A LEADING Scottish university has achieved a world first by offering a degree course that is recognised in both the UK and America.

Under the initiative, Edinburgh Napier University has developed a four-year business and IT course in partnership with the State University of New York.

Primarily aimed at overseas students – but also open to Scots – those taking part will study for three years in Scotland before completing their undergraduate degree with a final year in New York.

Graduates will have a degree qualification recognised in both countries. Under American visa regulations, they will also be able to apply for a year’s work experience there.

Napier hopes to attract up to 600 students over the first three years of the course, but even a more modest target of 250 would boost Napier’s finances by some £2.5 million.

Peter Brady, dean of the university’s International Office, said attracting overseas students was a crucial part of Napier’s strategy to raise money at a time of uncertainty in public funding.

In addition, he said the extra incentive of getting a “double degree” helped attract undergraduate international students to Scotland.

“We don’t get many undergraduate students coming from overseas because of the four-year degree in Scotland,” he said.

“The four years acts as a disincentive because it is seen as an extra year of cost compared to the length of study at an English university for a degree which has the same standing, so we have to think of ways to add more value.

“Getting two degrees is seen as a significant incentive for international students to invest in four years of study because of the employment opportunities it will afford them.”

Mr Brady said universities across Scotland were increasingly looking at ways of bolstering their income after public funding cuts and uncertainty over whether universities here will fall behind their counterparts in England as a result of the introduction of higher tuition fees south of the Border.

“Money from overseas students is a vital stream of income and it is becoming more and more important for universities in Scotland to reduce their dependence on state funding because it does not appear that it will be a reliable source of income in the future,” he said.

“Newer universities such as Edinburgh Napier are traditionally more reliant on state funding compared to ancient universities which have research income and trusts funds to fall back on.”

The first students to be recruited to the new “double degree” will start their studies in September this year.

The joint degree is different from existing options to study abroad because it confers a degree in both countries rather than a transfer of academic credits.

Professor Dame Joan Stringer, Principal of Edinburgh Napier, said: “We have always been an international university with students from over 100 countries and we see this as a key way for our UK students to benefit from overseas perspectives.”