National Qualification Group Awards

National Qualification Group Awards: National Certificates and National Progression Awards

National Certificates and National Progression Awards (NPAs) are vocational qualifications designed to prepare people for employment, for career development or for progression to further study.

National Certificates and NPAs are available at SCQF levels 2-6 and can be delivered in colleges or through partnerships between colleges, schools and employers.

National Certificates are primarily aimed at 16-18 year olds and adults in full-time education, normally at a college. They prepare candidates for employment or further study, by developing a range of knowledge and skills. National Certificates have specific aims which relate to occupational areas and are linked to National Occupational Standards.

NPAs are designed to assess a defined set of skills and knowledge in specialist vocational areas. They are mainly used by colleges for short programmes of study. NPAs are linked to National Occupational Standards.

National Certificates and NPAs are now available in a range of sectoral areas.

Arrangements documents for these new Group Awards will be uploaded, as and when the qualifications become validated, under the subject listed on the left of this page.

For more details on planned development dates of National Certificates and NPAs in each of the subject areas above, please refer to the NQGA Status Report and Development Schedule.

Latest News

• To read the latest updates relating to this area please see our dedicated NQGA news section.

National Qualification Group Awards (NQGA) Conference 2008

The NQGA Conference 2008 was held on Friday 25 January at the Carnegie Conference Centre in Dunfermline.  Copies of the presentations of the key speakers, presentations from the sessions are now available to download. Follow this link to view more information on the Conference.