Everything You Want to Know about the Institutional Accreditation of the University of London, the Academic Partner Goldsmiths, as Well as Private Professional Certification of the Degree Programme Itself (with Many Sources and Links)

Hello /r/UniversityOfLondon!

Summary: Yes, the University of London and this degree in particular are accredited. Read on for details.

Lately I’ve been seeing some questions about the institutional accreditation of the University of London. These questions are typically either about the accreditation of the University of London itself, the academic partner Goldsmiths, University of London, or even specifically about the University of London’s Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science Distance-Learning Programme (with Academic Direction from Goldsmiths, University of London). Phew! Those were a lot of words!

It is important to ask these questions about accreditation and legitimacy when applying for any institution of higher education - and I understand that there are further doubts and insecurities when it comes to something as novel as an entirely-online degree programme. I think it is right that prospective applicants are to be skeptical. I hope that this post will provide some much-needed information on the accreditation of the University of London (and it’s partner institution Goldsmiths College, University of London) - and that prospective applicants are better empowered to make the right decisions with this knowledge.

Keep in mind that in the following sections, when I talk about the University of London, I specifically mean the University of London as a institution which provides distance learning programmes. I am not talking about the Federal University of London, which is composed of many member institutions. This entire post is strictly about the University of London as the provider of distance-learning programmes.

Background Information on Educational Accreditation in the United Kingdom

First and foremost, it is important to know that there are significant differences in how educational accreditation works in the United Kingdom, versus a country like the U.S. In the United States, higher educational institutions are typically accreditation by various private state or national bodies. These bodies are typically private organisations or associations, and any given university or college is typically accredited by a handful of them.

In contrast, educational accreditation is entirely centralised in the U.K. By law, all higher educational institutions in the United Kingdom are regulated by the Higher Education and Research Act of 2017, which itself is an extension of the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992.

The legitimacy and degree-awarding power of any higher educational institution extends from these acts, and the very fact that a higher educational institution is called as such means that it is legitimate. As per Part 1, Section 3 of the Higher Education and Research Act of 2017 (see link for actual text), the act establishes an Office for Students which maintains a registrar of English higher educational providers.

Furthermore, the U.K. makes a distinction between recognised bodies which are allowed to award their own degrees, versus listed bodies. Listed bodies are institutions which cannot award a degree themselves, but offer degree programmes which are awarded by a recognised body. For example, the Leeds College of Arts is a listed body, which does not award degrees under their own name, but rather provides programmes which award degrees under the University of Leeds itself, a recognised body.

Finally, the U.K. makes the term “University” a protected category, and only specific institutions are allowed to call themselves universities. A UK university is only allowed to call themselves such through an act of law (see page 1, paragraph 9). Older universities are granted their status through a Royal Charter, while newer ones were granted via an Act of parliament. No other institution may call or market themselves as a ‘University’.

There are further details still, such as the role of non-governmental organisations like the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) – but the above overview is sufficient for our level of inquiry.

Is the University of London, the awarding body of the Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science programme accredited?

Yes. The University of London is specifically a recognised institution of higher education that is empowered to award Research Degrees, as a University founded by Royal Charter

You may find the source at the official gov.uk website, under section L (for London) of the article entitled Check if a university or college is offically recognised.

Recall that the recognition and legitimacy of a U.K. institution for Higher Education derives from the Higher Education and Research Act of 2017. Further recall that said act stipulates the creation of an Office for Students, which contains a central register of all recognised and listed insitutions. You may verify the presence of the University of London as a recognised institution of higher education at the official website of the Office for Students. Download the spreadsheet of the Official Register (here’s a direct link), and you may verify the presence of the University of London on such a list.

Further note that the U.K. law recognises three levels of awarding power when it comes to recognised institutions of higher education, as summarised in page 2, table 1 of the above Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education report. Cross-verify with the official spreadsheet register of the Office for Students, and observe that the University of London is specifically empowered to reward Research Degrees, which encompasses levels of achievement from bachelor’s up to doctoral degrees.

