2025-2026

This experience has shown me that it’s never too late to follow your dreams - Sheryl Whyte

Completing the Access to HE Diploma with DistanceLearningCentre.com has been the missing piece of my puzzle in my path to becoming a nurse. This experience has shown me that it’s never too late to follow your dreams. Returning to education in my forties was a real challenge, yet the nursing diploma made it feel achievable. It gave me the confidence, structure and support I needed, and opened the door to my nursing degree — a new chapter I’m genuinely excited to begin! I’m truly grateful for the encouragement from my tutors and for the chance to prove to myself that anything is possible. I'm proud of what I've achieved, and grateful for the journey that got me here.

I...was offered a place at the University of Surrey for an undergraduate course in Dietetics and Nutrition, starting September 2026 - Susan Trokhymenko

Following a frustrating lack of progression over several years in my previous career, I decided that I needed to change profession and move into healthcare. An interest and personal
experience led me to choose dietetics. My previous education was in humanities and computer science, so I did not meet the entry requirements for the course; I needed a natural sciences qualification to qualify for entry. A colleague of my husband highly recommended DistanceLearningCentre.com, which she had used herself to become a dietitian.

I had lost my Mum 9 months previously, and I felt a bit wobbly undertaking the course, but my tutor’s reassurance and clear explanations really made me realise that I wasn’t on my own. I had the support of people who wanted me to succeed and who were kind too. At 55, I hadn’t studied Biology, Chemistry or Physics for 40 years, so it was a big step for me! Plus, I had never
been very good at Chemistry and Physics back then.

Having enrolled in September 2025, I faced a moderation deadline of the end of May 2026, leaving me with under eight months to complete all the modules, rather than the full year allowed by the course. I was ready to give it a go in the time left (excluding planned family holiday, time off around the 1-year anniversary of my Mum’s passing and any unexpected life eventualities), but had decided that if I didn’t finish on time, I would simply delay the start at university. As it turned out, I completed everything on time, achieved overall distinction and was offered a place at the University of Surrey for an undergraduate course in Dietetics and Nutrition, starting September 2026, all as planned.
 

To make it possible, I treated the studies like a job. I was able to leave my job at the end of October to concentrate on the course. It felt like a marathon at times, but it was so well paced, one module building on the previous one and with the encouragement and guidance from my tutors, I was able to focus well. I have built up my learning muscles and, most of all, my confidence which I am taking with me to start my new adventure.
I also really appreciated the communication, support and materials available for the application process through UCAS. It was so clear, and the feedback I received was invaluable. I was well prepared for the interviews, with my tutor answering queries and reassuring me when I had any doubts. Thank you, DistanceLearningCentre.com, for making this change of career and exciting future ahead of me possible.

With determination, perseverance and belief, dreams really can come true - Gemma Jones

I am a single mother to three children, aged 14, 12 and 11. I started my dental nursing career in 2005, qualified in 2007, and worked my way up to Practice Manager. I always wanted to become a Dental Hygienist, but at the time the nearest university offering the course was 100 miles away, which wasn’t possible with other commitments.

In 2013, while on maternity leave, I was made redundant, so became a stay-at-home mum for eight years. In 2015, I experienced a seizure which resulted in a large meningioma brain tumour being discovered, which I had removed. Recovery was slow with on-going seizures until 2016, but it highlighted the importance and need of good health care in this country, which encouraged me to complete 50 CPD hours and re-register as a dental nurse in 2021, once all the children were in school full time.

Last year I discovered that my local university had started offering the Dental Hygiene course. I went to the open day and found out that I needed to complete an Access course and re-sit my Biology GCSE. After much research, I found DistanceLearningCentre.com and immediately enrolled and applied for the Dental Hygiene course.

Studying, working and raising three children was incredibly challenging. My eldest is home-schooled and my youngest, who has ADHD, went through a terrible time with disrupted routines. I fell so far behind with my assignments; my tutor told me they would postpone my finishing from March ’26 to November ’26. This wasn’t an option for me, so once I managed to sort my child’s routine out and everything settled at home, I got my head down, and through sheer determination, I completed my Access course in March ’26. I also paid privately for my Biology GCSE exam and passed.

The day I had my GCSE results, I also got the phone call I had waited 18 years for. I had been offered a place on the Dental Hygiene course, chosen from hundreds of applicants as one of just 12 students!

My tutors were amazing, supportive and helpful whenever I needed it, and I’m so grateful to them for making all this a possibility for me. I can’t thank them enough.

