Further education in the United Kingdom and Ireland is additional education to that received at secondary school that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. It may be at any level in compulsory secondary education, from entry to higher level qualifications such as awards, certificates, diplomas and other vocational, competency-based qualifications through awarding organisations including City and Guilds, Edexcel (BTEC) and OCR. FE colleges may also offer HE qualifications such as HNC, HND, foundation degree or PGCE. The colleges are also a large service provider for apprenticeships where most of the training takes place at the apprentices' workplace, supplemented with day release into college.
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. Its name is a portmanteau term combining the words education and excellence.
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is an English language based secondary qualification similar to the GCSE and is recognised in the United Kingdom as being equivalent to the GCSE for the purposes of recognising prior attainment. It was developed by Cambridge Assessment International Education. The examination boards Edexcel, Learning Resource Network (LRN), and Oxford AQA also offer their own versions of International GCSEs. Students normally begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 10 and take the test at the end of Year 11. However, in some international schools, students can begin studying the syllabus at the beginning of Year 9 and take the test at the end of Year 10.
The One World Trust is a charitable organization that promotes education and research into changes required in global governance to achieve the eradication of poverty, injustice, environmental degradation and war. It develops recommendations on practical ways to make powerful organisations more accountable to the people they affect now and in the future, and how the rule of law can be applied to all.
The UCAS Tariff is used to allocate points to post-16 qualifications. Universities and colleges may use it when making offers to applicants. A points total is achieved by converting qualifications, such as A-Levels, into points, making it simpler for course providers to compare applicants. It is used as a means of giving students from the United Kingdom places at UK universities.
The Commonwealth Foundation (CF) is an intergovernmental organisation that was established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government in 1966, a year after its sister organisation, the Commonwealth Secretariat. The Foundation is located at Marlborough House in London, a former royal palace which was assigned for the use of these Commonwealth institutions by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the former Head of the Commonwealth. As the Commonwealth agency for civil society, the Foundation is funded by 49 member states to support participatory governance through its programmes. The Foundation provides resources, grants and access to platforms to encourage better engagement between civil society and institutions of governance. Membership of the Commonwealth Foundation is voluntary and is separate from membership of the Commonwealth of Nations.
The A-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 authorities of British Crown dependencies to students completing secondary or pre-university education. They were introduced in England and Wales in 1951 to replace the Higher School Certificate. The A-level permits students to have potential access to a chosen university they applied to with UCAS points. They could be accepted into it should they meet the requirements of the university.
Skills and Volunteering Cymru (SVC), formerly Student Volunteering Cardiff, is an independent charity registered in the UK and based in the Cardiff area. SVC offers volunteering opportunities to both students and community members in and around the city of Cardiff working with the elderly, young, disadvantaged, and vulnerable. The mission of SVC is to enhance the lives of disadvantaged and vulnerable members of the local community.
Wikimedia UK (WMUK), also known as Wikimedia United Kingdom, is a registered charity established to support volunteers in the United Kingdom who work on Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia. As such, it is a Wikimedia chapter approved by the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), which owns and hosts those projects.
The Hong Kong College of Engineering (HKCE) was established in 1992 and is a new conceptual college that focuses on providing training for the engineering industry.
The National Extension College (NEC) was set up in 1963 as a not-for-profit organisation for distance learning for people of all ages. It was founded as a pilot study for the Open University.
ICS Learn, also known as International Correspondence Schools Ltd, is a provider of online learning courses in the UK. It was founded in 1889 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The UK branch was set up in 1904, and it now serves around 25,000 current students. Its students are based in more than 100 countries, predominantly in the UK but also across the Middle East, Asia, and Ireland.
The Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) is a provider of secondary school leaving qualifications and further education qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. While the T in BTEC stood for Technical, according to the DfE (2016) it now stands for Technology. BTECs originated in 1984 and were awarded by Edexcel from 1996. Their origins lie in the Business Education Council, formed in 1974 to "rationalise and improve the relevance of sub-degree vocational education". They are the responsibility of the Minister of State for Skills, Apprenticeships and Higher Education in the Department for Education.
St Andrews International School Bangkok is a British International School founded in 1997 that provides a British-style education and curriculum to children ranging from Foundation Stage 1 to High School. St Andrews is a Nord Anglia Education operated school and part of a network of 78 schools that spans across 31 countries. St Andrews has over 2000 students representing an international community of 50+ nationalities. St Andrews is an inclusive school that welcomes students of all abilities to be ambitious and learn in a diverse and safe environment.
The Comino Foundation is a United Kingdom-based educational charitable organization. It was founded in 1971 by, and takes its name, from Australia-born engineer and inventor Demetrius Comino and his daughter Anna.
Sir John Stranger Holman is an English chemist and academic. He is emeritus professor of chemistry at the University of York, senior advisor in education at the Gatsby Foundation, founding director of the National STEM Learning Centre, Chair of the Bridge Group, past president of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and of The Association for Science Education (ASE).
Stafford Sri Lankan School Doha was inaugurated in October 2001 under the patronage of former Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Qatar, Meerasahib Mahroof. The school is affiliated with the Embassy of Sri Lanka in Qatar and runs as a nonprofit organization. The Patron of the school is the serving Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Qatar and a Qatari Sponsor, Yousuf Ahamad Al Feraidoni. The school is governed by a board of trustees.
Pennon Foreign Language School, Beijing, founded in 2008, is a full-time Edexcel high school in Beijing Edexcel is the UK's largest A-level examination organization.
Science education in England is generally regulated at all levels for assessments that are England's, from 'primary' to 'tertiary' (university). Below university level, science education is the responsibility of three bodies: the Department for Education, Ofqual and the QAA, but at university level, science education is regulated by various professional bodies, and the Bologna Process via the QAA. The QAA also regulates science education for some qualifications that are not university degrees via various qualification boards, but not content for GCSEs, and GCE AS and A levels. Ofqual on the other hand regulates science education for GCSEs and AS/A levels, as well as all other qualifications, except those covered by the QAA, also via qualification boards.
The Dawood Foundation (TDF) is a nonprofit family foundation based in Karachi, Pakistan. TDF has been working in Pakistan since the 1960s and has been heavily involved in establishing various formal and informal education institutions across the country.
