Latest News

Written by Nina Hinton, Director of Business and Development   Thursday 19th June was a day of celebration at Open Awards as we held our Annual General Meeting. This year’s event was especially significant as we mark 20 years of trading as Open Awards (formerly Open College Network, North-West Region). It was a moment to reflect […]

We are delighted to announce our next education summit. Join us on the 2nd of October for a full day of education insights. After the success of last year’s AI summit, we knew we wanted to continue hosting community events. Yet, we knew that we needed to expand our format to respond to the complex […]

Written by Nina Hinton, Director of Business and Development   Learning at Work Week is an opportunity to reflect on the importance of supporting all learners, and particularly those furthest away from the labour market, to access meaningful experiences in the world of work. For me, it is the word ‘meaningful’ that is critical. Experience […]

Written by Abigail Black, Business Development Officer     As a mum of three, balancing work, motherhood, and everyday responsibilities often feels like a constant juggling act! With so much energy poured into taking care of everyone else, it’s easy to put our own needs last. But self-care isn’t selfish—it’s essential for maintaining mental health and […]

In today’s world, qualifications are like golden tickets to jobs, education, and career growth. But what happens when those tickets are fake? Ofqual, with the support of Open Awards, are taking the steps to remove qualification fraud and ensure that all certificates truly represent a person’s skills and knowledge. To further fight fraud, Ofqual have […]

Open Awards are delighted to announce that our Trustees have awarded Southport College the Open Awards Bursary for their Access to Higher Education laboratory project. In response to this year’s theme of ‘Doing Things Differently’, Southport College proposed changing the delivery and assessment of their Access to HE healthcare diplomas by redeveloping their old laboratory […]

Written by Robin Jackson, Director of Assessment at Open Awards Given the complexities of apprenticeships, trying to determine what Open Awards should charge for end-point assessment can, feel like a dark art. So how have we approached this, at times divisive, subject? Why we don’t just charge ‘the 20%’ It’s tempting to take the simple […]

At Open Awards, we take a 360-approach to supporting our learners on their education journey. A key part of this is obviously our qualifications, apprenticeship standards and courses. But, without additional resources, support and tools, a qualification can easily become just another piece of paper. To enable our learners to achieve more than just a […]

We are so proud to announce that our joint project, “The Knowledge Hub”, has been nominated for ‘Quality Improvement Collaboration of the Year’ at the Quality Professionals Awards!   What is The Knowledge Hub? A joint project between Open Awards, OCN London, Agored and ECITB, The Knowledge Hub was designed to facilitate meaningful and proactive communication within the industry. Meeting quarterly, […]

Written by Heather Akehurst OBE, in response to the Education Committee’s call for evidence on post-16 education.   As an awarding body and non-profit organisation, Open Awards is committed to advocating for the needs of the learners. Our response provides practical advice on how The Education Committee can help all learners achieve their goals. We […]