Maximize eSignature Lawfulness for Higher Education in United Kingdom

How to eSign a document: eSignature lawfulness for Higher Education in United Kingdom

I'm very pleased to meet you all online. My name  is Stephen Law. I'm going to talk to you for a   little bit now about the online, sorry about the  Certificate of Higher Education. Let me just make   sure everyone is admitted, great. Great okay so  yeah this is an online information session for   your information this event will be recorded and  it will help us if you would make sure that your   cameras and your microphones are switched off. So  if you could do that just click the little camera   and microphone icon in order to make sure the  cameras are switched off if you would like to ask   a question you can use the chatbox function, well  that's what it says here but actually I believe   that there's a Q&A button at the top near or next  to the people button and I think actually will we   use the Q&A button for you to ask questions  at the end and not the chat box function. So during this webinar I'm going to introduce  myself say a little bit about me, then I'm   going to look at details of the course including  how, where and what you can study, then we'll be   looking at benefits of studying with us at Oxford  and then finally I'll look at how to apply. So a little bit about me I have an unusual  background for an academic because actually   I don't have any A Levels. I entered university  as a mature student without A Levels at the age   of 24 having previously been amongst other things  a postman. However once I entered the university   system I basically I've never left, I've been  an academic ever since. I finished my degrees   at City University and University of Oxford  and I'm now finally course director here for   the Certificate of Higher Education. I'm also a  Departmental Lecturer in Philosophy and Director   of Studies for Philosophy so I'm in charge of the  philosophy provision. At the bottom of the screen   there you can see my email address if you want to  email me later on, just make a note of that email   address and you can contact me whenever you like  about anything at all, I'd be happy to respond. So I'm going to give you an overview of the  course now. The key thing about this course   is that it's extremely flexible, you decide  exactly what you want to study, how you study   and where you study. You gain credit by taking  short courses, typically you get 10 credit points   for each short course and you need to build up  120 points over the course as a whole. You study   part-time for between two and four years. Some  people do it in two, most people take longer than   that. You can take up to four years to complete  the certificate. You will be taught at the same   level as the first year of an undergraduate  degree which is otherwise known as level four,   so all of our courses will be level four courses,  and there are no formal entry qualifications   at all – you don't need any kind of prior  qualification. You don't need a degree you don't   need A Levels you don't need anything in order to  apply to do the Certificate of Higher Education. During, as the course progresses during the  course you will gain credit what are known   as CATS points by attending either  weekly classes in Oxford in person,   so that's an option if you are living  in Oxford or reasonably near Oxford,   you can also attend them online. We also  have short flexible online courses that   are asynchronous so you can log on and do the  course at any time to suit you. We also have   the Oxford University Summer School for Adults,  you can take a one week course the summer school   runs for five weeks and you can take a one week  course and that too will gain you 10 CATS points. In your first year you'll take an introductory  course in your main subject area, so you'll choose   a main subject area and there will be a mandatory  course that you need to take in that area and   you'll get 10 CATS points for taking that course  and we do also require that everyone does an   academic literacy course which is an online course  and which everyone seems to benefit from a you   know a great deal, even people that have degrees  and so on find that they do benefit a great deal   by taking our academic literacy course which  helps you, you know, acquire and hone the basic   skills that you're going to need to study, you  know how to reference an article, how to produce   use a bibliography, how to structure your essay  or assignment and so on. Other than that though   you choose which courses you want to do. So you  have to do the introductory mandatory introductory   course, you have to do the academic literacy  course, but otherwise you choose the rest. You   can choose to study mainly online, almost entirely  online, but there is a face-to-face requirement   so of the 120 CATS points you need to accumulate  over the two to four years you need to acquire 10,   that's to say one course, 10 CATS points  by attending face to face in-person,   that's to say you have to come to Oxford and that  could be in the form of an in-person weekly class   spread over 10 weeks but if you're not based in  the UK by far the most convenient way of meeting   this face-to-face requirement is to attend the  Oxford University Summer School for Adults which   as I say runs for five weeks over the summer. You  can attend a one-week course and that would tick   