Fiona's story

Fiona has just completed a two year programme in business studies at her local IT. She's gained a certificate but it's hardly a case of congratulations all round. Fiona would like to continue her studies and go into third year to gain a diploma. Unfortunately, she failed to achieve a merit - which would enables her to proceed to the diploma programme - in her exams. "I got a grade point average of about 2.6 and you need an average of 2.75 to go into third year," she explains.

In order to enable more students to proceed to diploma programmes, the institutes have introduced qualifying exams which are taken at the same time as the repeats. If you fail to gain the required merit in your exams you can now take a qualifying exam - in every subject in which you achieved less than a B minus grade. If you do well enough, you can move on to the diploma. Fiona gave up her summer job and returned from abroad to sit the `qualifiers'. "I sat four exams," she recalls. "I got grades of over B minus in two subjects and grades of under B minus in two subjects. But if you add up my marks I've got over 2.75, which was what I needed to get a merit in the certificate exams." In the qualifiers however, you're not allowed a grade point average - you must gain at least a B minus in every subject. Fiona is appealing her case. "It seems a bit inconsistent," she says, "that you're not allowed to total your marks in the qualifying exams." Fiona desperately wants to continue on to third year. "I want to continue my education and get a good job," she says. If she doesn't get through on appeal, her only option is to gain relevant work experience and move into year three at a later stage. It's unlikely though, that she'll take this route. "I've already been offered a job in an accounts department with a starting salary of £11,000, but I want to stay on in education."

She fears that if she takes the job, she'll get used to the money and find herself unable to give it up. "I don't think I could go back to living on £50 a week and combining study with a part-time job," she explains.