QAA opens consultation on International Access to HE Diploma
| Date: | June 3 - 2025 |
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The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), which has been the regulator for the Access to Higher Education Diploma since 1997, has opened a consultation on the proposed regulation and licensing of a potential new international version of the diploma. QAA conducted a public consultation on the broad principles of an International Access to Higher Education Diploma (IAHED) in 2024. This second consultation invites further feedback from all stakeholders, in particular those with operational insight, to shape the specific details of the proposed IAHED and its regulation – the Access Validating Agencies (AVAs) which award the diploma, Access to HE providers, and policymakers and practitioners with an international remit, for instance.
The proposed IAHED would be delivered outside of the UK. It would provide students internationally with the opportunity to enter higher education irrespective of whether the student aimed to enter UK higher education (delivered overseas through a transnational arrangement, or in the UK), or higher education in another country.
The consultation outlines proposed requirements of Access Validating Agencies in order for them to receive a license to validate the international diploma. Proposals also cover the required English language proficiency level and permitted delivery modes of the diploma.
The consultation proposes that AVAs would initially be subject to a two-year pilot period during which licences will be issued on a country-by-country basis. Thereafter an AVA could become eligible for a five-year full international licence.
QAA licenses Access Validating Agencies (AVAs) to develop, validate and award the Access to Higher Education Diploma in the UK. The Access to HE Diploma primarily focuses on providing adult learners who wish to enter higher education with the necessary qualifications in the subject area they wish to follow.
You can read the consultation documents online.
Responses should be submitted using our online survey by 6 July 2025.