the box of you, you will have met the face to-face  requirement. It's also possible to import these   credit points from short courses that you have  already completed with us. So if you're interested   now in the CertHE because you've previously taken  some of our courses and have acquired CATS points,   well you can import some of those CATS points,  up to 30, into the CertHE so that means that   you don't have to get 120 CATS points you need  only acquire 90 CATS points during the course. These are the main subject areas, so we have  archaeology, art history, architectural history,   English literature, creative writing, history,  philosophy and political economy. You will choose   one of those main subject areas and you will do  six to eight courses in your main subject area,   and that would include the mandatory  core introductory course. So 60 to 80   of the 120 CATS points you will acquire by  taking courses in your main subject area. But, you are required to obtain a further 30  to 50 CATS points completing courses that lie   outside of your main subject area. It could be  just one other area that you choose to explore,   maybe you're doing philosophy and you decide  that you want to do a little bit of architectural   history as well that would would be fine, or  you can you can sample several different subject   areas outside of your main subject area, it's  entirely up to you. You have a very wide range   of subjects to choose from, not just the eight  subjects that we've just looked at for example,   there is there are all sorts of courses on  offer from from courses in science, to music,   modern languages and so on. The programme  is designed in this way specifically to   encourage a breadth of study so that you're not  just locked into one particular subject box. The assessment is in two parts essentially, you  will do courses, modules, and you will need to   pass those by writing typically by writing an  assignment that's set for you and those are   pass fail – you need only pass the coursework  requirement for the particular modules that you   have chosen. You will also though write three  additional written assignments and these I   think are what make this particular certificate  programme unique and special. So you will get to   work with an assessor, a subject specialist, who  will help you, guide you, in writing your three   additional assignments. These come due as you hit  certain credit milestones, so 70 points your first   assignment comes due, 100 CATS points your second  assignment comes due, and then 120 CATS points   your third assignment comes due and you will work  with your assessor to prepare your assignment,   and those three additional assignments are  given in a numerical grade and that numerical   grade then does carry over to your final award  mark and it will determine whether you might   get a merit or a distinction for example. The  modules on the other hand are simply pass fail,   and you need only pass them. There are no  written examinations at the end of the course. Is this course going to be right for you? Well,  first of all, as I've already pointed out,   you don't need any formal academic qualifications  in order to enrol on the Certificate of Higher   Education, but of course you do need to  meet certain criteria. We are looking   for people who have a real genuine interest  in the subject area that they have proposed   to specialise in. And you do need to make  time available over the two to four years,   and you do need to be motivated enough to  complete within those two to four years.   So we need to ensure, we need to check that,  you know, you're fully aware of what it is   that you're taking on and that you'll have  the time and the resources to successfully   complete. But as I say it's up to you exactly  how intensively you wish to study, you can take   up to four years or some people choose to do  it in just two years that is a possibility. You will be able to demonstrate your ability  to study at university level by completing the   Certificate of Higher Education. You will have  successfully completed what is in equivalent,   what it is what is in equivalent sorry excuse me,  what is in effect a first year of undergraduate   study and this could help you in various ways. It  might help you with career progression or career   change perhaps, it can in, in some circumstances,  be used as the first step towards perhaps taking   a full degree in your chosen subject area and it  certainly can help raise your confidence and it   gives you a goal that you can aim towards so that  you have a structured programme in front of you,   you work your way through that. If you've already  taken some of our courses then you'll understand   the attraction of the particular courses but  this will be a structured programme that will   include working with a supervisor or assessor  to complete your three additional assignments. There are some pretty impressive benefits  to signing up with the CertHE one is that   you get a university card like like any  other student of the University of Oxford,   which will give you access to all of the libraries  of the University, Bodleian Libraries. You will   be able to physically go in those libraries if  you are here present here or you can access them   online and you will be taught how to access the  resources that are available in these libraries   online. You will also have the opportunity,  if you wish, to attend an award ceremony once   you've successfully completed the CertHE. There's  an award ceremony to which you will be invited,   you can physically come to Oxford and receive your  award in person from me and the University in the   very grand, indeed iconic, Sheldonian Theater.  