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If you have been out of education for some time, or if you have few or no formal qualifications but would like to go to university, an access course could be the ideal solution. Access courses are the proven and recognised route for mature students (21 or older) to prepare and qualify for higher education or university. These courses are usually completed over one year's intensive study but can be taken over a longer period to suit your personal circumstances. Access courses can be studied during the day (without loss of benefits if you are unemployed) or in the evening (particularly suitable for those with day-time jobs). Most local colleges offer access courses, often in a wide range of subject and vocational areas such as business, computing, law or psychology. Courses are designed to develop your academic confidence, your key skills in English, maths and IT and your study skills (vital for university success), as well as developing your knowledge and skills in a particular subject area. A feature of all access courses is the strong personal support and guidance given during the programme, for example with the university application process. If you are not yet ready for a one-year access course, most colleges also have 'Return to learn' or pre-access programmes to get you up to speed quickly. To be sure that universities will recognise your access qualification, check that the access course you choose is kite-marked. UCAS have a searchable database of QAA kite-marked access courses on their website at http://search1.ucas.co.uk/access_cs/index.html
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