Private language schools 

These schools specialise in teaching English to international students. There are around two hundred and eighty that are accredited by the British Council. 

Boarding schools and tutorial colleges
These schools and colleges provide education up to the age of eighteen. Boarding schools combine modern teaching methods and up-to-date facilities with traditional values and attractive learning environments. Tutorial colleges provide a bridge between school and university, allowing sixteen to eighteen-year-olds a more independent lifestyle. 

FE institutions
Further Education institutions offer a very diverse range of programmes for students from the age of sixteen upwards. They are the main providers of career based courses and have good links with industry. In addition, many FE institutions also offer GCSEs and A-levels (or equivalents), and access or foundation courses. Some also offer degree and postgraduate programmes in the areas in which they are particularly strong. 

FE institutions provide many different routes to degree-level study thanks to their extensive links with HE institutions. For example, you could spend a year at an FE institution taking an access course and then transfer to a partner university for a three-year degree course. Or you might spend two years at an FE institution gaining a career based qualification and then transfer to a university for the final one or two years of a degree course. The options are numerous and flexible. 

HE institutions
Higher Education institutions are the centres of high-level teaching and research activity, and most courses at this level lead to a degree or equivalent qualification. The degrees and postgraduate qualifications offered by these institutions are among the most prestigious academic qualifications available. HE institutions include universities, HE colleges and institutes. The first universities were founded some eight hundred years ago, so HE institutions in the UK draw upon an exceptional depth of educational experience.