If you wish to apply, this is what you need to   do. We're looking for a 400 word written statement  that sets out why you wish to choose your chosen   main subject area, why that's the the thing  for which you have a passion. We are looking   for a short piece of written work around about  1,000 words, perhaps a little bit less than that,   that is relevant to your main subject area. If  you go to the web page for the CertHE you can   get a lot more information on exactly what it is  that we're looking for particularly when it comes   to that piece of written work. And then if English  is not your first language we would require proof   of English language ability. And then finally  we will need contact details for one referee,   that could be an academic referee but it  doesn't have to be it could be somebody,   an employer for example or someone else  that's in a position to comment on your   suitability. It does not have to be a university  academic or anything like that. So those are the   things that you need to provide us if you apply.  There's a lot more information available on our   website if you go to .conted.ox.ac.uk/certhe  you'll find there's lots of information there. You may also want to email the administrator  Christina at certhe@conted.ox.ac.uk although   bear in mind that she's often very busy and it may  take her a day or two at least to get back to you.   Or you can email me, Stephen.Law@conted.ox.ac.uk,  I'll be happy to respond to any emails. There are   some application deadlines that I can tell you  about, well the first deadline is the 15th of   February 2024 and we would encourage you to apply  by that first deadline if you can however there   is a second deadline of the 2nd of May 2024 if  you don't get your application in by the 15th   of February then it will carry over to the 2nd  of May deadline. If you apply and we like the   look of your application you will be interviewed  by myself and a subject area specialist in which   case I look forward to meeting you online for  an interview. Thank you very much for listening,   I hope that's been useful and what I'm going  to do now is I'm going to encourage you to ask   any questions. I'm sure you some of you have  questions. I suggested a minute ago that you   go to the Q&A button, in your screen there you  should see, especially if you make it big enough,   you'll see that it says chat, Q&A, people. If  you hit the Q&A button then on the right hand   side you will be able to type your questions in  and I can attempt to answer your questions and   Christina will also be able to provide answers and  information too. So I can see that I already have   some questions there so let me go through them. So  I think it's Charles, what is the timeline once we   submit our application? Well as I say there are  two deadlines 15th of February and the 2nd of   May. You will then be contacted about an interview  if we think your application looks up to scratch   and there will be a an interview and then after  the interview will you will hear from us within   a few weeks typically I think three weeks is  what we say. So that's roughly the timeline.   Somebody's just asked do I suggest any preparatory  courses? Yes you could certainly sign up now and   do a course in your main subject area for example  and if you sign up for credit you can then import   the credit into the CertHE so that will mean  that's a little bit less that you need to do   whilst you're actually registered on the CertHE.  Let me scroll down a little bit, any financial   aid? I'm not in a position to comment on that,  Christina might wish to say a little bit about   that there is some aid possible, I don't know if  Christina wants to type in an answer if we can   do that here or whether you want to comment  Christina? Sure I will comment it's easier,   if you go onto our main website the CertHE page  and scroll, you have to scroll all the way down to   the bottom, we have links embedded on the website  that will take you to student support and if you   need financial aid there are bursaries available.  We have people that are on student finance England   or if you're from America we have some people with  Fannie Mae and some other student loan things. We   also do, and this is for UK residents only, a  concessionary fee for 50% off each individual   course which can help as well. But scroll down to  the bottom of our web page and you can find the   links and I'm happy to send them to you as well.  