Higher National Certificate BTEC Construction and the Built Environment (Civil Engineering)

• 32 UCAS points. We accept a full range of qualifications that carry UCAS points, including A-levels, BTECs and T-levels. Please see our guide to the UCAS Tariff for examples of how to achieve these points. For most courses, we are also able to consider non-tariffable qualifications.
• Any subjects are acceptable at Level 3.
• You should also have five GCSEs at grade C or above or grade 4 to 9 (or equivalent), including English and Mathematics.
• Entry to this course is also available to applicants who have extensive appropriate work experience in the construction/civil engineering sector. If you don't possess the academic qualifications listed above but have extensive appropriate work experience, we'll be delighted to consider your application.
• You may be required to attend an interview and/or provide a portfolio of work.
• If English isn’t your first language, you’ll also need IELTS 5.5 with no less than 5.5 in reading and writing (or equivalent). We also accept a range of other English language qualifications – please visit our English Language Requirements web page for more details.
• If you intend to progress on to a top-up degree course at a university after completing this HNC, you will usually need GCSE Mathematics and English at grade C/4 or above (or equivalent). If you have not already achieved this, please speak to the course leader about taking GCSE Mathematics and/or English while completing this course.
• If you apply or enrol on this course, Bolton College and the University of Bolton will share the information you provide. You’ll also receive communications from both organisations.

Where changes are made to material information contained in this course description or a decision is taken to suspend a course between the offer of admissions and enrolment, we will inform applicants at the earliest possible opportunity and will outline the various options available to the applicant.

If you choose to complete a BTEC Level 4 HNC in Construction and the Built Environment it’s expected that you’ll be aiming to progress with your employment or continue your studies at university. Pearson developed these qualifications in close collaboration with experts from professional bodies, vendors, businesses, universities and colleges to ensure you gain the skills and knowledge you’ll need to succeed in the future – whichever route you take.

What can I do with this qualification?

Alternative career options

Certificate holders can also use the qualification to enter a range of other careers, and for some of these roles, both relevant experience and/or further study may be required. Some of these careers include:

• Building services engineering
• Geology
• Environmental consultancy
• Quantity surveying
• Logistics
• Operation management
• Patent law and intellectual property
• Teaching
• Research and development
• Procurement, purchasing and buying
• Supply chain management
• Technical sales and consultancy

We'll encourage you to become a student member of the relevant professional institution(s) and participate in local and regional activities, enabling you to network with potential employers.

When completing your student finance application, please list your institution as ‘University of Bolton’, not ‘Bolton College’.

Home/EU Fees

No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.

International Fees

No fee information is currently available, please contact the University of Bolton’s Academic Fees team by emailing AcademicFees@bolton.ac.uk for more information.

Bursaries

Click here for more information about the scholarships and bursaries available to University of Bolton students.

Important note regarding tuition fees for the 2025-26 academic year: EU nationals who meet residency requirements (have settled or pre-settled status) may be eligible for 'Home' fee status. If you do not meet these residency requirements, overseas fees will apply. Irish citizens living in the UK or Ireland will be eligible for 'Home' fee status under the Common Travel Area arrangement. Please read the student finance for EU students web page on www.gov.uk for information.

The fees for a student's course of study will be set for the normal duration of that course subject only to inflationary increases – measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded in March each year to take effect for subsequent start dates.

The varied nature of this HNC programme means that we use a wide range of teaching and learning methods. In order to ensure you acquire and develop the appropriate concepts, knowledge and skills, we combine timetabled classes with student-centred and independent learning. You can expect to attend lectures, practical sessions, workshops, tutorials and informal group study sessions. There will also be opportunities to go on site visits and learn from guest speakers who work in a range of key industrial sectors and roles.

There are significant opportunities to spend time with the tutors and technicians during timetabled classes, practical work and tutorials. However, we’ll still expect you to devote a significant amount of time to personal study. For example, this time might be spent engaging in general background reading, revisiting practical work, attending technical meetings and lectures provided by the professional bodies or working on assignments.

We use a range of assessment methods, depending upon the learning outcome in question and the type of module content being assessed. You’ll have opportunities to test your understanding of subjects informally before you complete the formal assessments that count towards your final mark or grade. Each module/unit will normally contain at least one piece of practice or ‘formative’ assessment for which you’ll receive feedback from your tutor. Practice assessments are developmental and any grades/marks you receive for them do not count toward your module/unit mark or grade.

There is a formal or ‘summative’ assessment at the end of each module/unit. Methods include a range of coursework assessment such as exams, essays, reports, portfolios, presentations, and final year major project. The grades from the formal assessments count towards your module/unit mark or grade.

Modules

The modules listed below may be a mixture of compulsory and optional. You may not have the opportunity to study all the modules shown as part of the course.

• Individual Project (Pearson Set)
• Construction Technology
• Science and Materials
• Construction Practice and Management
• Construction Information (Drawing, Detailing Specification)
• Mathematics for Construction
• Principles of Structural Design
• Civil Engineering Technology
• Surveying, Measuring and Setting Out
• Building Information Modelling

Assessment methods

Level	Assessment method
Level 1	Coursework 100%

Learning Activities

Level	Activity
Level 1	Guided independent study 60% Scheduled learning and teaching activities 40%

The university will use all reasonable endeavours to deliver your course as described in its published material and the programme specification for the academic year in which you begin your course. The university considers changes to courses very carefully and the university will minimise any changes. Please be aware that our courses are subject to review on an ongoing basis and changes may be necessary due to legitimate staffing, financial, regulatory and academic reasons. The content of course modules and mode of associated assessments may be updated on an annual basis. This is to ensure that all modules are up-to-date and responsive to employment and sector needs. The published course material and the programme specification contain indicative ‘optional modules’ that may be subject to change due to circumstances outside of our control. For this reason, we cannot guarantee to run any specific optional module.