In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, an awarding body is an

examination board An examination board (or exam board) is an organization that sets examinations, is responsible for marking them, and distributes the results. Some are run by governmental entities; some are run as not-for-profit organizations. List of national ex ...

which sets examinations and awards

qualifications Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS) is a procurement process established by the United States Congress as a part of the ''Brooks Act'' and further developed as a process ...

, such as

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

and

A-levels The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

. Additionally, these Awarding Bodies provide professional awards in the form of tertiary level Certificates, Diplomas, Advanced Diplomas, Graduate Diplomas, and Post Graduate Diplomas. There are seven main examination boards in the United Kingdom: *

AQA AQA Education, trading as AQA (formerly the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance), is an awarding body in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It compiles specifications and holds Test (assessment), examinations in various subjects at Genera ...

(Assessment and Qualifications Alliance) *NCC Education * CIE (University of Cambridge International Examinations) *

Edexcel Edexcel (also known since 2013 as Pearson Edexcel) is a British multinational education and examination body formed in 1996 and wholly owned by Pearson plc since 2005. It is the only privately owned examination board in the United Kingdom. It ...

* ICAAE (International Curriculum and Assessment Agency Examinations) * OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) * WJEC

Functions of awarding bodies

In the UK, in order for a qualification to be recognised as part of one of the UK qualifications frameworks: the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales (CQFW) or the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) in England and Northern Ireland, it must be awarded by an awarding body that is recognised by one of the government-appointed regulatory bodies or (for higher education qualifications on the SCQF and QCFW) be awarded by a body with degree awarding powers. The regulatory bodies are

Ofqual The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) is a non-ministerial government department that regulates qualifications, exams and tests in England. Colloquially and publicly, Ofqual is often referred to as the exam "watchdog ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, the

Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) is an awarding body in Northern Ireland. It develops and delivers qualifications, including GCSEs, AS, and A Levels, and provides curriculum support and assessments for schools. C ...

(CCEA) in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, the

Scottish Qualifications Authority The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA; Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Ùghdarras Theisteanas na h-Alba'') is the Scottish public bodies, executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for accrediting educationa ...

(SQA) in Scotland and

Qualifications Wales Qualifications Wales () is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for the recognition of awarding bodies and the review and approval of non-degree qualifications in Wales. It was established by the Qualifications Wales Act 2015 and beca ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

; the

Quality Assurance Agency The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (usually referred to simply as the Quality Assurance Agency or QAA) is the United Kingdom higher education sector's independent expert quality body. It has a remit to maintain and enhance the qu ...

covers all higher education providers in the UK and maintains the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ). There are over 200 of these Awarding Bodies on the Register of Regulated Qualifications (covering England and Northern Ireland). Some specialise in specific subjects. Others specialise in types of qualifications, such as ‘A’ levels, GCSEs and vocational competence or knowledge based qualifications. An awarding body does not always provide the courses that lead to a qualification. Often an awarding body will provide an approval process for independent training providers who, if they meet the criteria, are able to award qualifications that are accredited by that awarding body. An RQF qualification from an awarding body is always clearly identified as being at one of 9 Levels. These begin with ‘Entry Level’ (which is further divided into three sub-levels) and then run from Level One through to Level Eight. These levels are common across the different frameworks in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, including the FHEQ (which starts at level 4), allowing the difficulty of a qualification to be equated, e.g. level 6 is at the same level of difficulty as a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

and level 8 is at the same level of difficulty as a

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

. The levels used in Scotland are different from those in the rest of the UK, but are still common across SQA and higher education qualifications, with level 10 being at the same level of difficulty as an

honours degree Honours degree has various meanings in the context of different degrees and education systems. Most commonly it refers to a variant of the undergraduate bachelor's degree containing a larger volume of material or a higher standard of study, ...

and level 12 a

. There is a correspondence between the UK frameworks and the

European Qualifications Framework The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) acts as a translation device to make national qualifications more readable across Europe, promoting workers' and learners' mobility between countries and facilitating their lifelong learning. The EQF ...

(EQF) as follows: Qualifications also have credit sizes, using the UK Credit of 1 credit = 10 nominal hours of work or study (termed Total Qualification Time in the RQF). On the RQF, the terms 'Award', 'Certificate' and 'Diploma' are used to distinguish qualifications of 1 - 12 credits, 13 - 36 credits and 37+ credits respectively. An academic year is taken to consist of 120 credits, and a full calendar year 180 credits, so a bachelor's degree with honours normally totals 360 credits (split equally across FHEQ levels 4–6) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland or 480 credits (split equally across SCQF levels 7–10) in Scotland, while a doctoral degree (if credits are used) is 540 credits at FHEQ level 8/SCQF level 12. For comparison, the largest RQF qualification at level 8, the CMI Level 8 Diploma In Strategic Direction and Leadership, has a size of 67 credits.

References

{{reflist Qualification awarding bodies in the United Kingdom School examinations Education in the United Kingdom Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government