- Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is the national credit transfer system for all levels of qualifications in
Scotland . It incorporates theScottish Qualifications Certificate ,Higher National Certificate ,Higher National Diploma ,Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) (equivalent toNational Vocational Qualification (NVQ)) and all Degrees of Scottish Higher Education Institutions. It is managed by a partnership of theScottish Qualifications Authority , theAssociation of Scotland's Colleges (ASC), QAA Scotland,Universities Scotland and theScottish Executive [http://www.scqf.org.uk/downloads/SCQFFramework050406.pdf] .England ,Wales andNorthern Ireland have been developing theNational Qualifications Framework in a similar fashion and the SCQF integrates with theEuropean credit transfer system .Background
COTCAT
Scottish Higher Education Institutions had long used the "SCOTCAT" ("Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer") system for equating courses from differences institutions. "SCOTCAT" had 3 levels - Levels 1, 2 and 3. Level 1 was equivalent to University 1st Year, an HNC or a
Certificate of Higher Education (Cert HE). Level 2 was equivalent to University 2nd Year, an HND or aDiploma of Higher Education . Level 3 was equivalent to Years 3 and 4 at a Scottish University, and generally these credit lead to an Special or Honours Degree.cottish Qualifications Authority
Following the creation of the
Scottish Qualifications Authority by the merger of the Scottish Examinations Board and SCOTVEC efforts were made to unite the different levels of vocational and academic qualifications. The aim being to make it easier for employers and education institutions to understand the level to which a person had been educated. A secondary aim being to remove prejudice against vocational and non-traditional qualifications.Further Discussions
Following from these two efforts all the education and training providers in Scotland agreed to create a common framework for all qualifications, both current and historical. This led to the development of a 12 level framework with different courses, units, modules and clusters being placed at a specific level with a credit weighting.
Changes have been made to
Higher Education level courses to prepare the Scottish system for theBologna process . There are now 4 levels of progression from 1st Year to Senior Honours.The Framework
The Framework has 12 levels:
ee also
*
Education in Scotland
*Scottish Qualifications Authority
*Scottish Certificate of Education
*Scottish Qualifications Certificate
*Standard Grade
* SQA Higher
* SQA Advanced HigherExternal links
* [http://www.scqf.org.uk/ Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework official website]
* [http://www.sqa.org.uk/ Scottish Qualifications Authority official website]
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