We accept many titles from the Access to Higher Education award for entry to our courses.

We understand that due to the nature of this award, there may be variations in the titles compared to what we request in the ‘typical offer’ section of our course finder. We require Access to Higher Education awards to be in a relevant subject field, but where you see the phrase ‘or similar titles’ we are acknowledging the variation in exact title of the award.

The Access to Higher Education titles we accept are grouped in the course finder in the following way:

1. Sciences, Biomedical/Medical/Health Sciences or Psychology (or similar titles)
2. Engineering, Science or Computing (or similar titles)
3. Humanities, Social Sciences, Law or History (or similar titles)
4. Business, Humanities, Social Sciences, Education, Psychology, Law or History (or similar titles)

This is not an exhaustive list, and there are some additional subjects we accept for specific courses, but the above grouping should help to guide you towards courses that your Access to Higher Education award is suitable for.

When you apply, we will need to know the exact name of your award, which modules you are taking at Level 2 and Level 3, and which modules are graded. The easiest way for us to see this information is if you can upload a transcript with your UCAS application. It is also helpful to list the awarding body; if you are unsure about this, please check with your college.

Subject-specific requirements

For our courses with subject-specific requirements, we will ask for a specific number of modules at a particular grade, usually at least 12 credits in a subject.

We will make our offers on the understanding that you will be able to complete the required number of subject-specific units required, based on the information provided in your application form. If you will not be able to meet the number of subject specific units listed in your offer, please contact us for guidance.

To meet a subject requirement for Physics, your Access units should include any of the following subjects:

• Waves/electromagnetism
• Optics/light
• Forces/mechanics/kinematics/motion
• Properties of materials/thermal physics
• Work and energy
• Thermal physics/thermodynamics/heat
• Fields
• Practical physics/measurements and errors.

To meet a subject requirement for Chemistry, your Access units should include any of the following subjects:

• Acid-base equilibria, pH and buffer solutions
• Atomic structure
• Chemical bonding
• Chemical energetics (enthalpy)
• Organic chemistry
• Periodicity
• Physical chemistry
• Rates of reaction (kinetics)
• Redox systems and electrochemistry
• Transition metals.

We will also accept additional qualifications to meet subject-specific criteria. Qualifications we consider to be suitable to be combined with Access to Higher Education are:

• A levels
• IB certificates
• Scottish Advanced Highers
• Cambridge Pre-U.

Further support

For further support with your application to the University of Bristol relating to the Access to Higher Education qualification, you can contact the Mature Students team on mature-students@bristol.ac.uk