ACCREDITATION OF PRIOR LEARNING GUIDELINES FOR MEd. AND MSc. PROGRAMMES
What is APL?
If you have previously studied Higher Education (HE) courses or worked at professional level before embarking on an MEd or MSc programme, we recognise that you bring with you some very important skills and knowledge. The Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) process is a way of formally acknowledging this fact, and instead of unnecessarily repeating work, we may grant you exemptions from your programme, based on your:
- Accredited Prior 'Certified' Learning (AP(C)L): the achievement of learning that has been formally assessed and certificated from previous study with a HE institution
- Accredited Prior ’Experiential' Learning (AP(E)L): the non-certified acquisition of relevant skills and knowledge, gained through relevant experience, which is capable of being evaluated.
You pay just a £25 administration fee for applying for AP(C)L. If you are transferring credits from within the University of Exeter there is no charge for this process.
If your application for AP(E)L is successful, you will be charged 25% of the normal rate per module for each module that has been waived under the AP(E)L process. For example, if the rate is £800per 30 credits it means that for each 30 credit module for which you receive AP(E)L you will pay only £200 Half of this fee, i.e. £100, would be due when you apply for the assessment of AP(E)L. This money is not refundable even if it is felt you have failed to meet the learning outcomes for the module you are seeking to AP(E)L. The remaining £100 is payable when your application to study the programme is accepted.
What are the Restrictions on APL?
The maximum that you can APL is 90 credits for a Masters degree, 60 credits for a Postgraduate Diploma and 30 credits for a Postgraduate Certificate.However, the structure of modules within each programme may also restrict what you can APL.
There are a number of requirements that you have to fulfil in order for previous learning or experience to be suitable for applying for APL:
1)Your learning or experience must have been achieved within the past 5 years.
2)If you want to use courses for AP(C)L that you have taken in the past these must be at an appropriate level compared to the course you want to study at this university. For example, only Masters level modules can count towards modules on the MEd. or MSc. at this university.
3)You cannot use learning from modules for AP(C)L more than once. If you have already used experience gained from modules at another institution for AP(C)L purposes you must have new experiences or new accredited learning to be able to AP(C)L modules here.
4)You must have evidence of your prior learning or experience, for example, for AP(C)L, original certificates for programmes you have studied and in some cases you may be asked to submit pieces of your assessed course work to support an application; for AP(E)L work records provided by your employer showing your experience. If such documentation is not in English you must provide a translation from an academic or professional source.
5)If you have prior relevant learning of an appropriate level you must remember that you are not permitted to reproduce assessed work that has already been submitted at another educational institution of any kind. This includes translations into English of assessed work you have submitted before. Although you are the author of this work, reusing such material in part or fully will be considered as plagiarism.
6)You cannot APL parts of modules. Check the size of the modules on the particular programme you wish to study as you may find that you cannot put all of the credits you would be able to APL to use, because they would only cover parts of a module.
How to Apply for APL
1)You should think about APL at around the same time as you apply for the course. You should apply for the course in the normal way as well, bearing in mind that ultimately you may not be permitted to APL any of the modules.
2)Request the AP(E)L or AP(C)L application form relevant to the programme that you are applying for by contacting . Ensure that you give details of the programme you are applying for and the modules from which you wish to be exempt. Modules are listed on our website:
3)You will be required to evidence the learning you have achieved. In some cases this will be by matching the Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) of the module you wish to bypass with the previous experience or qualifications that you have obtained.
4)Even if you are unable to match all of the ILOs for the module you wish to APL it can be worthwhile applying. If, however, you are unable to match at least two-thirds of the ILOs then it is probably not worthwhile.
5)Remember to include details of how you can be contacted.
6)Once you have completed your applicationpost a copy with any required portfolio of evidenceand a cheque for the fee made payable to the University of Exeter to:
Application for APL for ----- [put the name of the programme you want to study here],
Student Information Office,
Graduate School of Education,
St Luke's Campus,
Heavitree Road,
Exeter,
Devon,
EX1 2LU
7)You should allow at least 20 working days from the date of the receipt of your application for APL for it to be processed.
8)Be prepared to supply additional information and/or originals of documentation if these are asked for.
9)The decision as to which, if any, modules you can APL will be taken by the Programme Director for the programme you wish to study. The process is overseen by the Associate Dean for Education and the Taught Faculty Dean.
10)Once the APL decision has been taken you will be informed of the outcome and the impact on the work that you will have to do. The decision of the Taught Faculty Dean is final. Your application to study the programme will be processed separately.
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