Luciana Barbosa
Hospitality Manager (studying towards Business degree) · London, Greater London
A-Level Business Studies and A-Level Economics (Edexcel)
“learndirect is the future for anyone who needs to work and pursue higher education at the same time. Before I found this, I genuinely couldn't see how a degree would ever be possible for me.”
The Challenge
Luciana had moved from Brazil to London at 21 and built a successful career in hospitality management, progressing to operations manager at a boutique hotel group in East London. At 29, with strong management experience and a clear business instinct, she wanted to formalise her skills with a Business degree that would open the door to corporate strategy and management consulting roles. But without UK A-Levels, her UCAS application would be weak – and she could not take the financial risk of stepping back from her management salary to attend college full-time.
Why learndirect
Luciana had spent months trying to find an A-Level option that could accommodate her demanding hospitality work pattern – including early starts, late finishes, and six-day weeks during peak season. “Every college option required you to show up. learndirect was the first provider I found where the entire model was genuinely flexible,” she said. She enrolled in Pearson Edexcel A-Level Business Studies and A-Level Economics, choosing subjects that would directly reinforce her professional experience and support her Business degree application. Her tutor for Business Studies, she noted, was excellent at connecting textbook theory to real-world business examples – which gave the study immediate relevance to her day job.
The Outcome
Luciana is in her second year of A-Level study, sitting her examinations as an external candidate at a London exam centre. She has received predicted grades of A in Business Studies and B in Economics – a combined 304 UCAS points that will support her application to Business programmes at Queen Mary University of London and City, University of London. Her ambition is to complete a BSc Business Management degree part-time after her A-Levels, eventually moving into a consulting or strategy role. “I can see the path clearly now,” she said. “learndirect made the first two steps of that path possible.”