DSLR's in your price range = Canon 400D, Nikon 40 X, PentaxK100D, Pentax
K10D Olympus E410 Sony A100 See http://www.dpreview.com/ for reviews on
models.
PC world /curry's have a good deal on Olympus starter kit at the moment but
as whatever brand you go for your going to have to stay with unless your
loaded so think before you jump.
Bridge cameras look like dslrs but dont have interchangeable lens. But come
with 35mm to 200 or 28 to too or longer dependent on make and model. all
have smaller sized sensors to a dslr some very small but a saving in cost
over a dslr system Fuji 9600 or 6500 are good Examples.

You are obviously serious enough about photography to take a course,
so if you can afford it, you should definitely choose a DSLR over a
"bridge camera", because the quality of the results will be
significantly better.  

A bridge camera is a digital camera with a non-interchangeable zoom
lens that has a range of focal lengths similar to a DSLR with two kit
lenses.  For people who aren't serious about photography, it can be a
good alternative to a heavier, bulkier DSLR.  But the bridge camera
will have a small image sensor, just as in cheaper digital compact
cameras, and that has several severe limitations.

The image quality from a small sensor suffers from excessive "noise",
where flecks of light and colour detract from the overall quality of
the image.  All small sensors have this problem.  Some are worse than
others, but all are much worse than the least good DSLR.

To give you an idea of how important this is, noisy images from
compact and bridge cameras are very much more difficult to sell than
the much less noisy images from DSLRs.  

There is another thing that you will value in a DSLR that isn't
available in a bridge camera, and that is control over depth of field.
You will learn about depth of field on your course, but it is a very
important creative tool.  

When you focus on a subject you know that subject will be sharply
rendered in the photo.  But some of the foreground and some of the
background will also be in focus, depending on the subject distance,
focal length of the lens and the aperture you chose.

In a DSLR you can reduce the depth of field by opening the lens up to
its widest aperture, separating the sharp, in-focus subject from an
out-of-focus background and foreground.  This is particularly
important in portraiture.  

But sensor size has a huge effect on depth of field.  With a compact
or bridge camera, almost everything in the shot will be in focus
(subject, foreground and background) regardless of what aperture you
choose.  The larger the sensor, the more control you will get over
depth of field.

And that's why a DSLR is definitely the best choice for you.  The
average person who just wants snapshots of their holidays and family
members will be happy with a compact or bridge camera because
everything in the shot will be sharp.  But a creative photographer
needs to be able to control depth of field.

Of the cameras you have had recommended, one is a DSLR (Canon EOS
400D) and one is a bridge camera (Nikon Coolpix).  Of the two, the
Canon is by far the better buy for your needs.

But you should also consider the Nikon D40X, which is a direct
competitor to the Canon.  Like the Canon, it has a 10 megapixel
sensor, which is enough.  But the Nikon gives more detail in the photo
because its noise reduction is less aggressive than Canon's.

The Canon produces smoother-looking results because Canon's noise
reduction is very effective - too effective in my opinion.  The images
from the Nikon are slightly noisier but they retain more detail.

The Nikon kit lenses are also of much better optical quality than
Canon's.  The Canon 18-55mm is a poor performer and should be avoided
if possible.  Unfortunately, your budget gives you no real
alternative.  The Nikon D40X can be found with an 18-55mm Nikkor lens
for £359 here:

http://tinyurl.com/35wyc4

You pay £399 then claim a £40 rebate from Nikon UK.  I think this is
probably the best option available at the moment.  Avoid the Nikon D40
which is a discontinued model with only 6.1 million pixels and a lot
more noise.

There are some other cheap offers around, including DSLRs from Pentax
and Olympus.  However, the only Pentax models in your price range have
only 6.1 million pixels using an older, noisier sensor.  If you can
stretch your budget to £480 there is the Pentax K10D which is a very
good camera.  For that price you get a reasonably good 18-55mm lens.
There is a slightly cheaper Samsung alternative which is the exact
same camera, just with a different badge.

The Olympus DSLRs use a smaller sensor than Canon, Nikon and Pentax
and unfortunately this takes away some control of depth of field which
is one of the main strengths of a DSLR over a compact or bridge
camera.  For that reason, I would not recommend Olympus, unless you
are prepared to pay a lot of money for Olympus's top of the range
lenses, which have wide apertures and do give you back some of the
lost control of depth of field.  

Unfortunately the small size of the Olympus sensor means that images
will always tend to be noisier than images from DSLRs with sensors
that are physically larger.  That's down to the Laws of Physics and
Olympus will be forever handicapped by their choice of sensor size.

So I would recommend that you look at the Nikon D40X and the more
expensive Pentax K10D.  Personally, I use Canon DSLRs but I would not
recommend the Canon EOS 400D over either of these.