Building Up to Higher Education

This free taster course will develop your academic language and literacy skills. It will provide the ideal preparation for future study at the University of Bristol.

The information on this page relates to a course that has now finished. We will publish details of our next course later in the year.

On the course, you will discover what it is like to be a university student.

In structured taught sessions, you will:

gain an understanding of university-level expectations, reflecting on your strengths and areas for development
review note-taking strategies to help you summarise and respond to complex ideas
learn how to structure an academic argument and support your key points with sources
practice participating in seminar discussions, presenting your own ideas and engaging with other people’s
discuss university-level marking criteria and how to use feedback to improve your work
reflect on your learning and set goals for future academic study.

Upon successful completion of the Building up to Higher Education short course, you would be eligible for a guaranteed interview to our CertHE Foundation in Science, Engineering and Mathematics or CertHE Foundation in Arts and Social Sciences. These courses enable progression to undergraduate degrees at Bristol. This is subject to the below terms and conditions:

1. You submit a complete application to one of the above CertHE Foundation courses by the published deadline, in the year of your participation to Building up to Higher Education

2. You meet the eligibility criteria for the CertHE courses as published on our website, and provide all required documents and attachments detailed in the relevant Admissions Statement (e.g. qualification questionnaire, sample of written work)

3. You have attended all sessions of the programme (absences will be considered on a case-by-case basis - please contact your programme lead in advance if your attendance of this programme might be impacted).

If you have questions, please contact mature-students@bristol.ac.uk.

I fully benefitted from the course by way of an understanding of what university life entails and the realisation that, with a lot of hard work and commitment, anyone (regardless of history or background) could enrich themselves with further education.

Mick

Course attendee, 2022

Dates

You will attend six sessions in total, each lasting two hours. We will run these sessions from 5.30 to 7.30pm on:

Thursday 29 January 2026
Thursday 5 February 2026
Thursday 12 February 2026
Thursday 26 February 2026
Thursday 5 March 2026
Thursday 12 March 2026

There will be no session on Thursday 19 February 2026.

Location

This face-to-face course will take place at the Barton Hill micro-campus, Bristol.

Class size

You will study in small, supportive groups. An expert tutor from the Centre for Academic Language and Development will lead the classes.

For the course to run, we will need a minimum of eight students.

Application deadline

Applications for the 2026 iteration of this course are not yet open. If you would like us to let you know when applications open, please fill this expression of interest form.

Entry requirements

This course aims to prepare you for higher education. It is open to anyone who has not previously studied at university level, regardless of their background or educational history.

You must be aged 18 and over to apply. We will give priority to people aged 20 and over.

We will ask participants to demonstrate a proficient level of English language on their application. This is to ensure that everyone can fully engage with and benefit from the course.

How to apply