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, and 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 also linked to National Occupational Standards.

National Certificates and NPAs are now available in a range of sectoral areas — see the list in the left-hand subject menu.

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.

Case Studies

NQGA Construction Case Study

NQGA Digital Literacy Case Study

NQGA PC Passport Case Study

NQGA Playwork and Childcare Case Study

Latest News

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

National Qualification Group Awards (NQGA) Conference 2009

The annual NQGA Conference was held at the Radisson Hotel, Glasgow on 13 March 2009. Presentations from the speakers, seminar information, and reports are now available to download.More information on the NQGA Conference 2009