HND “Top-Up” Degree in Canada Universities

HND top up degree in Canada universities, allows Higher National Diploma (HND) graduates to ‘top-up’ their education and obtain a bachelors degree from a Canadian university or college.

In Canada, HND certificate holders with related Higher National Diploma (HND) can expect to complete the necessary courses within two to three academic years and be granted a bachelor degree upon achieving satisfactory grades.

For example, if you have an HND in Civil Engineering from outside Canada, most Canadian universities will give you admission into the 2nd or 3rd year bachelors programs in an engineering program. The decision as to whether you’ll start in the second or third year depends on the number of transfer credits that is accepted from your previous HND degree.

As you may have noticed, the numbers of years it takes to “top up” degree in Canada is significantly longer when compared to the United Kingdom (UK).

In the UK, a HND graduate can “top up” their degree and gain a bachelors degree from a University in one (1) academic year. This makes Canada not to be a popular destination for international students who want convert their HND to BSc in Canada.

Can an HND Holder Apply for a Master Degree in Canada?

An HND holder can certainly apply for a masters degree in Canada. However, it is not likely that the student will be offered an admission directly into a masters program in Canada, if the student has only an HND certificate.

Canada is a popular destination for international students looking to pursue a masters program. Due to the high demand, most Canadian universities reserve spots in their masters program for students with a least a second class upper (2:1) or better, bachelors degree and not HND.

On the other hand, if the student has an HND and also a Post-HND degree, it increases the chances that the student will be offered admission into a masters program in Canada.

Universities in Canada that Accept HND for Masters

Canadian universities do not generally accept HND nor Third Class undergraduates, directly into their Master’s program. A student with a HND certificate will have to first consider furthering their studies in Canada through any of the below options:

• Post-Graduate Diploma (PGD), or
• Post-degree certificate/diploma, or
• Advanced certificate.

Schools that Accept HND for Masters in Canada

At the moment, we are not aware of any school that accept HND certificate directly for masters in Canada.

If you have an HND and you intend to pursue a masters program in Canada, below is the approach we recommend:

1. Apply for a Post-Graduate Diploma (PGD) course at a Canadian college. The course should be related to your previous HND course of study, which should also be related to the masters program you intend to study later in Canada.

2. Commence the PGD course in Canada and make sure you have good grades (usually a minimum of B average).

3. Once you are close to completing your PGD studies in Canada, apply for a related masters program in Canada.
At this point, there is a high chance you’ll be accepted into a masters program in Canada, as most Canadian universities and colleges give preference to HND certificate holders that have a PGD degree from within Canada.

Using Carleton University as an example, below is the minimum admission requirements for their master’s program:

• Four-year honours bachelor‘s degree or equivalent.
• Students who have only a National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) are not eligible for admission into Carleton’s masters program. Students who present a Post-Higher National Diploma (Post-HND) may be eligible for admission to a master’s program.
• Minimum requirement overall: 60-69% or 2nd Class (upper division).

Carleton University’s Qualifying-Year Programs

Students who do not have a 4-year honours degree may be eligible for admittance into a qualifying-year program at Carleton University.

Qualifying-year programs are specific to a few numbers of specific master’s programs. Even after completing a qualifying-year program, the student will need to submit an application to the master’s program and admission into the master’s program is not guaranteed.

If you are a student interested in completing a qualifying-year program at Carleton University, you’ll have to get in touch with the academic department offering the master’s program that you are interested in applying to, to find out if a qualifying-year program is offered. If available, you’ll be provided with further application instructions.