HND stands for Higher National Diploma. It is a British college qualification, usually in a technical or business subject — engineering, computing, design, hospitality, and so on. As with HNC, 'examination' in a dictionary is tidier than life: though actually an HND is a whole course, often two years full-time, with coursework and tests, not one sitting in a hall. It sits above an HNC and below a full bachelor's degree. A lot of students use it as a path into work, or into the later years of a degree. Colleges teach most HNDs. In Taiwan, study-abroad offices know the letters well; ordinary learners do not. Americans do not say HND; they might say associate degree, which is close in spirit but not the same piece of paper. Everyday British talk: 'He got his HND and went straight into the workshop.' Formal on certificates; casual as a name for the course. Other expansions of HND exist in specialist fields, but the meaning you are learning is this British diploma.