What are Postgraduate Certificates and Diplomas?

Yes this is a blog by a Bachelor's student and primarily focused on undergraduate study, at least currently. But having explained What are Certificates and Diplomas of Higher Education? it would be remiss to not cover the postgraduate equivalents as well.

These operate much the same way. A Postgraduate Certificate (abbreviated PG Cert) is an award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the first third of a Master's degree (60 credits at Level M in the jargon). A Postgraduate Diploma (abbreviated PG Dip) is a similar award that indicates a student has completed and been assessed for study up to the equivalent of the second third of a Master's degree (120 credits at Level M).

(Unlike the undergraduate equivalents, the Postgraduate Certificates and Postgraduate Diplomas sit at the same level as Master's degrees on all the frameworks used in the United Kingdom. They are awards at Level 7 on the Regulated Qualifications Framework used in England and Northern Ireland and the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales or Level 11 on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework.)

And again these function either as shorter qualifications in their own right or intermediate qualifications for students who have yet to complete a full Master's degree.

By far the best known postgraduate non-degree award may also be the most confusing one, namely the Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) for teachers. At present the only one the Open University offers is the Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Wales, only available to students in Wales. A glance at PGCE programmes across multiple universities show they appear to generally require 60 academic credits at Level M, so they do now match the name, but in addition have other requirements, often credits for the practical training element or, as in the OU's case, additional credits at a lower level. There is also the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education (PGDE), most common in Scotland, but this has a less confusing name.

Whereas there are other non-degree awards called certificates or diplomas at undergraduate level, the Open University is very consistent with the naming of its taught postgraduate awards and so everything is either a PG Cert, a PG Dip or a Master's degree.

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