skills needed by local industry – is now the focus of a new video campaign by the National Careers Service.

The University Centre’s work includes both delivering higher education courses and training and supporting the work of Luminate Education Group’s further education colleges in Leeds, Harrogate and Keighley.