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Postgrad Dip , Certificate, Master : It drive me nut :(

S

Hi,every one in here!

Could any of you please tell me clearly ( I try to search extensively in most popular search engine and university, still can't get pretty good ideas to comfort my mind) about the differences between those three? Especially for pgdp and pgc.
I knew from some UK students that international student from 3rd class country can do 9 months in pgdp as a pathway to get master with an equivalent of 1 year in total? So if that's true... doing master and pgdp then master would be the same.. (cuz the same 1 year), so why doing pdgd first? and what is that pdCertificate?

kindly apologize if you can't hardy understand me... but hopefully to get the answers..

Thanks

S

Any Ideas pls share?

On my MA the course was made up of three parts:

Research training
Subject specific modules
Dissertation

Just doing the research training meant that you got a Postgraduate Certificate.

The research training and subject modules gained you a PG Diploma. Both took 9 months

And all 3 were the full MA (which takes a year).

Hope this helps!

S

Thanks for your answers.. with your help i can figure it out more clearly. let's me put it in that me Master is 3/3, certificate is 1/3 and diploma is 2/3.

But now another term really block my thought.. have you ever heard of Pre-Master program? How can they prepared you to your master?

F

I don't know if its exactly the same at all universities. At my own uni, the pre-masters program was a three month academic English writing course for people that did not get a good enough mark in TOEFL or English exams. It might be worth checking with each specific university though.

S

That's what i think too... i'll try to search for more information on that too.. but still can't find the good one yet! you know why (Pre) Master? Some UK students don't even heard of it .. that's wired!

But when i contact the representative agency for application and course in uk,.. they recommend me to do pre master program because my degree is from developing country?
It's sound not good! isn't it?

S

hi strawberry_s

I just did a very quick search on google for Pre-Masters, and yes, they are, I quote:
"designed for students who wish to enter any Post-Graduate Masters programme in the UK but do not have the necessary level of English language proficiency. It is primarily an English language skills development course which will prepare students for the language demands and methodology of a postgraduate degree."

It sounds like they are preparing you for the academic language and terminoly you would need to use as a UK postgrad. I had never heard of a pre-masters until you mentioned it, but why would UK students know about courses that are designed for non-native english speakers?!

S

Nothing with Uk students!.. I just think you guy should have heard of it cuz this program existed in some university over there!

Hey..for your quote, I got the same thing and that's why i wonder what if I am qualify enough for my English language.. what matter me not english language but my degree!

S

Hi Strawberry_s
The course may be offered in unis over here, but if it is not available to UK students, we wouldn't be told about it would we? Ergo, we wouldn't know about it.

I teach as well as do a PhD, and I strongly recommend you do the pre-Masters. When international students do badly it is not usually because they don't understand or have low ability, it is because they don't have the skills to express themselves academically in English. Maybe you should consider it - it can only help your MA when you go on to do one.

S

I'll take your recommendation... but should i start the full pre master program? or just the partial level that my english language qualification applied (my IELTS band score is 7)?

S

I forgot to mention, I want to do MSc at Greenwich! but still looking for more options... appreciate if there's some recommendations.

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