Public Funding for Sage Qualifications Ltd

Sage Qualifications predominantly delivered qualifications into the Higher Education (HE) sector, however, the onset of COVID-19 meant that many Further Education (FE) colleges turned to us for help with the provision of courses and software as well as the ability to provide remote testing. This is a move that we see as permanent as we move forward from COVID-19 when recovery is complete, and we have a ‘new normal’ in terms of the delivery of education. Moving forward from the impact of the original funding: • We need to develop the algorithmic testing software covered by the original grant at HE level, to roll out to our FE level courses at all levels so that we can better service this market. We need to fully market test this as the qualifications are fundable using public funding and audit requirements are stringent. • As the FE market has a lower skill level of learners, we need to develop a tool that will automate the process required by the algorithmic testing software. • Currently our RQF courses have open assessments as the traffic on them has been low and delivery was in the classroom where invigilation can be undertaken. We need to develop these courses to enable time-controlled assessments (they automatically close after a period) This move has been approved and welcomed by the Ofqual Awarding organisation with whom the qualification approval lies. As a result of the original grant we were awarded Exemption status for our examinations and testing method by the Association of Accounting Technicians. Due to this and the expected rapid increase in FE learners requiring RQF accredited qualifications, (ref the government’s 2.5bn funding for Adult Skills) we need to have a better more robust backup system of our courses and learner results and need to be able to designate the courses that require this (to reduce backup time, cost and data held). We need to automate this so that it runs daily