The Approval Process

The process outlined in this publication is for the development and validation of HNCs and HNDs. Approval is a separate process, and scrutinises the resources and preparedness of the centre to offer the Group Award. This will usually be a separate internal college process, although it may be carried out at the same time as validation (if the college has the appropriate devolved authority) if no conditions are applied to the Group Award. Once a qualification has been internally approved for delivery, the college should complete a DAAPP 1 form (see SQA Form 6) to request Units/awards to be added to their approved list.

Once a new consortium award has been validated, the appropriate Qualifications Manager will provide centres with advice about any changes. Where no substantial changes have been made, approval will be given automatically to existing providers. Where there are substantial changes, centres will have to request that new Units and awards are added to their approved list.

The steps involved in approval are often necessary at an early stage within centres. Your processes for developing a Group Award should, therefore, take full account of the resource implications for delivery. Some tools which might help you plan delivery are Centre Tool 25, Centre Tool 26 and Centre Tool 27 - these are for auditing existing materials; planning programme delivery, and planning programme assessment.

Internal approval processes will include looking at: