Higher Education

We work closely with the University of Sunderland, Teesside University and the Royal Agricultural University to offer several degree-level programmes.

Many of the programmes are foundation level courses where you complete 1-2 years of study with East Durham College before choosing or not to complete a final year at the university which runs the degree programme.

University of Sunderland Partnership

The following programmes are offered by East Durham College working in partnership with the University of Sunderland. The award that you will receive will be from the University of Sunderland. The courses are run and taught at the College's Peterlee Campus.

• Foundation degree (FdSc) Sports Coaching >>
• Foundation degree (FdSc) Health and Social Care >>
• Foundation degree (FdA) in Counselling >>
• Professional Graduate Certificate (PGPCET) or Certificate in Post Compulsory Education and Training (PCET) >>
• Foundation degree (FdSc) in Animal Management - to start from 2023/24 TBC. More details to follow soon.

Our Foundation Degrees are university-level qualifications in their own right, equivalent to the first two years of an Honours degree. And the great news is that once you’ve got a Foundation Degree, it’s possible to ‘top up’ your qualification to a full Honours degree. This usually involves an extra year studying full-time (or the part-time equivalent) at the University of Sunderland.

East Durham College's Houghall Campus is working in partnership with the University of Sunderland to provide a new FdSc and BSc top up in Animal Management which will hopefully start running from September 2023. You will study at Houghall, in Durham, and the award you will receive will be from the University of Sunderland. Once you have successfully passed the Foundation degree (FdSc) you have the option to top up the Foundation degree to a full honours degree again studying at our Houghall campus in Durham. Once the course is confirmed you will be able to apply of this course via UCAS.

In the meantime, any queries for the FdSc Animal Management course can be made to the course team by contacting either:

Rebecca Sweet (Higher Education Course Leader) MSc, BSc (Hons) rebecca.sweet@eastdurham.ac.uk 

Laura Bamford (Curriculum Manager - Animal) MSc, FHEA, BSc (Hons) laura.bamford@eastdurham.ac.uk 

For more information on the University of Sunderland, please click here to visit their website.

Teesside University Partnership

For those passionate about animal welfare and studying an Animal Science degree, the College has a partnership with Teesside University on their Animal Science & Welfare Degree. 

The degree course takes place primarily at Teesside University's Middlesbrough campus, with further study at East Durham College's Houghall Campus in Durham. The Houghall Farm site, set on a stunning 476-acre estate, minutes from Durham city centre, is a fantastic place to work with animals. A purpose-built small animal care centre was has several specialist facilities including a snake house, lizard house, tortoise house, aquatics, small mammals house and an aviary. There is also a commercial dog grooming studio, 22-bay dog kennel and a dog agility and walking area. The site is also home to horse riding stables, an arena and commercial pig and cattle facilities.

There are two routes available for this course, check out the details on their website:

• BSC (Hons) Animal Science and Welfare (with Foundation Year) >>
• BSC (Hons) Animal Science and Welfare (no Foundation Year) >>

Higher Education Engineering

East Durham College also offers a Level 4 HNC qualification in Engineering, taught at The Technical Academy in Peterlee. Please click the below link for more details:

• HNC (Higher National Certificate) in Engineering (Mechanical Engineering) (Pearson RQF) >>

Higher Education Floristry

The Level 4 Higher Diploma in Floristry, ran at our Houghall Campus in Durham, will suit you if you work as a manager or in another senior role in the floristry industry. You might want to continue your professional development or get the skills to set up your own floristry business. Please click the below link for more details:

• Level 4 Floristry Higher Diploma course >>