I believe that students who are interested in studying in the UK are aware that some UK universities offer foundation courses or international foundation year programmes with both September and January intakes. So, do the courses differ based on the starting time?

Delayed start, still able to progress to degree programmes in the following September.

Let's take Durham University's foundation course as an example. If you enrol in September, you will study from September until the following June. If you enrol in January, you will study from January until August, and both options will lead to the start of university in September of the following year. However, as you can see from the chart below, the September intake foundation course, which runs from September to June, has a summer break of about two months, providing some time for relaxation and buffering. On the other hand, the January intake starts in January and continues until August, followed immediately by the start of university in September, making the schedule more tight. However, regardless of the September or January intake, most schools have similar course content and admission requirements.

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Since the differences are not significant, why do schools specifically offer a January intake? I classify the main reasons into two categories:

1. Insufficient IELTS score

Some students, even if they take the UKVI IELTS, fail to meet the English language requirements set by the school (overall scores of 5.0 to 5.5). In such cases, students need to arrive in the UK about 6 weeks to 3 months in advance to participate in the school's arranged Pre-sessional English course. They can only progress to the foundation programme after completing this course. However, when students receive their results, it is often already August, and they do not have enough time to complete the English course. The only solution is to delay the start of the foundation programme until January of the following year, with the preceding months dedicated to English language courses to compensate for the lower IELTS scores.

2. The age requirement prevents September entry

The minimum age requirement for admission to UK foundation courses is 17. Some students who are not yet 17 before the September intake are not accepted by schools. However, should these students be expected to wait for a full year until the next September intake? Taking this into consideration, schools offer January entry for foundation courses to address the issue of age restrictions for some students in the September intake.

Advantages and disadvantages of January intake foundation courses?

When students hear about the availability of January intake foundation courses in the UK, do they immediately think of procrastination? Although there is some significance to January intake foundation courses, if circumstances allow, I would still recommend that students take the UKVI IELTS during the Easter break and strive to start their studies as early as possible. Firstly, the January intake foundation course, running from January to August, has a tight schedule, and students will be going to university without much of a break. Secondly, although students will receive conditional offers from universities when they enrol in the foundation course, if they decide to transfer to another university, they will need to apply through the UK's university admission system (UCAS). The problem is that the UCAS first-round deadline is January 15th, and students starting in January may not have enough time to submit their applications. If they miss the January 15th deadline, popular programmes at some universities may already be full.

In fact, if students cannot make it for the September intake but do not want to wait until January to start their studies, they can also consider some foundation courses that start in late October. For example, the University of Liverpool offers an Enhancement Foundation Programme that runs from October to August, with additional academic and English language support to help students establish a solid foundation.