Colleges as SCQF Credit Rating Bodies: Experiences of the Early Adopters

In 2005, all colleges were invited to participate in a college credit rating pilot project which was set up with funding from the Scottish Funding Council and Scottish Executive. Eight colleges took part in the pilot and were involved in credit rated some of their own provision.

An SCQF conference was held on 2 October at the Quality Hotel in Perth to disseminate the outcomes of the pilot and the participating collegesshared their experience of the process to a wider audience.

The Conference was opened by Dr Andrew Cubie who set the scene for the day on how colleges as credit rating bodies contribute to the aims of the SCQF. This was followed by Sheila Page of HMIe who presented the findings of the HMIe Evalutation Report on which was produced as an outcome of the College Credit Rating Pilot. The report will be availablein mid-Novemberonline at both thethe SCQF and HMIe Websites.

Each of theeight colleges who participated in the pilot disseminated their experience and explained the credit rating processes put in place within their college.This was followed byworkshopswhich focussed on opportunities for building greatercredit rating capacity in colleges. Bill Harvey from the ScottishFundingCouncil closed the day by outlining the opportunities for colleges as credit rating bodies andthe vision for the future.

This successful event attractedanumber of delegatesfrom colleges thathad not been involved in the pilot which indicatestheinterest that colleges havein this exciting development within SCQF.

Further information on the materials and resources used in the pilot will soon be available on the Scotland's Colleges webpage.