University of Aberdeen — Attraction in Aberdeen City

This review concerns the Online Access Course in English – SCQF Level 6 offered by the University of Aberdeen. This course is the only option available in Scotland to meet the English language requirement for postgraduate study—such as the PGDE—when one does not have the required Higher or A-level qualifications. A minimum of a Grade C is required for acceptance into programmes like the PGDE.

While it is helpful that such a pathway exists, the monopoly held by Aberdeen in offering this qualification appears to have led to serious quality issues.

At £500, the course is relatively expensive and not reimbursable by SAAS. That could be acceptable if the course met professional standards—but unfortunately, it does not.

The online learning platform is confusing and difficult to navigate, especially in comparison to the far more intuitive system used by the Open University. The materials—presentations, videos, and documents—appear to have been thrown together without structure or coherence, and do not reflect the standards expected of a top Scottish university.

The email support service is unhelpful and, at times, actively rude, which makes the experience unnecessarily stressful.

The timed exam at the end is another major issue. No clear guidance is provided about how long each section is expected to take, and I was only able to complete half of it within the time limit. I was eventually allowed a second attempt with more time due to my ADHD diagnosis, but only after paying a fee—a policy I found punitive and lacking in sensitivity to disability accommodations.

Even worse, if you fail the second attempt, you are not allowed a third try, nor are you entitled to a refund.

The essay component (which is untimed) was more reasonable. I submitted a well-researched, high-standard piece of work, yet received only a B+, accompanied by vague and unsubstantiated feedback that did not justify the mark given.

In conclusion, while this course technically fulfils a requirement, the quality, support, and value for money fall well short of what one would expect from the University of Aberdeen. I would strongly encourage the university to review and improve both the academic integrity and student support of...

This place is a joke for distance learning. My experience was with an Access course. You are not allowed to message tutors directly; everything must be sent through a universal ID. It would be fine if it didn't take 2 weeks to reply to a simple question or 3 weeks to reply to an urgent one during a submission period. At least they are consistent with ignoring you. Don't worry, however, because when someone does deign to reply, it's got little to nothing to do with what you asked in the first place, so you then wait another random period of weeks to try and get clarification. It's pretty mental.

If you haven't got your fill, however, don't worry! There's more! Diligently submit work to the board for peer review and wait months for no one to even look at it. When asked how you go about setting up the peer review after not one of 3000 odd peers taking the course bothered to chime in, they said 'you have to hope someone does'. Brilliant.

For this course, it's literally just take people's cash and don't lift a finger to help. If you look up a phone number and think you may have found a route through you'll get foiled again with a message saying its not manned and to message the sodding ID!

I don't understand how the standard of literally everything seems to have gotten worse since COVID. Its like organsiations realised just how much they could piss people off by providing ridiculously low levels of service and just think now 'what they gonna do?...if we don't let them speak to anyone they can't...

Worst University of all time , they take money from students but they don't provide the degree and University doesn't have any concerns about students only money. I'm a January intake student ,I took little time to settle in for beginning, I don't know when they did orientation week ,I started my classes as they mentioned on "my timetable" I never missed any class ,so because of 5 year study difference I had no clue about plagiarism in general for my thesis dissertation and no body here helps you understand unless you got convicted then the university says we did everything in orientation week it's you fault you don't understand and forcefully put penalty on student without even knowing their views and get them so much of mental stress as well and I can say from my experience they do not provide any practical knowledge only they provide is mental stress to students and no wonder by their pressure anyone can take drastic decisions. I literally abhor this University if you're planning to get in remember it's not worth it apart from money you can also loose...