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My daughter has got been accepted onto the MT 16+ course, she had a great time at induction day on Monday but BRIT announced they are no longer running the extended diploma BTEC but will do the UAL from September which was a bit of a shock, Any idea of the differences and whether it provides the same foundation for University? has anyone been able to do an academic degree with UAL qualification?

We went for an open evening last year,my DD isn't applying there and were told then it was changing.

Hi Debbie,
Our local college of FE does UAL for all its creative courses. This is just an anecdote but the drama teacher told us that one of her students got into Warwick to study history after passing her extended diploma; so it's not impossible, although I don't know how representative that is: the girl may have had phenomenally good GCSE's too.
All the subject teachers (performing arts, art, film-making etc.) said the UAL was a better fit for creative courses than the BTEC because it has been specifically designed for arts based subjects: they may have been biased of course!
Having said that, DS's art teacher at his current school was very enthusiastic about the course and said it is a better course than A level art that she offers. I know we're not talking about art courses, my point is that the UAL does have the respect of experienced teachers so it must be doing something right.
I can't imagine that somewhere like the BRIT school would have changed courses without being convinced it was a good idea.
There is a UAL website which gave us lots of information: arts.ac.uk
Hope your DD has a fabulous time at BRIT. Oh to be 16 again!

Thank you that is good news. I called a couple of universities and they did not know about UAL so I will keep trying the ones DD wants to attend! X

My DD has just finished studying UAL Dance course and has really enjoyed It. It gives enough UCAS points to study a degree (although I think like the btec it would only really work for a Performing Arts degree). There was a lot of written work and a lot of self reflection which was mostly done in dd's own time and she was able choose her written projects to specifically help her. For example she completed projects in nutrition and flexibility. It is a practical course though so lots of dancing. I can't compare it to a btec but I think they are very similar although My dd thinks that there is more written work with a btec. The course has really helped my dd improve her stamina and prepare her for studying a 3 year degree or level 6 diploma. People on her course have secured degrees at Urdang, Bird, Millennium, LSC, Chichester and LIPA, so the colleges do accept them. Hope this helps.