SQA European Funded Projects

Modernising Scottish Higher National Provision (MSHNP Project)

In August 2004 the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) was awarded a £1.27 million European Social Fund (ESF) grant by Objective 3 Partnership under Priority 3. The grant is to aid the modernisation programme for Higher National awards in Scotland as part of an overall project worth £2.83 million. This project will develop a new online assessment system, a range of online assessment tools together with high quality support materials for key Higher National awards that will be utilised by learners, managers and deliverers of learning, and learning support staff in learning centres. It is an integral part of the wider Higher National Development Programme that SQA is spearheading for implementation throughout Scotland. This project will impact on all HNC/HND awards delivered from 2004.

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL Project)

SQA has been successfully participating in the EQUAL Programme (part of the European Social Fund) since 15 March 2004. In Round 1 SQA was awarded a £50k ESF grant through the ATLAS - Scotland (Action for Training and Learning for Asylum Seekers) Development Partnership, for:

(1) developing and piloting qualifications and materials for Asylum Seekers in Scotland, and

(2) developing Learning Centres and training ESOL practitioners in the provision of the new qualifications framework for ESOL for Asylum Seekers

The Round 1 Project was worth £138k. Round 2 of the Scottish EQUAL ESOL project commenced in July 2005 and totals £239k. Round 2 builds on Round 1 and focuses on development of NQ courses for ESOL, and development of citizenship and active citizenship materials for Asylum Seekers. ESF awarded for this round of the project amounts to some £100k.