The Midland Examining Group (MEG) was an

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

, operating in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

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

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

. It offered a range of

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private s ...

and Certificate of Achievement qualifications. It became part of OCR in 1998.

History

The board was one of a number of new 'examining groups' formed to develop syllabuses for the GCSE qualification, which was due to replace the

GCE O Level The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

and CSE qualifications in 1988. MEG was formed by the

University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) is a non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge, which operates under the brand name Cambridge Assessment, and is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment. It provi ...

, the

Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) is an examination board that sets examinations and awards qualifications (including GCSEs and A-levels). It is one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland's five main examination boards. OCR is based ...

and Southern Universities' Joint Board for School Examinations GCE boards and the

East Midlands Regional Examinations Board East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and

The West Midlands Examinations Board ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

CSE boards in 1985. Though this was not a merger and the boards remained independent of each other, the East Midlands and West Midlands boards, who stopped offering CSEs after they were phased out in 1987, now only offered exams as part of MEG, although they continued their other services such as in-service training, OFSTED inspections, and prison service education. The operation and processing of the GCSE was shared out between the constituent boards with the Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Nottingham and Birmingham centres each taking responsibility for a number of the subjects offered. The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, Oxford and Cambridge Schools Examination Board and Southern Universities' Joint Board each continued to offer A Levels independently. Despite its regional name, schools were free to pick which exam board to use for their qualifications and MEG eventually set 30% of all GCSE qualifications taken each year. The board also wrote syllabuses for the Certificate of Achievement (later becoming the

Entry Level Certificate The Entry Level Certificate (ELC) is a qualification offered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It lies at Entry Level of the National Qualifications Framework, pitching it just below GCSE level. The qualification ELCs are available in a var ...

), aimed at students working below GCSE level. In 1993, MEG became part of the

(UCLES), though it retained its separate identity. Around this time, UCLES also took over the East Midland Regional Examination Board. UCLES's A Level division, the Oxford and Cambridge Examinations and Assessment Council (OCEAC), took over both the Southern Universities' Joint Board and later, in 1995, the Oxford and Cambridge Board. The Midland Examining Group (MEG) headquarters offices were then in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

at the UCLES offices in Hills Road, although some MEG subject officers and part of the exam processing were still based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

in the TWMEB offices at Mill Wharf.http://birmingham.enquira.co.uk/education-training/education-agencies-authorities/midland-examining-group-west-midland-office-l15647.html Following the government decision to establish "unitary" exam boards, UCLES announced in 1997 that it was, with the Royal Society of Arts Examinations Board, launching the

Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) is an examination board that sets examinations and awards qualifications (including GCSEs and A-levels). It is one of England, Wales and Northern Ireland's five main examination boards. OCR is based ...

(OCR) exam board, which would take over running all UCLES (including MEG and OCEAC) and RSA qualifications 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

from October 1, 1998, though it continued to use the old syllabuses until they expired. The West Midlands Examinations Board became part of OCR. The MEG name appeared on some, but not all, of the Summer 1999 exam papers, but the certificates for that year, and all subsequent exam papers, featured the OCR name only.

References

{{Authority control Examination boards in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1985 Organizations disestablished in 1998 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom