| We are thrilled to announce that SIAS has successfully expanded its Scope of Recognition with Ofqual to include regulated qualifications, achieving full Awarding Organisation (AO) status. This strategic transition marks a significant milestone in our journey. Building on the success of our world-class, customer-focused, End-Point Assessment (EPA) services, we will now also provide qualifications and a range of wider assessment, accreditation, and skills solutions. Steve Smith, Managing Director at SIAS said: “This is a pivotal and transformational moment for the business. SIAS as an EPAO has experienced significant growth over the past 2-3 years due to our unique model, and our obsession with providing a high-quality, customer-centric approach – we are now building on these strong foundations with an Awarding Organisation that shares the same mindset. “The decision to become a full Awarding Organisation aligns with our mission to put our customers’, and STEM industries needs at the centre of everything we do. Our provider and employer partners have expressed a desire for us to broaden our service offering, and we are committed to delivering that in a collaborative way. Our profound understanding of our partners’ opportunities and challenges ensures that, as an Awarding Organisation, our qualifications and wider AO products and services will always align with industry and market requirements.” From September 2024, SIAS will introduce three distinct product streams: Assessment (EPA), Awarding, and Approved. Our customer service and support model, applied across the entire learner journey, will remain central to our broader AO product and service offering, and we will continue to always provide the comprehensive support to training providers, employers, and learners, that SIAS is famous for! Steve continued: “Our expansion to a full Awarding Organisation will not impact our existing EPAO services. Nothing in our EPAO operations will be disrupted or changed, this is simply a natural evolution for SIAS, and we will aim to bring the same modern, disruptive approach to awarding as we have done to EPA by #doingthingsdifferently. “We are launching the Awarding Organisation with a core offer of qualifications in our specialised sectors in the first year, and this initial portfolio will then expand and evolve quickly. Our AO qualifications and products will, as always, be focused on our specialist technical and vocational STEM areas, inclusive of the future technologies and skills required to achieve industrial net zero targets. “We will work closely with accredited providers to support the delivery of our qualifications and are aiming to onboard multiple first mover training provider partners before our go-live date this September. “Supporting STEM industries and employers is what we do, so I’m thrilled that our transition to full Awarding Organisation means we can now deliver even more positive impact to industry at even more scale – and not just in England as we do currently, but in devolved UK nations and international markets, which is exciting!” Stay tuned for more updates as we embark on this exciting journey. We look forward to continuing our mission of delivering exceptional service and supporting the skills development agenda. |
Exciting News! SIAS Receives Ofqual Approval to Become a Full Awarding Organisation!
