Higher Education


With a dedicated Higher Education Gateway Centre, strategic partnerships with the University of Sunderland and the Open University and excellent student support and careers guidance. Bishop Auckland College has the courses to help you move higher.

Why study higher?

There are many benefits to studying a Higher Education course including:

  • Increased career prospects
  • Potential to lead to higher earnings
  • Improved job opportunities

Bishop Auckland College offers Access to Higher Education, Higher National Diplomas (HND) and Foundation Degrees.

Below you can see how a HND in Music helped former student Jordan Caygill to get a career in the film industry.

Click here to view higher education courses.

During your time with us we aim to give you the necessary research and study skills to successfully complete your course, as well as the confidence and self-discipline to help you grow as an independent learner with a lifelong appetite for education.

On average graduates tend to earn more over the course of their lifetime than people without formal university qualifications.

Why study at Bishop Auckland College?

Strong partnerships with local universities
Bishop Auckland College strong links with local universities such as University of Sunderland with whom we work in partnership delivering a range of Higher Education programmes.
Small class sizes and high quality teaching
An advantage of studying in a college environment is the fact that class sizes are significantly reduced, meaning that students receive a high level of academic and personal support from lecturers and personal tutors, many of whom have postgraduate qualifications and extensive teaching and industry experience.
Supportive environment
We provide a high level of support to all our students at the College. Each student is allocated a personal tutor and will receive regular tutorials or one to one meetings, if required. Our Student Support and Additional Learning Needs teams are also available for all our students to access if they need to do so. We want our students to achieve their goals, therefore if one to one support in the classroom.
Modern state-of-the-art facilities
We want our students to learn in the most up-to date environments, helping them enjoy their studies as much as possible. Significant and on-going investment into our facilities helps us to attract new students as well as helping our current students to progress internally.

Below you can see a video of our students graduating at Durham Cathedral.

Click here to view the photos from the graduation ceremony.

How to apply

It’s never too early to apply. Browse our available courses, once you have found a suitable course click the ‘Apply’ button and fill in your details.

Alternatively, get in touch with the college and arrange to talk with a subject specialist by contacting Katy Dixon at Katy.Dixon@bacoll.ac.uk

The College's student admissions policy can be accessed on the footer links below.

Students going to university or college can find out more about Student Finance here

Academic Appeals

The documents linked below detail the process and criteria of academic appeals:

Higher Education Documents

Policies and Procedures