SCI - Missions to India in Feb 2010, Caribbean Development Bank in Feb 2010, Kazakhstan in March 2010 and China with SQA in March 2010.
- Submitted 2 bids on behalf of the college sector into Scottish Government under the Scottish Government International Development Fund.
- Work within the sector to clarify and disseminate the new UKBA Tier 4 legislation .
- SCI and Universities Scotland gave evidence to the Economic, Enterprise and Tourism committee at the Scottish Parliament.
- In February 2010, QAA Scotland organised a major international workshop in Brussels on "Recognition of Prior Learning: sharing European principles and practice", in collaboration with the Scottish Government. Work is now progressing on setting up a European RPL network to share practice.
- SAAS had the European Education Fair (part of the European Working Group) in Bucharest on March 12-15;. ran seminars at Irish Career Guidance Counsellors annual conference in Mullingar, Ireland on March 5; had the SACO event Stockholm (part of the European Working Group) on December 3-4; and had the Studia 2009 event in Helsinki December (part of the European Working Group).
SQA - Ongoing awarding activity including:
- working with Hanban (Chinese Language Council International) to extend the partnership which began in 2008. - discussions with Hanban on supporting British Council and LTS initiatives to extend the number of Scottish young people attending summer camps in China. - Dr Brown, SQA's CEO, visited Beijing 8 March to attend the China International Education Exhibition Tour and the annual meeting of CSCSE/SQA HND expert panel,. - had a presence in Beijing and Shanghai at the 15th China International Education Exhibition Tour (CIEET) 2010 from 13-28 March. - Various ongoing consultancy work:
- Providing assessor and verifier training for the ADGAS Training Teams based on DAS Islands and Headquarters in Abu Dhabi. 10 training sessions have been carried out and a further 6 are scheduled. SQA hosted a study visit for a delegation from ADGAS in February 2010. -The "Developing a National Qualifications Framework" contract for Bahrain commenced on 13 January 2010. -The Establishment of Bosnia & Herzegovina Education Agency. -Services to support and accredit Botswana Technical Education Programmes. The project manager carried out a monitoring visit in February 2010 to agree consultancy inputs over the next 12 months. - Awarded a contract to assist on strengthening framework for the development of the VET occupational standards/qualifications & curricula in Croatia. Project activities commenced on 27 January 2010. . - Contracts for endorsement and scrutiny of EVCQs were signed in November 2009. A pilot for the endorsement of standards has been carried out and, on this basis, SQA is in a position to scrutinise and endorse the standards in a further 230 EVCQs. -Regarding the TVET Reform Project for the reform of the vocational education and training system in Egypt, it commenced in April 2008 and the project manager made a monitoring visit in February 2010. - Contracted by the British Council to provide 1 short-term international expert to assist with the development of construction sector qualifications in Eritrea. The consultant completed his first input in January 2010 and his final input is in March 2010. - Contract in July 2009 for Development of QA, Accreditation and Development of NQA & NQF. -An extension to the World Bank-funded project commenced in July 2009 and is scheduled to complete in June 2010. -The Romanian Sectoral Committee for Continuous Vocational Training in Environment Protection, an expert was deployed to deliver training to Romanian Stakeholders on the development of occupational standards in the Environment Sector in January 2010. - British Council on behalf of the National Training Agency of Trinidad and Tobago (NTATT) invited SQA to provide key expert input for a short consultancy input of 10 days in March 2010 following the successful submission of an EOI. - Participated in strategic visits to raise awareness of Scottish education and training which include participation in the following events:
-Going Global Conference: 24-26th March 2010 in London. -Getenergy Exploration & Production Conference: 23rd-24th March 20101 in Kuala Lumpur. -British Council Indonesia Policy Dialogue Event, 9th-10th March 2010. -The Referencing of the UK Frameworks to the EQF, conference, 26th-27th April 2010. UKCISA - Review of the PMI Pilot projects scheme demonstrated value and impact over the last three years during which 10 projects have been supported at Scottish universities and colleges (full report on www.ukcisa.org.uk).
- 3 other UKCISA courses on Fees and Immigration have also been held in Scotland over the last few months and a 'Policy Forum' to debate all aspects of the international student experience in Scotland.
- 2 surveys of the experiences of international students applying for or to extend their visas under Tier 4 have been published. The second found that only 36% found the process quick and efficient, only 50% found the application form easy to complete and only 15% found the cost reasonable. UKCISA continues to discuss with the UKBA about improvements.
Universities Scotland - Finalising the messaging project in the end of May 2010.
- Signed MoU with Association of Indian Universities and Ministry of Education in Rwanda both in October 2009.
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