2025-2026

With the flexibility, variety and depth of teaching from DistanceLearningCentre.com, as well as the support from my tutor, I managed to achieve the highest grades possible in my Access to HE for Medicine diploma - Joe Cotton

For the longest time, I thought that studying and academia were not for me. I had aspirations to join the Royal Marines as a child. In school, I was taken out of classes to work more closely with specialist teachers and was diagnosed with ADHD and Dysgraphia at the age of 17. After graduating from school, I moved from Hong Kong to the UK at 18 to start my career in the outdoor education industry. I never had the confidence to take the leap and apply for the Royal Marines. I saw an advert from the Royal Navy advertising their Medical Officer Cadetship programme. The ability to help people in difficult situations really resonated with me. I began researching ways in which I could qualify to get into medical school with the grades and subjects I had from school. DistanceLearningCentre.com was one of the most recommended programs I found. 

I started my Access to HE Diploma while working full-time as an equipment manager at an outdoor centre on the Isle of Wight. The flexibility and self-study style that is offered by DistanceLearningCentre.com gave me the flexibility to study before or after work. Over the course of a year and a half, DistanceLearningCentre.com has supported my studies and medical school application process. During this time, I changed jobs and moved to South Dorset. My tutor supported me as I balanced learning my new job, moving and studying. As I built my medical school application, my tutor supported me throughout. He suggested I pause my studies for a month, allowing me to focus on my UCAT and personal statement. 

With the flexibility, variety and depth of teaching from DistanceLearningCentre.com, as well as the support from my tutor, I managed to achieve the highest grades possible in my Access to HE for Medicine diploma. If I were able to show my transcript to myself a year ago, I would be amazed. Using this achievement and the solid application that DistanceLearningCentre.com helped me build, I was invited to interview for 4/5 universities and offered a place to study at my top two choices! I’m very thankful to DistanceLearningCentre.com for helping me get to the position I am in now. A position that I would have never imagined myself in if you had asked me at the beginning of this journey. 

I have thrived in the structure that DistanceLearningCentre.com sets out - Cheryl Aust

I am about to launch my dream career as a Quantity Surveyor – I couldn’t have done it without the Access to HE Built Environment course.

I failed my A-levels miserably when I was at school over 14 years ago and embarked on a career spanning over a decade in recruitment. I always knew I wanted to find a new path that would utilise my commercial skills and pair it with a technical skill set that would open opportunities to keep learning.

Getting back into studying while working in a full-time recruitment role was always going to be a challenge, but I have thrived in the structure that DistanceLearningCentre.com sets out. The materials and course structure set out a brilliant foundation which needs to be supplemented with independent research and discipline. This really fuelled my curiosity, and I have loved being back in a learning environment. The Tutors, however, are who really make the difference. They are energetic, passionate and present – they will guide you but challenge you to find the answers for yourself, which means you genuinely understand the topics and allows you to put your best efforts into your graded assessments.

The feedback sessions and score sheets are completely authentic and provide constructive, actionable feedback. The assessments themselves are clear, well thought out and challenging. The self-assessment style questions are imperative to helping you understand where you need additional support and are a great tool for your Tutors to support you in the right way.

I completely exceeded all my own expectations through this course, and I feel it has given me a brilliant base knowledge for the industry I am about to move into. Completing this course has allowed me to secure a Degree Apprenticeship and have been accepted into my first-choice university, which I genuinely never could have imagined 12 months ago.

Thank you, DistanceLearningCentre.com and to my tutors, for all the incredible support. I couldn’t have achieved this without you.

I would highly recommend taking the leap for anybody considering getting back into study. DistanceLearningCentre.com offers so much flexibility and support – if you have the drive and determination, you will absolutely succeed with this institution.

I received multiple unconditional offers from different universities - Natalie Devonshire

Studying with DistanceLearningCentre.com allowed me to pursue my long-term goal of starting legal studies in a way that worked around my family life and work commitments. As a mother of four children, including a baby, while also working full time and managing neurological health issues, flexibility was essential for me. Traditional classroom learning would not have been realistic, so distance learning gave me the opportunity to continue my education alongside my everyday responsibilities.

I completed the Access to Law and Legal Professions diploma with the original goal of finishing it within one year. Through hard work, determination, excellent study materials, and the support of my tutor, I was able to complete the course in just seven months, achieving distinctions throughout. The course content was clear, well-structured, and easy to follow, which made studying independently much more manageable around a busy schedule.

The qualification also helped me successfully apply to university, and I received multiple unconditional offers from different universities. I will now be starting my legal studies in September, which is something I have worked towards for a long time.

The experience helped me develop confidence, discipline, and resilience, while also proving to myself that it is possible to balance education with a busy family and working life. I am very grateful for the support and flexibility provided by DistanceLearningCentre.com, and I would highly recommend the course to anyone looking to progress their education while managing other commitments.

