HNC stands for Higher National Certificate. In Britain this is a college qualification, usually in a practical subject such as business, engineering, computing, or health. Dictionaries often call it an examination, but though actually you do not sit one giant test and walk away with an HNC: you take a course (often about a year full-time, longer if you study in the evenings), hand in assignments, and then the college awards you the certificate. It sits lower than an HND. Think of a ladder: HNC first, then HND, and only after that, for some people, the last part of a university degree. You study it mostly at a further-education college; a few universities offer it too. It is a British (and Irish) name. You will hardly hear it in Taiwan or the United States. On a CV it looks formal; in the canteen people just say, 'She's doing an HNC in electrical work.' Older workers sometimes still put HNC after their name with pride. The same three letters can mean other things in other jobs, but in learner English, and on British course lists, this is the meaning.

HNC（英國高等國家證書）。台灣沒有同一套學制；留學代辦口中的那個 HNC。