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Innovative new short course to give a Fresh Start

Published: 25 June 2020 at 15:00

Lord Ashcroft Building in Chelmsford

Two-week programme is aimed at people looking to change career direction

Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) has launched a new two-week course to help people looking for a change of career prepare for an undergraduate degree. 

Fresh Start is a short course that teaches the tools for university study such as academic writing, research techniques and critical reasoning.

If they pass Fresh Start, attendees are awarded a place on one of ARU’s undergraduate courses within the Faculty of Business and Law, making them eligible to study a full-time degree, even if they do not have A-Levels or equivalent qualifications.

The only requirements to enrol for Fresh Start are a grade C or above at GCSE English or Mathematics.

Dr Daniel Berger, Deputy Dean for Education at ARU’s Faculty of Business and Law, said:

“Many people are looking for more flexibility to change careers and for some, a Foundation degree does not appeal because of either cost or the length of study.

“This is a short, affordable course that grounds people in the basics for an undergraduate degree, which they can then access immediately. It is a game changer for people with no qualifications at A-Level who may have left school at 16 and gone straight into a profession, who now have an eye on a new path and would benefit from university study.”


The cost of the course is £250, but this can be recouped against the tuition fees for the first year of any undergraduate degree at ARU’s Faculty of Business and Law.

Applications are open for Fresh Start, which begins on 2 November 2020 and will run twice yearly. For more information, visit https://aru.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/fresh-start