Queen's University, Belfast, and the University of Ulster are working with further education colleges to provide foundation degree pilots from September.
Higher and further education minister Sean Farren said the teaching would be delivered mainly in the colleges, predominantly part time with a strong workplace element.
Dr Farren also told the Northern Ireland Assembly that he believed the New Deal for young people has been effective in the province.
"Since it was introduced in April 1998, the number of young people unemployed for six months or more has fallen from 6,448 to 2,336 at December 2000, a decrease of over 63 per cent," he said.