A levels or International Foundation for UK university entrance

• Many colleges provide A level courses, so students have plenty of choice for how and where to study. There is less choice of college for a student who wants to take Foundation courses.
• All UK universities accept A level qualifications, so students can apply to any university they want. It is difficult to get into the best UK universities (such as Oxford, Cambridge, London School of Economics etc) without A levels.
• For some courses, such as Medicine, universities will only accept students who are taking A levels.
• Universities generally expect students to take three A level subjects, and there are a great many different subjects to choose from. However universities do not like students to take an A level combination which is too specialised (such as the combination of Business, Accounting, and Economics A levels).

• An overseas student needs to have good English language skills before starting A levels, even in subjects such as Mathematics.
• The failure rate is higher than in Foundation Courses, though the difference is not great.

• The course is usually designed specifically for overseas students, and includes English language, culture and study-skills support.
• Students can often join University Foundation Courses with a lower level of English than A levels need.
• The failure rate is lower than A level, though students need to get high marks on Foundation courses if they want to go to a better university. Students who might fail A level can sometimes succeed with Foundation courses.
• Foundation courses are designed to take one year. Students can complete A level in one year, but it is harder.
• On a University Foundation Course students generally specialise in the subject area they will study at university, so they don’t need to study the range of subjects which are expected at A level

• The qualification is not accepted by all universities. Foundation courses generally give entry to a limited range of universities. Each Foundation course provider is different. It is essential that you check which universities and courses accept the Foundation Course offered by the college you are thinking of joining (and what marks they expect !).
• Foundation courses do not bring students up to the same high level of knowledge and skills that A level courses do, so students may find the first year at university more difficult.
• Because Foundation courses are not nationally recognised, there is variation in the standard of courses, so a student needs to be very careful when choosing. Courses with the same name can differ a lot in terms of what you study, how your achievement is assessed, and how tough it is to get high marks.

• Where is the Foundation course actually taught? In most cases you will find that the course is not actually taught at the university but is provided by a ‘partner’ college. If so, you might not see anything of the university or its excellent facilities. So you must check. If the course is provided by a partner college find out what that college is like to be sure that you will be happy studying and living there.
• Does Foundation success guarantee a place at that university? The answer is probably ‘not unless you get good marks’. Check what percentage actually got places at the university, and where the other students ended up.

However, Foundation is widely accepted by universities which will provide you with a good education and is a good choice if you are an older overseas student and you want to be sure of completing your pre-university study in one year.