Ulster University and Pearson announce major online degree partnership

@UlsterUni and @Pearson, the world’s leading learning company, have today announced a major new partnership which will enable students globally to study career-focused, world-class courses online. 

Building on the University’s strong online learning credentials, this new partnership will allow more students around the world to benefit from an Ulster University learning experience in progressive and sought-after degree programmes such as MSc Biomedical Science and MSc Health Psychology. These courses will start in September 2021 and January 2022, respectively.  

Alongside this, the University is also listing its existing portfolio of online courses on the Pearson platform, UK Learns. This platform provides access to some of the world’s best quality, certified courses that employers value. These will become available this summer onwards. 

Ulster University has long been renowned as an early adopter of online learning. For almost two decades, Ulster University has pioneered online degree programmes alongside its multi-campus model, and it has a proud legacy of thousands of domestic and international online distance learners across 70 courses. 

The partnership will increase transnational education by providing unique online courses not otherwise available on campus.  The enrichment and diversity that overseas students who study in Northern Ireland bring to campus life will, of course, remain and grow; while this distance-learning initiative will expand choice for those where travel is not an option for professional or other reasons.   

Professor Brian Murphy, Interim Dean, Academic Business Development, said: “Ulster University brings a strong distance-learning portfolio to this partnership, and we are pleased to be linking up with Pearson with their well-established global networks in education. The partnership with Pearson enables us to offer new and refreshed cutting-edge online provision.  

“While the pandemic has, over the past year, catalysed greater engagement with online education, this partnership goes much deeper. It brings enterprising design and marketing for fully online provision that will serve new and previously excluded education markets and access for global citizens.” 

Pearson brings to the partnership 25 years of global education provision experience. It works with more than 40 universities around the world partnering on online degree programmes, recently announcing partnerships with both Wake Forest and Hawaii Pacific Universities, USA.  

Ulster University will be one of seven UK partners joining establishments such as University of Oxford and King’s College London.  

Kees Bol, Managing Director, Pearson Online Learning Services, said: “Pearson and Ulster University have both been at the forefront in recent years in creating new, flexible and convenient ways for people across the globe to study. 

“This innovative approach is needed more than ever as the Pandemic changes the way that we learn, work and build successful careers.  

“We are proud to be partnering with Ulster University and opening up opportunities for people to learn online through the degree programmes, and for people to build new career skills right now through the short courses Ulster are making available on UK Learns.”