A Higher National Certificate (HNC) is a higher education/further education qualification in the United Kingdom.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the HNC is a BTEC qualification awarded by Edexcel, and in Scotland, an HNC is a Higher National awarded by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. The attainment level of the rest is roughly equivalent to one year of university and a Certificate of Higher Education but being less than that of a Higher National Diploma (HND). Studied full-time, the qualification normally takes one year or two years part-time. Many HNCs cover the same areas as an HND and it is often possible to complete an HND with one year full-time study after successfully completing the HNC.
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, an HNC (previously a level 4 qualification) is now Level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework.
In Ireland, an HNC is considered roughly equalivant to a FETAC level 6 Advanced Certificate - as both contain at least 8 modules/units at IRL level 6 (UK level 4)
In Scotland, an HNC is Level 7 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.
Famous quotes containing the words higher, national and/or certificate:
“The fancy that extraterrestrial life is by definition of a higher order than our own is one that soothes all children, and many writers.”
—Joan Didion (b. 1934)
“I, with other Americans, have perhaps unduly resented the stream of criticism of American life ... more particularly have I resented the sneers at Main Street. For I have known that in the cottages that lay behind the street rested the strength of our national character.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“God gave the righteous man a certificate entitling him to food and raiment, but the unrighteous man found a facsimile of the same in God’s coffers, and appropriated it, and obtained food and raiment like the former. It is one of the most extensive systems of counterfeiting that the world has seen.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)