Is she the first to go to university?

[AsdaYellowTins]

Hi DD has applied to various unis. some have sent the widening participation forms. DH and I did not go to university. I did however obtain professional exams and am qualified in my field.
I did this by distance learning (not OU) and by night school.
The "first to uni" question says no higher education qualification being held. Do my professional exams count as higher education? thanks very much

Hi, OP —

Former Admissions Tutor here. I agree you’ve got to get this right, and @Sindonym is correct that everything should be in writing. Ideally your DD should email the Admissions Team, briefly explaining your qualifications, how they were obtained, and asking how to answer the question. Best wishes

is she the first to go to university?

Well as neither you nor your DH went to university, then yes she is. Higher education generally means university (and polytechnics back in the day). Ie degree conferring institutions. I'd say almost certainly so in this context.
Widening participation includes encouraging people to go to university where it hasn't been the norm in their family, for whatever reason.

Whilst professional qualifications might count instead of a degree if you were applying for a job, this is a different context so I would say you have further education/professional qualifications, not HE. It's not putting down your qualifications, just saying you didn't go to university.

If you're still really not sure, as PP said contact admissions.

Some post secondary qualifications are 'further' rather than 'higher' level qualifications, aren't they?

When you've found out the definitive answer from the admissions tutor, OP, maybe you could post an update!

I’ve often wondered this. I have professional qualifications by attending a post 92 university part time. It was a College of HE ehrn I attended. I also attended a polytechnic part time. Now a university too. Of course I’m ancient but what does “been to university” actually mean? Very loose wording! I don’t have a degree from either and none were attended full time. But I did attend.

Hi here is an update, as there are many others wondering the same thing.

I have looked at some of the other universities that DD has applied to, and their WA requirements are "do you have a degree/did you go to university" so it clearly varies from one university to another, so as PP have said, the only way to be sure is to contact the admissions team.

They have confirmed that my professional qualifications (CIMA) do not count as higher education, as regardless of the level, these were not done while I was in full time education. Like most people, I did my professional exams while working.

However I did do a 9 month accountancy foundation course, at what was then a college. This was more of a concern to them.

I gave them the details and they went away to investigate. Their determination was that the foundation course, although full time college, was not of a high enough level to stop DD being classed as first to uni.

So for any other accountants or professionals, who did not go to uni, suggest you or preferably your DC email the admissions team (I am in so much trouble with DD for emailing them and not leaving it to her, ooops) to clarify, as it may vary from one institution to another, but I expect you will all be ok.

No, they don't. It's ridiculous, and a definite flaw in the system, but they don't.

Degrees are level 6

Pleased you got it resolved OP.

You can’t tick the boxes if you have post secondary school level qualifications.

Yes you can, if the question specifically asks whether you went to university. It's a common feature of people working in UK universities that they don't have sufficient command of English to ask an unambiguous question to elicit the information they actually want. They can't complain if people answer the question they were asked, rather than the question the university wanted to ask but didn't know how to.

Also to add to the mix, different universities use different wording/ask different questions.
From the answers from the admissions person that I have been talking to, for that institution, its all about whether you continued in any full time education post A levels. Others only want to know about university.

We're in a similar situation, and UCAS suggested that DD put "unknown" as the answer - because they said if she's hitting other contextual markers for a particular University and that question would make a difference, the University would contact her to clarify.

DS applied last year and I also ticked the 'we didn't go to Uni' box but I am also ACMA. He didn't get any reduced offers as a result of first in family though!

I am pleased for your DD, OP. And pleased that you (though better it had been she) queried. This is always the safest route, and admissions tutors and support staff genuinely want to help.

Good luck to your DD.