Our academic partners

We have a number of partnership agreements with educational and other establishments in the UK and overseas.

These agreements allow us to offer a wide range of courses to students and give them access to specialist facilities and lecturers, as well as opening up opportunities for them to study abroad. Our staff benefit from being able to take part in exchange programmes and collaborative research projects.

International partners

We have a number of international partners which enable student exchanges, research collaborations, Erasmus+ activity and recognition arrangements. Our partnership with British University Vietnam (BUV) is an example of this. From September 2025, students in Vietnam will be able to study towards two BU degrees: BA (Hons) Tourism Management and BA (Hons) Event Management.

UK partners

Within the UK, we work with a variety of Further Education Colleges including:

• Bournemouth and Poole College
• Weymouth and Kingston Maurward College
• Wiltshire College.

Our UK partners run a variety of full-time and part-time courses that last between one and three years, short continuing professional development (CPD) courses, HNCs/HNDs, Foundation degrees and full Honours degrees in conjunction with BU.

Many of our UK partners offer franchised or validated courses, or a mixture of the two. Under franchised provision, students enrol with BU and are included in our student numbers. Although they study at the partner college, they have access to some of the university’s facilities and support services.

Under validated provision, students enrol with the partner college and are included in the college’s student numbers. The partner college has greater responsibility for these students whilst BU oversees the provision of the course and awards the degree.

Franchised and validated status is dependent on the course, rather than the partner - the BU Collaborative Provision Register contains the specific details of these courses.

Courses offered by our partner institutions

Bournemouth and Poole College (BPC)

• HNC/FdEng Engineering (Mechanical Design) Apprenticeship Programme
• HNC/FdEng Engineering (Mechanical Design)
• HNC/FdEng Engineering (Manufacturing Management) Apprenticeship Programme
• HNC/FdEng Engineering (Manufacturing Management)
• HNC/FdEng Engineering (Electronic Design) Apprenticeship Programme
• HNC/FdEng Engineering (Electronic Design)
• HNC/FdEng Engineering (Marine Technologies) Apprenticeship Programme
• HNC/FdEng Engineering (Marine Technologies)
• FdSc Nursing Associate.

Wiltshire College & University Centre (WCUC)

• BA (Hons) Film Production & Cinematography