A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or official document of diplomacy.
The Scottish Qualifications Authority is the executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for accrediting educational awards. It is partly funded by the Education, Communities and Justice Directorates of the Scottish Government, and employs approximately 750 staff based in Glasgow and Dalkeith.
The Scottish Examination Board (SEB), formerly known as the Scottish Certificate of Education Examination Board (SCEEB), was the academic examination board for Scottish schools from 1965 to 1997.
Standard Grades were Scotland's educational qualifications for students aged around 14 to 16 years. Introduced in 1986, the Grades were replaced in 2013 with the Scottish Qualifications Authority's National exams in a major shake-up of Scotland's education system as part of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework overhaul.
In the Scottish secondary education system, the Higher is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) offered by the Scottish Qualifications Authority. It superseded the old Higher Grade on the Scottish Certificate of Education (SCE). Both are normally referred to simply as "Highers".
A graduate diploma is generally a qualification taken after completion of a first degree, although the level of study varies in different countries from being at the same level as the final year of a bachelor's degree to being at a level between a master's degree and a doctorate. In some countries the graduate diploma and postgraduate diploma are synonymous, while in others the postgraduate diploma is a higher qualification.
The National Certificate is a higher education qualification in a technology discipline offered by higher institutions across the globe. Each country has its own specifications about the certificate.
Higher National Diploma (HND), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is an academic higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and various other countries. They were introduced in England and Wales in 1920 alongside the Ordinary National Diploma and the Higher National Certificate. A qualification of the same title is also offered in Argentina, Brunei, Cameroon, India, Malta, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and some other countries.
A Certificate of Higher Education (Cert.H.E./CertHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom.
A Diploma of Higher Education (DipHE) is a higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and Sweden.
A national qualifications framework (NQF) is a formal system describing qualifications. 47 countries participating in the Bologna Process are committed to producing a national qualifications framework. Other countries not part of this process also have national qualifications frameworks.
Credit Accumulation and Transfer Scheme (CATS) is used by many universities in the United Kingdom to monitor, record and reward passage through a modular degree course and to facilitate movement between courses and institutions. One UK credit is equivalent to the learning outcomes of 10 notional hours of study, thus a university course of 150 notional study hours is worth 15 credits, and a university course of 300 notional study hours is worth 30 credits. A full academic year is worth 120 credits and a full calendar year 180 credits. CATS schemes in use in Higher Education in the UK include CATS, SCOTCAT (Scotland), the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales credit framework (Wales), the Learning and Skills Development Agency credit framework and Open College Network credits.
A postgraduate certificate (abbreviated as PGCert, PG Cert or PGC is a postgraduate qualification at the level of a master's degree.
An academic certificate or tech certificate is a document that certifies that a person has received specific education or has passed a test or series of tests.
In the United Kingdom, an awarding body is an examination board which sets examinations and awards qualifications, such as GCSEs and A-levels. 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:
The Malaysian Qualifications Framework or the MQF is a unified system of post secondary qualifications offered on a national basis in Malaysia. It is administered by the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), a statutory body under the purview of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE).
In the UK education sector, there are a wide range of qualification types offered by the United Kingdom awarding bodies. Qualifications range in size and type, can be academic, vocational or skills-related, and are grouped together into different levels of difficulty. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, qualifications are divided into Higher Education qualifications, which are on the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) and are awarded by bodies with degree awarding powers, and Regulated qualifications, which are on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and are accredited by Ofqual in England, the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment in Northern Ireland and Qualifications Wales in Wales. In Scotland, qualifications are divided into Higher Education qualifications, Scottish Qualifications Authority qualifications and Scottish Vocational Qualifications/Modern Apprenticeships, which are on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). Scottish Higher Education Qualifications are on both the SCQF and the FHEQ.
A graduate certificate is an educational credential representing completion of specialized training at the college or university level. A graduate certificate can be awarded by universities upon completion of certain coursework indicating mastering of a specific subject area. Graduate certificates represent training at different levels in different countries, for example a graduate certificate is at master's degree level in Ireland, but is at a bachelor's degree level in the United Kingdom. In both cases, the graduate certificate represents less work than a degree at the same level.
Alternative pathways in education are alternative means of obtaining educational qualifications, other than the traditional means of gaining access to or completing the required study to obtain the educational qualifications.
The national qualification frameworks in the United Kingdom are qualifications frameworks that define and link the levels and credit values of different qualifications.
