Helping employers to drive up profits through skills
24th May 2010
Improve chief executive takes on new role
Jack Matthews, chief executive of food and drink sector skills council Improve, has been appointed a director of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework Partnership.
The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is an integrated lifelong learning framework .jpg)
which was set up in 2001 to recognise and embrace different types and modes of learning
which was set up in 2001 to recognise and embrace different types and modes of learningIt provides learners, learning providers and employers with a single reference point on all qualifications in Scotland, allowing for easier planning of training and education by describing the different courses and programmes that lead to qualifications and explaining how different learning programmes relate to one another.
Jack, who as head of Improve leads the strategic development and implementation of training and qualifications in the food and drink industry, says joining the SCQF Partnership is an exciting new challenge.
“The SCQF has led the way as the UK’s first integrated framework for comparing training and qualifications across industries and across the traditional academic-vocational divide.
“Scotland plays a vitally important role in the UK food and drink industry and joining the board of the SCQF Partnership is an opportunity to build on my commitment to driving employer-led strategies for skills and training to boost economic performance.”
Chairman of the Partnership’s Board of Management, Sir Andrew Cubie CBE, welcomed Jack to the board.
"Jack Matthews’ appointment to the Board of the SCQF Partnership represents yet another significant step in embedding the SCQF into the fabric of Scotland,” he said.
“Jack will add considerable weight to the employer voice in the importance of the framework both in vocational and academic qualifications. His knowledge of the UK skills agenda and the sector skills system greatly enhances the relevance of the SCQF proposition."
Under the SCQF, qualifications in Scotland are rated according to two measures - level and credit points. Qualifications are assigned a level between one and 12 according to complexity and difficulty. The number of credits defines the amount of content contained within a qualification according to the time spent taken to complete it, with one credit point representing an average of 10 hours of learning time. Any short course, module, unit or work-based training has the potential to be given a credit rating, allowing it to be incorporated into the Framework on its own or as part of a larger qualification.
The SCQF Partnership was established in November 2006 as a company limited by guarantee to manage the Framework, and became a charity registered in Scotland in March 2007. It aims to promote lifelong learning in Scotland by championing the use of the framework as the basis for developing and describing training and education in schools, colleges, higher education, the workplace and the community. Its members are:
- the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education;
- Scotland’s Colleges;
- Ministers of the Scottish Government;
- the Scottish Qualifications Authority; and
- Universities Scotland.
For further information, go to www.improve-skills.co.uk or www.scqf.org.uk.
Ends
Note to editors
Improve is part of the network of sector skills councils established by the government to take the lead in driving up skills in the workplace in order to promote higher productivity and stronger competitiveness for UK businesses in the global market. Funded primarily by the government, sector skills councils are also supported by employers whose needs they represent when stimulating change among the providers of education and skills. Sector skills councils work closely with employers to promote greater commitment to improving skills in their workforces, and with schools, colleges, universities, and private training organisations to improve the provision of basic skills training and to make vocational and occupational training more relevant to the modern commercial climate.
Issued on behalf of Improve, the food and drink sector skills council, www.improveltd.co.uk, by Nexnet PR, Leeds, www.nexnet.co.uk. For further information call Nexnet on 0113 247 0029 or email paul.newham@nexnet.co.uk or sophie.mccandlish@nexnet.co.uk