I want to be an inspiration to my children and show them that life often gets in the way, but dreams are always there. With determination, perseverance and belief, dreams really can come true.

The support from tutors, course materials and webinars is excellent - Owen Dare

I chose to complete the Access to Paramedic Science Diploma through DistanceLearningCentre.com because of my strong desire to pursue a career in healthcare and make a meaningful difference to people at their most vulnerable. The flexible nature of the course allowed me to return to education and fully commit to my long-term goal of becoming a paramedic, while managing other responsibilities alongside my studies.

Completing the course has been a significant personal achievement and has reinforced my determination to progress within higher education.

The support from tutors, course materials and webinars is excellent, and it has been pivotal to my success within the course.

I am proud to be moving on to study Paramedic Science at the University of Bradford, where I am excited to further develop my knowledge, practical skills, and professional values.

I can't recommend this course enough to anyone looking for a career change or just looking to pursue their dream.

You Are Not Behind in Life: Believe in Yourself, Even When Your Timeline Looks Different - Iola Urqhart

I truly believe, and always have, that there is no greater pleasure or privilege afforded by life than learning.

I never imagined that being able to continue my education would one day become difficult and something that I would have to fight for. My love for discovering things I didn’t know and absorbing myself in a subject or question to finally understand it meant that education for me was never simply to serve as a means to an end.

However, shortly after leaving secondary school at sixteen, I became very unwell and the following years, involving hospital admissions and frightening investigations, completely disrupted my sixth form education and created considerable uncertainty surrounding my future. It was difficult watching my peers collectively achieve educational milestones I once expected to achieve with them whilst I was simply trying to stay well enough just to stay afloat or in and out of hospital. At this time I had not lost my love of learning, but I had lost the circumstances and timeframe where I had expected to pursue it and was physically able to.

For as long as I could remember, Cambridge University had always been my greatest academic dream, and I was fortunate enough to receive an offer from them in 2024 and, after my illness prevented that opportunity from becoming reality, another offer in 2025. It was the place that meant everything to me, representing the future I had worked towards for many years. Even after everything I had lost due to my illness, I still had hope that there was a possibility I could return to the life I desired. In 2025, after self-teaching much of my A-levels from home, I sat my examinations two years after my original classmates and friends. By this time I became seriously unwell again and ended up being treated in hospital for problems affecting my lungs during my examinations. I achieved two of the grades required for my offer but unfortunately was missing the grade I needed in one of my strongest and favourite subjects, which devastated me.

Although for a while I was unsure what came next, I knew I still wanted to learn and still wanted to go to Cambridge.

It was then that I came across the DistanceLearningCentre.com Access to Higher Education course, which offered me a supportive route back into education whilst also accommodating my circumstances. It allowed me to study Law, a subject that had long fascinated me. I particularly enjoyed discovering the intricacies within the many areas of law whilst also gaining an appreciation of the vastness of the subject, which was intensified through the criminology components of the course as I explored the relationship between the two worlds. Each module reminded me why I loved and valued education, and I even developed a habit of telling my tutor, who was incredible, just how much I had enjoyed each module and assignment when I submitted it. These small interactions showed me just how personal the DistanceLearningCentre.com course is, and my tutors were so understanding of my circumstances. When changes in my health or unexpected hospital visits altered my learning plans, they were more than willing to adapt the course around my needs whilst simultaneously checking on my wellbeing, trusting me to work independently when I was able to. Being able to study without needing to adhere to a fixed timetable made an enormous difference when my health could be unpredictable, while knowing that support was always available to me helped me regain confidence after so long out of education.

Over the course, I became a more proactive and independent learner, developing organisation and critical thinking skills I know will be essential to thriving at university. With DistanceLearningCentre.com and the encouragement from my tutors, I completed the course in an accelerated timeframe, achieving the maximum 45 credits at distinction. I feel that what DistanceLearningCentre.com and my results actually gave me far outweighs the importance of the grade themselves. They reminded me whilst illness may have disrupted my education, it had not taken away my intellectual curiosity or ability to learn. Being able to press submit on my final piece of work left me knowing that I had completed something I at one time doubted I would even be able to do. DistanceLearningCentre.com allowed me to finally feel like a student again for the first time in a long time.

The course and qualifications with DistanceLearningCentre.com taught me that there is no single order or timeline for a life. My route has been different than the one I imagined for myself at sixteen and different to the routes many of my peers have taken. I am still learning and growing, and I know now that I am not behind, and I will always be grateful to DistanceLearningCentre.com for showing me that.