Approval for centres and SQA qualifications

Approval is the quality assurance process which you would follow to:

• initially become an SQA centre so you can deliver SQA qualifications
• add new SQA Advanced Qualifications, HN and vocational qualifications to the range of qualifications you are approved to deliver

Approval is carried out against SQA’s Quality Assurance Criteria 2015–18 (542 KB).

Becoming an approved centre

This involves two stages:

Systems approval confirms that your centre has the management quality assurance systems to support the delivery, assessment and internal verification of SQA qualifications irrespective of what qualification(s) you intend to offer.

Qualification approval confirms that your centre has the staff, reference materials, learning materials, assessment materials, equipment and accommodation needed to deliver and assess the qualifications listed on your application. This relates to the following SQA qualifications:

• SQA Advanced Certificates and Diplomas 
• Higher National Certificates and Diplomas (HNC/HND)
• National Qualifications
• Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ)
• Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) Units
• Customised Awards (CA)
• Professional Development Awards (PDA)
• International Vocational Awards (IVA)

Schools and colleges may get automatic approval to deliver some new National Qualifications.

Once you are approved as a centre, you can apply for additional qualifications approval when you wish to offer a new qualification.

The Systems and Qualification Approval Guide 2015–18 (266 KB) (510 KB) has more information on the approval process and requirements.

Apply for approval

Find out more about becoming a centre and offering SQA qualifications.