· QAA continue to work on reviewing their TNE Strategy, to consider the potential scope for and interest in some scheme to quality assure UK-badged provision delivered overseas. · Scotland's Colleges International has now been fully amalgamated into the new Scotland's Colleges organisation under the Sector Development Directorate (SDD) with no change to the existing team members. Revised strategy and operational plans are currently being developed for 2010-2011. As from Aug 2010 the SCI Team will be responsible for all of the colleges in Scotland and not just the previous SCI members. · Several MOUs have been signed with Indian institutions to underpin work undertaken by the college sector in India and the strategic investment fund project has formed 4 Working Groups which are currently working on brochures and product catalogues for each of the sectors, Life Sciences, Oil and Gas, Creative Industries and Hospitality. · Prime Minister's Iniative (PMI2) grants have been given through UKCISA to Glasgow Caledonian University and Heriot-Watt University for employability projects · EdUKS has been planning campaign activity in China over the past six months, which has included research into the field of creative industries in China and analysis of Tier 2 cities to target. · The EdUKS Manager travelled to India in Dec 2009 on a scoping visit to find potential partnerships between Scottish and Indian Life Sciences institutions in Pune. Fergusson College hosted an afternoon's workshop on 9 Dec 2009 for a presentation on the Life Sciences sector in Scotland and an overview of the particular strengths of Scottish universities, colleges and research institutes. · EdUKS has implemented three workshops; 'Scotland's Colleges in China', 'Market Focus: Nigeria' and most recently 'Working Effectively with Agents'. · The initial year of the Scotland's Saltire Scholarship programme attracted 1,165 applications and a welcome reception was held for the first cohort of Scholars in Oct 2009. Launch of the second year of this scheme took place in late Oct 2009 with a new online application process on the website. · SQA officers (including CEO) made visits to China in Oct - Dec 2009 to discuss existing and possible new strands of collaboration. One aspect of these discussions has been SQA's work with Hanban (Chinese Language Council International) to extend the successful partnership which began in 2008. · SQA has also held discussions with Hanban on supporting British Council and Learnign and Teaching Scotland initiatives to extend the number of Scottish young people attending summer camps in China. · SQA have a variety of ongoing work with international education projects: providing Assessor and Verifier training for the ADGAS Training Teams based on DAS Islands and Headquarters in Abu Dhabi. They will host a study visit for a delegation from ADGAS in Feb 2010 the "Developing a National Qualifications Framework" contract for Bahrain, project activities commenced officially on 13 Jan 2010 the Establishment of Bosnia & Herzegovina Education Agency. A one year project started in Sept 2008 met project outputs by end Nov 2009. The final report was presented to the Steering Committee in Jan 2010 services to support and accredit Botswana Technical Education Programmes. Phase III of the project commenced in March 2008 and is scheduled for completion in March 2011 various ongoing activities in Egypt resulting from the MoU that SQA signed, in March 2009, with two key bodies within the field of training and education contracted by the British Council to provide one short-term international expert to assist with the development of construction sector qualifications in Eritrea. The consultant is currently deployed in Eritrea on the first of two inputs, with the second input scheduled for March 2010. an extension to the World Bank-funded project commenced in July 2009 and is scheduled to complete early in 2010 |