Finally, note that the official spreadsheet register of the Office for Students denote the University of London as a provider which has the right to use the title of ‘University’, and that said right was granted via Royal Charter, on 1836.

As a ultimate confirmation, observe that said 1863 Royal Charter has been affirmed by a Act of Parliament, the University of London Act 2018. Note that said Act of Parliament has received Royal Assent from the British Crown.

Is Goldsmiths, University of London, the provider of academic direction accredited?

Yes. Goldsmiths, University of London is specifically a recognised institution of higher education that is empowered to award Research Degrees

You may find the source at the official gov.uk website, under section G of the article entitled Check if a university or college is offically recognised.

You may likewise verify the presence of Goldsmiths, University of London as a recognised institution of higher education at the official website of the Office for Students. Download the spreadsheet of the Official Register (here’s a direct link), and you may verify the presence of Goldsmiths, University of London on such a list.

Likewise note that Goldsmiths is empowered to award Research Degrees, which encompasses levels of achievement from bachelor’s up to doctoral degrees.

But wait, is the specific University of London Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science degree programme accredited?

Why, thank you for asking this question! This is probably the source of the confusion which surrounds the accreditation for this degree. Many technical fields such as Engineering will include additional private certification, typically awarded by a industrial body or private technical society. Computer Science is no exception.

In the U.K, many (but not all) degrees in Computer Science and IT have an additional accreditation from the British Computing Society, a private professional body for computing. As of the time of this writing (July 2020), the University of London’s Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science is not independently accreditation by the British Computing Society.

The reason that the University of London’s BSc in Computer Science is not accredited by the British Computing Society is very simple. There has been no graduates of this programme yet. This BSc in Computer Science, like it’s on-campus counterpart in Goldsmiths College – simply is not old enough to have any graduates.

As per the 50-page accreditation guidelines of the British Computer Society, in order for a Higher Educational Institution to be eligible for consideration of accreditation, they must at least have one graduate cohort. If you take a look at the list of criterias and subjects of evaluation, you can see that the accreditation process inspects the achievement of graduated students at multiple stages. A programme that has yet to have any graduates simply is not able to be accredited by the British Computing Society, due to mundane logistical reasons.

Furthermore, note that the British Computing Society typically visits Universities and higher Education providers every five years for the accreditation process, and even once the first cohort at the University of London’s BSc has graduated, it will likely still be a couple of years until the British Computing Society will get around to the accreditation process.

Simply put, there is no malicious reason why this degree programme is not Accredited by the British Computing Society. It simply isn’t eligible yet. If you observe the different, but analogous Bachelor’s of Science in Accounting and Finance degree offered by the University of London, you can see that this much older degree indeed has accreditation by various U.K. professional bodies (page 4 of programme specifications).

Hence, independent accreditation of the Computer Science BSc by the British Computing Society is most likely a matter of time.

What if I really need to be recognised by the British Computing Society?

That’s okay! You can simply pursue an independent certification from the British Computing Society as a private IT professional. They offer many certifications, including in fields such as AI or Information Security. This is just as legitimate as a qualification as having one’s degree accredited right out of the box.

In fact, the only ‘major’ benefit offered by an independent accreditation from the British Computing Society, is a free 1-year membership in the BCS for new graduates. You can simply apply for a membership in the BCS independently.

Conclusion

Distance-learning education is fairly novel, and it is very reasonable for someone to be skeptical of the value or legitimacy of a distance-learning degree like that at the University of London. It’s important for all students to do their due diligence and research, before committing to any programme. I hope that with the above information and sources, prospective students will be more empowered to make the right decisions for their own education.

Finally, please let me know if there is anything I have missed in this research. In particular, feel free to correct me if I have been mistaken in any way. I will endeavour to update this post to the best of my knowledge.

If you guys have any further questions about this programme, or even just life as a distance-learning student in general - feel free to join us at the unofficial Discord Server! Thank you, and take care :)

Sincerely,

/u/Yangchenghu

REPL

The Learning Hub for UoL's Online CS Students