Great thanks Christine. Stephanie Anne Foster asks   is there a limit to the number of CATS points  we can import from modules completed before we   officially begin the programme? The answer is yes,  you can import up to 30 or three courses worth   of CATS points if they've been taken within the  preceding four years okay. So if it's like courses   you took 10 years ago unfortunately they're  not going to count, but if you've taken three   courses for credit within the last four years,  or the four years preceding your registration,   those 30 CATS points can be imported and  those can be courses in any subject area   not necessarily your core subject area. Ashilina  has asked me a question here, how competitive   is it to get into? Well it is it is competitive  but it's not that competitive. I would strongly,   you know if this is something that you are  passionate about, subject area is something you're   passionate about, and you feel that you have  the the time and the motivation then, you know,   do please apply because that's exactly what we're  looking for – people that have a passion and they   have the motivation and we will be looking very  sympathetically at your application if that's the   case. More importantly would I struggle with  transfer of credit into a good university for   an undergraduate degree once I have completed  this certificate? This is a complicated issue,   there isn't really a way of importing the first  year equivalent that you will have completed by   taking the CertHE into most undergraduate degree  programmes but there are some that will allow you   to do that, I think Leicester University have, for  some students this is not automatic, but for some   students I think they have successfully started  at year two as a result of having taken the CertHE   previously. But this is pretty non-standard  and we certainly can't make any promises or   guarantees about what other institutions might  wish to do, so yeah. What it is though, the   CertHE is extremely good preparation for a degree  programme and if you have successfully completed   a CertHE it will be very clear that you're  perfectly capable of successfully completing   a full degree programme and so you can demonstrate  your ability and your determination and motivation   by taking the CertHE first. To what extent do  we get faculty support? There's a great deal   of support. There is the support provided by the  admin people who will be constantly, each term,   telling you exactly what you've completed and what  you need to do next. You get regular reminders   about how many CATS points you've acquired, when  you're going to hit your first credit milestone,   what you then need to do, and so on so there's  that kind of support being provided. There is the   academic literacy course which is going to provide  you with support as far as acquiring the kind of   academic and intellectual skills that you're going  to need to successfully complete. There are other   forms of support available that are available  to all Oxford University students in terms of   challenges that you might have, that might need to  meet, there are all sorts of all sorts of support   services available to you. And then there's the  support provided by the academics, the academic   staff. In particular the key person for you would  be your assessor as they're known, it's a bit of   a misnomer assessor because really they're your  supervisor, they will be helping you, guiding you,   when it comes to those three assignments. I've got  a question answered good, what are the reference   requirements? Nothing specific other than we would  like to see a reference from someone that can   talk about your passion for the subject and your  motivation and your perhaps your organisational   abilities and whatever other abilities and so on  would be relevant. Perhaps talk a little bit about   your experience and why that might be helpful,  so that you know there's no there's no rule about   exactly what needs to be in a reference other than  the person needs to be saying something about your   suitability for the particular course and as I say  it does not have to be an academic that provides   the reference it could be an employer, that would  be fine. Can I use existing credits from previous   short courses asks Jane Vas? Yes you can, you can  import as I mentioned up to 30 CATS point from   courses taken within the preceding four years if  those are level four courses. Okay is there an age   limit? No, no we'll take you, can be 100 and sign  up for the CertHE but as I say if you are under   18 then we would need to look at your application  carefully and think about safeguarding some other   issues but we we have students that are younger.  Do you suggest any preparatory courses? Yeah I   think I answered this already, yeah why not take  a course in your preferred subject area and then   if you like it that'll uh be 10 CATS points that  you can import straight away into your CertHE. If   I'm doing a short course starting in January how  will those credit points be transferred if the   deadline is 15th of February? They're transferred  once you are accepted once the call starts in   September that's when they would be transferred  over, so you would have successfully completed by   September obviously and then we will import those  CATS points. How does the tutorial system online   compare to in person? Well in many cases people  will see their supervisor or assessor online only   because they're not based in the in the UK however  even if you're not based in the UK you might   arrange to see your supervisor in person whilst  you're attending a summer school for example. So   that has happened in the past, somebody comes  here for a week to tick that face-to-face box   they're at a summer school, if your assessor  is based, and not all of them are, but if your   assessor is based in Oxford then you could meet  your assessor face to face at that point. But   usually for the most part assessors are people  that you meet with online, sometimes face to face,   but usually online and you have the opportunity  to meet them for 30 minutes to discuss your work,   to make plans, to think about reading lists.  