Omar gained a degree and a better job in just a year after his qualifications from a further education college were given credits by a university.

Omar enjoyed his work as an administrative assistant at a firm making packaging materials. "I really did like the job. They exported stuff all over Europe and from day one I got involved in making up the orders. I wanted to get promotion, but I knew I needed more than the Standard Grades I got at school.

"The problem was I wasn't sure if I was up to doing a university degree. I'd not done any studying since I left school and I thought a degree was just going to be too hard.

"Then I saw a leaflet for a further education college saying they did Higher National courses in Business Administration and I thought, 'I can do that'".

Omar's studied for two years part-time at college and gained an HNC in Business Administration. "I enjoyed doing that and I wanted to do more. When I talked to the Personnel Department they were really encouraging and agreed that I could do an HND on a three-year sandwich course."

Omar stuck at it and got an HND in Business Administration - and still wanted more. "I was really into studying again. I wanted to get a degree even if it meant leaving my job."

Omar applied to university to do a degree programme. The university decided that the learning he had acquired was relevant to the degree programme and awarded him 96 credits at Level 7 for achieving an HNC and another 120 credits at Level 8 for his HND.

That meant Omar was able to go directly into the final year of an Ordinary Degree programme in Business Management. After just one year's full-time study, he gained another 120 credits at Level 9 to be awarded his BA Degree.

"I couldn't believe it on graduation day - me with a degree! But next morning, it sunk in that I had to think about work again.

"The company I worked for had been taken over and I thought I'd had no chance. But the new people in Human Resources said my previous employment record was still relevant. They were expanding their export markets, taking on more staff and offered me a full-time contract."