Your A-Level Combinations

The current buzz-word for sixth-form study (for the moment at least), is "breadth": the previous two-year, three-A-level structure is thought too restrictive. After the range of topics on offer at GCSE, the government overhauled AS exams to enable students to continue with four or even five subjects. There has even been talk of a version of the International Baccalaureate, already successfully in operation in a handful of English schools (as well as throughout Europe), to commit sixth-formers to a greater variety of study options.

So, if breadth is all the rage post-16, why stop post-18? For some students, choosing a degree subject for their UCAS form isn't so much a matter of picking their favourite, but of discarding one or two much-enjoyed A-level subjects. The answer for those students could be a combination degree course.

The idea is simple: instead of choosing one subject to study for three years - a single honours degree - the student can opt for two, or sometimes more, areas of study, combining them in equal doses (French and Spanish, say), as a major and a minor (law with Spanish, for example), or as an integrated degree encompassing a variety of disciplines (such as European studies). The advantages are obvious: two, or more, degrees in one, with all the variety that entails. But it's not an easy option.

Firstly yes, it is widely reckoned to be easier to get on to a combination course (admissions officers do, after all, have to attract potential candidates on multiple counts) than on to more traditional - and more over-subscribed - single honours courses, but an easy application isn't worth much if you don't have the, well, application. Less competitive it may be, but if half of your degree is a topic that you're not particularly enthused by, it's going to be a long three years. And while it may be a half-and-half degree course, don't bank on giving 50% for each half: you'll still be expected to be studying both sides at full degree standard just for half of the time.

So, how to choose? Some subjects, of course, lend themselves to integration with others: two languages, two arts, two sciences. But the benefit of combination courses is that they can allow the English student to continue a love affair with biology; or the history buff to pursue an interest in psychology. Not all institutions will offer the same degree of flexibility, however. Many of the older, more traditional universities tend to stick to single honours for most subjects, with a few joint degrees, often in languages and business-related studies. It is the newer universities that have really embraced the trend for flexibility.

Many courses now operate on a modular system, with units of work earning the student points, or "credits", that count towards the final degree; these can often allow for the inclusion of short courses outside the strict parameters of the degree title. At Scottish universities, this flexibility is built into the four-year honours degree structure, whereby students typically study three or more subjects in their first year, with a choice of specialism not required until the second or third year.

As the government strives to get more people into university - people who, in many cases, will have enjoyed the wider range on offer at A-level - and the distinction between academic and vocational areas of study becomes more blurred, there is bound to be an increased demand, from students and employers, for more flexible degrees to follow.