You decide what exactly what it is that you're   going to work on and research and produce your  assignment. You are not simply set a question   and expected to answer it. You work with the  assessor to hone a question or a topic and you,   you know that's something you come to an agreement  about and then you start work. Personal tutor is   allocated similar to assessor but before 70 CATS  points are reached? You don't have a personal   tutor separate from your assessor, your assessor  basically is your personal tutor. We encourage   people to make contact with their tutors, or  their assessors, fairly early on actually before   the first credit milestone of 70 CATS points  is reached. You can reach out to them you,   can say hello, you can have a chat online have a  meeting with them. If you need guidance, you know   that by all means go to them. That's what they are  there for, they're there to provide you with some   guidance. You can also come to me as the Director  of the CertHE at any point and I'll be more than   happy to have a chat with you about your progress,  about possibly you've decided that you wish to   you've started, you started you signed up for  philosophy say and then you decided that you don't   want to do philosophy as your main subject you  want to do architectural history – that's okay,   you're allowed to do that so you know make contact  with us, have a conversation with us, and we can   make those kind of changes. The introductory  courses, ah yes, the introductory course is   the best one to take says Christina in terms of  taking one before you apply for certification. I have some online courses that I was not able to  complete for medical reasons but was successful   at OUSSA, do those count against me? No of  course not, no. You might wish to explain in   your application exactly what the situation was  and we will certainly bear that in mind but no,   that does not count against you if there was  some medical reason of course not. What if any   possible referees aren't proficient in English?  Well we would need to see a reference in English   so you would need to ensure that they could have  it translated into English for us because we don't   have the facility for translating in that way, so  please could you do that. Can I apply for both the   Undergraduate Certificate of Higher Education and  the English Undergraduate Certificate? You can do   that, you can apply for both but you can't  do both simultaneously. You're not allowed   to pursue two of these courses simultaneously.  Is the transfer of CATS strictly limited to 30   points? I am afraid it is. Han would like to  ask about proof of English language ability,   are there exemption situations? I'm currently  studying law second year am I eligible to get   an English exemption? I would have to go away and  check. Check the CertHE page because there is a   whole section specifically on that which I don't  have to hand. I'm sorry Dr Law, Han if your course   is in English you can get a waiver, an English  language waiver, that's all explained on the   website on the University website that you could  go on to and look but I do want to say that if   you are currently in a full-time university course  we cannot accept you. How long are completed short   courses valid for applying? Is the question in  terms of importing CATS points? They must be taken   within four years of being accepted. Yup, okay, so  if you took the course 5 years ago unfortunately   you can't import the CATS points, but up to four  years before registration those CATS points can   be imported, up to 30 of them. May I do all of  the certification in a year? No you may not,   you have to take at least two years. I don't think  it would be possible to complete it in a year but   in any case you're not permitted to do that you  have to take at least two years. Can the CertHE   generally be used to apply for undergraduate  entry to other universities or is it mostly   limited to Oxford and OU (Open University)? Yeah  you can, I mean you can use it in, you know,   as evidence of your ability to work successfully  at undergraduate level in any application to any   university and I think that it would be, would be  very, you know, it would stand you in good stead,   it would demonstrate your academic ability,  your passion for the subject, your motivation,   your organizational skills and so on. So you  can use it in that way as I as I mentioned   earlier. Is it open to graduates or should  we be looking at postgraduate programmes for   continuing education? Yes it's certainly open  to graduates and we have, well so some people   will have graduated in one subject perhaps and  then occasionally later on in life they suddenly   realise that they have a passion for some other  subject area in which they do not have a degree.   