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02 March 2009

ILM is now approved as a Scottish Credit Rating Body by the SCQF Partnership.  This means that ILM qualifications can now be fully integrated with the Scottish education system, providing leaders and managers with potential progression routes from ILM qualifications into a range of other Scottish qualifications up to Masters level, possibly with exemptions through credit transfer.

The move highlights ILM’s commitment to strengthening the relationship with its extensive network of 168 expert leadership and management development centres in Scotland, removing barriers between the UK nations and enabling learners and providers to compare both the level and size of the ILM provision with other Scottish qualifications.

Penny de Valk, Chief Executive of ILM said: “ILM is delighted to be awarded Credit Rating Body status in Scotland.  We see this as a major benefit to leaders and managers in Scotland who can now gain qualifications which are credit rated and levelled on the SCQF, giving them the opportunity to progress onto other programmes which will help to develop their skills and further their careers.”

Aileen Ponton, CEO of the SCQF Partnership said: “We look forward to continuing to work in partnership with ILM and expanding the learning provision which sits in the Framework to the benefit of all learners and employers.”

- Ends -

For further information and interviews with ILM Chief Executive Penny de Valk, please contact:
Amy MacLaren or Rebecca Griffiths at Colman Getty
020 7631 2666 / amy@colmangetty.co.uk / rebeccagriffiths@colmangetty.co.uk

Notes to editors:

About ILM
The Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) is Europe’s leading management organisation. ILM partners with more than 80,000 individuals and organisations each year to help them fulfil their potential and achieve success through its wide range of flexible leadership and management development solutions.

From industry-leading qualifications and membership services to specialist learning resources, all ILM products and services are built on in-depth research and benchmarked against best practice standards. Supporting a fast-growing community of over 30,000 practising leaders and managers, ILM’s membership services are designed to provide ongoing continuing professional development throughout every stage of a manager’s career.

Backed by an in depth programme of thought leadership research, ILM operates internationally, improving leadership and management skills, knowledge and outputs across all sectors, from corporate finance to the armed forces.

Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM)
www.i-l-m.com

Background to the SCQF and SCQF Partnership

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is a unified Framework for qualifications and credit in Scotland. It was created by bringing together the main national frameworks of the higher education institutions (HEIs) and the Scottish Qualifications Authority. It is capable of embracing all learning in Scotland – provided that such learning has explicit learning outcomes and external quality assured assessment of learner achievement of those outcomes.

In November 2006 the SCQF Partnership Board was set up to manage the Framework. The members are:
• the Association of Scotland's Colleges;
• the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education;
• Scottish Ministers
• the Scottish Qualifications Authority; and
• Universities Scotland.
The SCQF Partnership's aims are to:
• Maintain the quality and integrity of the Framework;
• Promote and develop the Framework as a way of supporting lifelong learning;
• Develop and maintain relationships with frameworks in the rest of the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.

Background to Credit Rating and the Extension of CRB Pilot

Credit rating is the process of allocating an SCQF level and SCQF general credit points to a defined set of learning outcomes. All learning can be given a level on the Scottish Framework provided it has at least a notional 10 hours of learning, a clear set of learning outcomes and external quality assured assessment of learner achievement. A Credit Rating Body (CRB) is a party or organisation recognised by the SCQF Partnership as being able to carry out this process. A CRB will confer SCQF general credit and level to a programme of learning. 

Even with SQA, HEIs and colleges able to credit rate eligible learning provision for the Framework, there still remain large numbers of qualifications which are offered in Scotland, which could be added to the Framework and are not yet credit rated.  This means that many learners might still find it difficult to progress easily since links between qualifications, which could allow them to receive credit for their learning, have not been made clear by putting them into the Framework.

Skills for Scotland requires the SCQF Partnership:

“to move quickly to ensure that the SCQF embraces more learning opportunities by increasing the number of credit rating bodies; facilitating the inclusion of work based learning programmes and encouraging the recognition of informal learning.”

It is only by making credit rating part of the mainstream that will help to ensure the critical mass of qualifications and other learning programmes are placed on the Framework.  This will make the matter of learners’ progression clearer and easier. In order to bring more learning into the Framework there is a clear need both to increase the capacity of existing bodies to credit rate the qualifications of others and, most importantly, recognise new credit rating bodies.  The SCQF Partnership is committed to extending the facility to credit rate to other bodies whilst ensuring that the process does not compromise the integrity and quality of the Framework.  Organisations can only gain credit rating authority if they meet the necessary criteria and can demonstrate that they operate rigorous quality assurance procedures for the allocation of SCQF credit and level within the SCQF Guidelines.