Scottish Qualifications Authority

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA; Gaelic: Ùghdarras Theisteanas na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government responsible for awarding qualifications and accrediting other awarding bodies. The majority of the authority’s funding comes from the Scottish Government. This is supplemented by fees for delivering qualifications and for accreditation. The authority employs approximately 750 staff based in Glasgow and Dalkeith.

The SQA is best known for the delivery of the annual diet of public examinations within Scotland for school pupils. SQA Higher examinations are the generally accepted level for entry to university, with Scottish universities usually requesting a minimum of three Highers, all above C level. However, a greater number of candidates of all ages participate in SQA specialist, vocational and higher education qualifications. SQA is also accredited by Ofqual to offer educational qualifications in England.

In June 2021, following a review of Curriculum for Excellence by the OECD, the Scottish government announced that the SQA would be replaced. The Education (Scotland) Act 2025 establishes the replacement body - called Qualifications Scotland (Gaelic: Teisteanasan Alba) - is going to start on 1 December 2025.

The SQA's functions and responsibilities are laid out in the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 as amended by the Scottish Qualifications Authority Act 2002. Until their merger, the two major Scottish examination authorities were the Scottish Examination Board (SEB) and the Scottish Vocational Education Council (SCOTVEC). The former issued the school-level examinations, then called Standard Grade, Higher Grade and Certificate of Sixth Year Studies (CSYS). A legacy of its two precursor bodies, the Authority's offices remain split over two sites, one in Glasgow and one in Dalkeith.

Under a major reform of Scottish exams (the National Qualifications or "Higher Still" reforms), the CSYS was replaced with a broadly equivalent qualification called Advanced Higher. Some curriculum changes were also made to the Higher grade at this time. The introduction of the reformed examinations system was criticised in the press and by the government after a series of administrative and computer errors led to several thousand incorrect Higher and Intermediate certificates being sent out. The crisis took several months to resolve, and several management figures, including the Chief Executive Ron Tuck, resigned or were fired.

The Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) (formerly SCOTVEC number) is allocated to pupils at school and in further-education colleges who undertake Scottish Qualifications Authority (formerly SCOTVEC or Scottish Examination Board) courses.

SQA has a statutory responsibility to provide public examinations for Scottish state schools, though these are also used more widely. It has a statutory responsibility to accredit (formally, scrutinise them and confirm that they conform to agreed UK criteria) vocational qualifications. None of its qualifications, still less its vocational qualifications, is protected by statute, but the Authority has a largely dominant position within all sectors of qualifications within Scotland. SQA awards are also exported to a number of countries including China, Africa, the Middle East, Russia and former Soviet republics and other countries.^{[citation needed]} SQA also provides the licensing certification for many merchant navies throughout the world.^{[citation needed]}

A National Qualification (NQ) takes the form of National Courses.