We have a lot of people on CertHE that are  in that position and so they are graduates   but the CertHE is perfect for them. We also have  people who do the CertHE in a particular subject   area despite having a degree in that subject  area but that would be unusual and you probably   would want to look at a postgraduate programme  if you already have a degree in that specific   subject area. Is it possible to get an exemption  from the academic practice, or I guess literacy,   module? I already have a PhD so I think I'm fairly  familiar with academic practice. The answer is no,   you have to do the academic literacy course but,  I have to say, we have people who have PhDs that   have done the academic literacy course and have  said that they were very glad that they did it,   they gained a great deal from it so you might  think well I couldn't possibly learn anything   from an academic literacy course given that I'm so  far progressed within academia but even, you know,   even people that are very senior have commented on  just how useful the academic literacy course is,   so I think it's a good idea to do it and in  any case it is a requirement. Let me just   check I haven't missed somebody out, oh how many  applicants per place on average? Off the top of   my head I couldn't say, but we are able to place  a good number of applicants, a decent percentage.   Can the 1,000 word short piece be an essay written  for a previous course or does it have to be new?   No, it can be something that you've written for  a previous course. It could be something that   you've written for a previous course that you've  taken with us even, that would be okay. It can   be an article written for a newspaper too that  would be fine also, it could be something that   you've previously published. I know we have to pay  for individual courses but does the £1,600 have   to be paid every year? Every year, yes that is  correct, every year, Christina has confirmed that   also. Is it possible to receive a reference from  a tutor of a previously taken course. Yes it is,   the only wrinkle is that if it's a course in the  subject area for which you are applying and the   referee is the assessor then you're, then there's  a problem because the assessor will be making a   judgment about whether or not to accept you but  they will also be your referee so there's a kind   of, we're not allowed to then use their reference,  but otherwise there's no problem. We have many   students using tutors, our tutors, as referees  you can do that that's not a problem generally. What is included in the £1,600? Not the not  the courses but everything else. The assessors,   the administrative support everything,  else but not the specific courses those   are paid for separately. Is it possible  to pay for the first year in some sort of   financial agreement before next September  over the year and for those payments to be   ongoing for year two? Christina has said  yes we do have a payment plan available. I'm interested in political economies  are, can I just jump in there? Yeah,   of course sure. For the payments you can't prepay  if that's what, I might have misread that. But you   cannot prepay for the certificate, we will send  you an invoice with specific directions on it that   tell you how to pay and you contact our finance  department and they can work out a three to five   payment plan. Yeah great, thanks. I'm interested  in political economy as a main area of the subject   which one would you suggest to start with? Well  any course in political economy would be probably   be suitable but the introductory course would be  a very obvious place to start so take a look at   that. Are interviews generally focused on our  knowledge and interest in the subject we are   specifically applying to study? Yeah we will be  asking you about that specific area and we will   be looking at the short piece that you have  submitted and asking you some questions about   that typically as well as about your background  and your interest and so on. So it would be the   main subject area that would be the focus of the  interview so far as academic content is concerned,   yeah that's right. Can you get 10 CATS points  for each summer school you attend, for example   if you took the summer school, oh dear I can't  quite read that it's just underneath something,   each year for four years? You can yeah, you can  take CATS points from more than one summer school   but there is a limit and I can't remember off the  top of my head what it is but I think it might be   three. You don't remember do you Christina? I  thought it was two but we can check that out   and get a definitive answer. Yeah more than one  but we can't remember whether it's two or three. Does the depart, Jose sorry says, asks does  the departmental fee remission scheme apply   to all the courses you will be taking it  in the academic year or is it similar to   departmental concessionary fee scheme  that is limited to three courses per   academic year? It's limited to the three  courses. Thanks. I've signed up and paid   for the academic literacy course January to  April and critical reading April to June,   will I still have to pay the full course fee for  the Certificate of Higher Education? Yeah you   still pay the course fee because these courses are  charged independently. Oh hang on though, no wait academic literacy is included in the  course fee isn't it Christina? It is. It is but there is no, we don't reimburse for   academic literacy. Okay, so  the answer is yes you will. Can undergraduates at another  university full-time take the   summer short courses? Well yeah you can  take the summer short courses of course,   you just can't be enrolled on the CertHE if  I've understood your question. If a student   decides to do a semester for 10 weeks does  the university help with accommodation? I think the answer is typically no, the  department isn't in a position to offer   accommodation