The course allowed me to study effectively around my commitments - Sylwia Hoffmann

I completed the Access to Higher Education Diploma in Science, achieving distinctions in all units. As a parent balancing family responsibilities alongside my studies, flexibility and self-discipline were essential, and the course allowed me to study effectively around my commitments.

The programme strengthened my scientific knowledge, academic writing skills, and confidence in higher-level study. Support from my tutor was clear, structured, and encouraging throughout, which helped me stay focused and motivated.

Completing the diploma with all distinctions has been a significant personal achievement and an important step towards my long-term academic and professional goals. I would highly recommend the course to anyone looking to turn to education or progress to university through a flexible and supportive learning route.

Completing the course also allowed me to achieve something I had dreamed of: I received an offer from Swansea University, my dream university - Charley Ayers

When I began my Access to Higher Education Diploma with DistanceLearningCentre.com, I never could have imagined how much my life would change during the course.

During my studies, at just 20 years old, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. Receiving this diagnosis was incredibly impactful. Suddenly, I was faced with a lifelong health condition at an age when I was focused on building my future, progressing to university and starting my career.

What made the experience particularly challenging was that my diagnosis happened during my Access course. I wasn’t dealing with my health after completing my education; I was trying to continue my education while simultaneously coming to terms with what was happening to me.

I spent a significant amount of time in and out of A&E during my course. There were times when I was so unwell that I was sleeping in hospital corridors while waiting to be seen or treated. Even during these difficult periods, I continued trying to work towards my qualification.

A significant amount of my coursework was completed in hospital. I would find myself hooked up to an IV in a hospital bed with my laptop, writing assignments between investigations and treatment. On other occasions, I would sit in a hospital corridor with my laptop and continue working whenever I felt well enough to do so.

This became my normality.

At the same time, I was working full-time as a pharmacy assistant. I was trying to balance my health, hospital stays, full-time employment and an Access Diploma, all while coming to terms with a diagnosis that had completely changed my life.

There were times when I was physically and emotionally exhausted. There were moments when studying felt overwhelming and when putting my education on hold would have been completely understandable. But I didn’t want my diagnosis to decide what my future would look like.

I decided that although I couldn’t control what had happened to my health, I could control what I did next.

My studies became something positive that I could focus on during a period of enormous uncertainty. Every assignment I completed felt like another step towards the future I had been working for. Even when I could only manage small amounts of work, I kept going.

The support I received from my tutors was incredibly important during this time. Their understanding, encouragement and flexibility allowed me to continue my education around circumstances that were completely outside of my control. Their support helped me to keep believing that I was capable of succeeding.

Despite everything that was happening, I achieved 45 Distinctions throughout my Access Diploma.

Those 45 Distinctions mean far more to me than academic grades. They represent the hours I spent studying after working, the assignments I completed while unwell, the work I wrote from hospital beds and corridors, and the determination it took to continue when I could easily have stopped.

Completing the course also allowed me to achieve something I had dreamed of: I received an offer from Swansea University, my dream university.

Receiving that offer was an incredibly proud moment. It showed me that despite everything that had happened during my course, my diagnosis had not taken away my ambitions. I had still achieved the goal I had worked towards.

Unfortunately, the course I had been accepted onto was subsequently cancelled for this academic year. Although this was disappointing, it doesn’t diminish what the Access Diploma gave me or what I achieved. The course gave me the academic skills, confidence, independence and resilience that I will take with me into the next stage of my education and career.

Most importantly, it taught me something that I will carry with me for the rest of my life:

There is no obstacle that I cannot overcome.

Being diagnosed with ulcerative colitis at 20 was something I never expected. But completing my education alongside that diagnosis showed me that difficult circumstances don’t have to determine the future you achieve.

I could have allowed my diagnosis to become the reason I stopped pursuing my ambitions. Instead, I chose to continue.

I continued working.
I continued studying.
I continued writing assignments from hospital.
And I continued believing in the future I wanted.

Ultimately, I achieved 45 Distinctions and an offer from my dream university.

That is why this qualification means so much to me. It isn’t simply a certificate. It is a permanent reminder of what I am capable of achieving, even when life becomes incredibly difficult.

Being nominated for the Award of Achievement is an honour because it recognises not only my academic success, but the journey behind it.

I will carry this achievement with me for the rest of my life. Whenever I face another obstacle, I will be able to look back at this chapter of my life and remind myself that I have overcome difficult things before — and I can do it again.

My diagnosis changed my circumstances, but it never changed my ambitions. Completing my Access Diploma taught me that no matter what life puts in my way, I am capable of overcoming it and continuing towards the future I believe in.