The Respected HND – A Qualification That Really Opens Doors
Young people today are seemingly caught between a rock and a hard place. As the price of a university education has risen to astronomical levels, graduates these days are likely to finish University with $75,000 of debts. The jobs market they will enter is uniformly gloomy, with graduate recruitment flatlining. Companies don’t want to hire, don’t want to pay and are doing little save hanging on for survival.
Industry continues to need smart, hungry people to energise their businesses, but the days of unlimited graduate opportunities have long gone Nowadays, employers are often wondering how they develop the competencies of existing staff.
Obviously, should employees show initiative and ambition by sourcing their own development then that is even more preferable – such gumption is sure to be recognised. With the perception of austere times people are fretful: firstly to remain in a job and secondly to build a career with a genuine future. They are finding they can develop the vocational and business skills they need to do so by studying part-time, frequently online. The choice of many is the Higher National Diploma), a qualification which increasingly seems to ‘tick all the boxes’. Not only do students learn how to think critically and logically, they also get real-world applied skills. A student taking a business HND for example, will gain an all-over understanding of the way the business environment works.
Founded in 1925, the HND deserves its reputation as the primary qualification for technical and first-line managerial staff. There is a widespread understanding among employers of how the HND confers the type of skills and knowledge they can exploit. They are unlikely to look in the same way at a theology degree.
Some have discovered that online HND courses are ideal in terms of flexibility and convenience. The courses are taken in modules via online learning environments such as Moodle, which allow constant tutor support and guidance. Students can study when and where they wish – even on the train – and at their own pace.
The final beauty of an HND is that it can be ‘topped-up’ into a full honours degree. The modules taken usually gain the student exemption from the first two years of a degree. And of course this doesn’t only mean exemption from study, but also from University fees!
The HND is, in short, a qualification tailor-made to the time in which we live.
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