certainly not for free, however  I mean, this is true that the department has   accommodation which it makes available  booking.com I believe and so potentially   you could pay for even accommodation within  the department but I think that would be   prohibitively expensive for very many people. I  don't believe they allow 10 weeks at a time, no,   okay, within our department however we do have  had people in the past who have come and done   a Airbnb or rented student accommodation but we  do not, that's not part of what, we cannot help   you with that. No I was just wondering if,  because I know that, you know, because I was   surprised to see that you can actually book our  accommodation online through booking.com but 10   weeks maybe that's just impossible in any case and  yeah Airbnb would be would be a much better bet. Is the introductory course included in the  £1,600? I don't believe it is, is it? No. No   but the academic literacy course is. It is yeah.  Can you book the university accommodation for   summer school? Yeah well the department, yeah the  department has accommodation available for summer   school students and very many of the students  that come to take a one week-summer school stay   stay with us, they're physically present in the  building. Can we join the Oxford Student Union? I   believe you can. Do you know about that Christina?  I mean I believe you can I'd have to find the   specific information. Yeah, I mean. You would not  be full, you would not be a full member as you are   a part-time student. Can you take multiple summer  one-week courses to count towards the 120 credits,   like take two back to back and receive 20  credits for that summer? Yes you can do that,   Christina thinks that you're capped at 20, I can't  remember I thought it was 30, she's probably right   though it's probably 20. So you can take more than  one summer school and you can do them in the same   summer yeah so come to Oxford for two weeks do  two courses acquire 20 CATS points that's fine.   You could actually take as many summer courses  as you want but we'd only be able to bring over   a certain amount of CATS points. Yeah, exactly.  Might you speak to the benefits of completing   the certificate rather than completing 12  modules about which are passionate? I'm an   overseas student so that's a lot of money. No I  understand okay yeah. What are the best arguments   for paying the extra money? I would say that you  are getting a programme of study that includes   one-to-one tutorial support with an expert in the  subject area, so it is much more of a kind of an   Oxbridge style experience because you do have that  one-to-one contact with a subject area specialist   and you do then work on your three assignments,  research assignments, assignments with them.   That is perhaps the most important thing that you  get if you enroll on the CertHE and then you come   away with a numerical grade from each of those  assignments which then gives you a numerical   grade for the certificate. So you could get a a  merit or a distinction, whereas the individual   courses are simply past fail. What is the cost  for each module? It varies, if you go online and   look at some of the modules you can see the costs  there. Typically around about £340 per module. Summer schools are going to be more expensive  particularly if you have accommodation involved.   How long does each module take to complete?  Typically 10 weeks but if it was a summer school   then it's one week obviously, it's much more  intensive, but typically 10 weeks. Is the £1,600   admin fee chargeable every year? Yes it is, yeah  so if you do it in two years you pay that twice if   you do it in four years you pay it four times. How  many courses in each field are typically available   online each semester? It varies from course area  to course area but if you go, if you go on the   website you can see just how many there are in any  any subject area. Okay in terms of volume of work,   how many hours on average do students have to set  aside? Okay well it depends on you know how fast   you're going how many courses you're doing. We  recommend that you start gently and then you can   accelerate if you wish. A module is thought to  be 100 hours, 10 hours a week work roughly but   there are students that put in a lot more work  than that as well as some students that put   in a bit less than that but that's roughly  the ballpark figure, 100 hours per module. I'm looking at more questions but these all seem   to be ones I've answered so I've got  a feeling we've answered most of them,   so thank you very much for attending this session  I hope it was helpful. If you have questions,   further questions, email me and I will  I'll get back to you so don't forget it's Stephen.Law@conted.ox.ac.uk Email me and I'll get back to you if you  have further questions, don't be shy I'm   happy to receive email questions okay. Great  to hear from you all and hopefully we will one   day meet in person. Everyone that does the CertHE  will be doing a one-to-one sort of a face-to-face   course and if you're in the States or Australia  and you come over for a summer school I will   be there and I will meet you face to face, so  if you are enrolled hopefully I'll be meeting   great many of you in the future. Nice to see  you today, thank you very much for this and   for attending and goodbye and hopefully you'll  be in touch. Feel free to email. Thanks a lot.