The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA. Gaelic: Ùghdarras Theisteanas na h-Alba) was 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 came from the Scottish Government. This was supplemented by fees for delivering qualifications and for accreditation. In January 2026 (amidst its transition to Qualifications Scotland) the authority employed over 1,000 people across its Glasgow and Dalkeith offices.

The SQA was best known for its delivery of the annual diet of public examinations to school pupils within Scotland. SQA Higher qualifications were the generally accepted level for entry to University, with Scottish Universities typically requiring a minimum of four Highers, with the required grades being dependent on the institution. However, a greater number of candidates of all ages participated in SQA specialist, vocational and higher education qualifications. The SQA was also accredited by Ofqual to offer educational qualifications in England.

In June 2021, following a review of Curriculum for Excellence by the OECD, there was an agreement that the SQA placed too much importance on exams and the Scottish government announced that the SQA was to be replaced.

The Education (Scotland) Act 2025 established the SQA's replacement body, Qualifications Scotland (QS; ), on 1 December 2025. The BBC reported that QS was "taking [the SQA's] place" from 2 December 2025. QS later stated that it "replaced" the SQA on 1 February 2026; it was on this date that staff and property were transferred to the new organisation. The SQA was formally dissolved on 26 February 2026.

History

The SQA's functions and responsibilities were laid out in the Education (Scotland) Act 1996 as amended by the (asp 14). 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 remained 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.

Scottish Candidate Number The Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) (formerly SCOTVEC number) was allocated to pupils at school and in further-education colleges who undertook SQA (formerly SCOTVEC or Scottish Examination Board) qualifications.

Qualification types The SQA had a statutory responsibility to provide public examinations for Scottish state schools, though these were also used widely. It had a statutory responsibility to accredit (formally, scrutinize them and confirm that they conform to agreed UK criteria) vocational qualifications. None of its qualifications, still less its vocational qualifications, were protected by statute, but the Authority had a largely dominant position within all sectors of qualifications within Scotland. Some SQA awards, such as the Advanced Diploma were also offered internationally in locations including China, African countries, the Middle East, and more.

National Qualifications A National Qualification (NQ) took the form of National Courses.

Standard Grades were in existence before the Higher Still reforms. There were three Standard Grade Levels: Foundation, General and Credit. They were normally taken at the age 14–15, or sometimes at 16 if the student's birthday was before May, usually during High School.

National Courses were introduced with the "Higher Still" reforms. There were seven National Courses; National 1, National 2, National 3, National 4, National 5, Higher, and Advanced Higher. A wide range of National Courses could be taken, from academic subjects such as English and Mathematics, to vocational subjects such as Accounting and Mental Health Care. A Course Assessment was normally taken at the end of a one-year course in the early summer.

In addition to traditional National Qualification Courses, a new suite of "pre-vocational" courses entitled "Skills for Work" were rolled out. Primarily available at Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 levels, these pre-vocational courses aimed to give students an awareness of the workplace environment, the skills required for entry to an industry, and generic employment skills. Each of these Courses were awarded on the Scottish Qualifications Certificate.

Reorganization of National Qualifications

National Qualifications were redesigned as follows in 2013:

Previous qualificationNew qualificationAccess 1National 1Access 2National 2Standard Grade (Foundation level)Access 3National 3Standard Grade (General level)Intermediate 1National 4Standard Grade (Credit level)Intermediate 2National 5HigherHigherAdvanced HigherAdvanced Higher

According to the SQA, the new qualifications had "more focus on skills development compared to the existing qualifications". Greater emphasis was placed on 'deeper learning' by helping students to think for themselves; to apply and interpret the knowledge and understanding they have developed and to demonstrate the skills they have learned."

National 1–4 were assessed internally by institutions, subject to regulation by the SQA. National 5 courses and above had internal assessments, followed by an externally marked exam.

National Assessment Bank With the introduction of Highers, Intermediate 1 and Intermediate 2 courses, the SQA also introduced a National Assessment Bank of short examinations for each subject. These were more commonly known as NABs or unit assessments, and contained questions from specific academic units at a basic level. Each candidate had to pass a certain number of NABs (usually three) before they could be presented for the final examination.

Release of results

Students for National Qualifications received their results on, generally, the first Tuesday in August. Students signed up for the authority's MySQA system were able to check their record online throughout the year and got their exam results by text and/or email on the day that the results were issued. Those signed up to the service received their results one day earlier than the official postal results. This also occurred in subsequent years, however only due to a mistake by the company holding the results. In another incident, the SQA itself sent the results out on the right day, but Robert Gordon University's business school leaked whether students had been let in, and a technical error with St Andrew's University's website also leaked the results of applicants.

Due to concerns regarding incorrectly marked exams, institutions would at times submit appeal requests for an exam result to be re-reviewed. After the SQA introduced fees to institutions for unsuccessful appeals, the number of requests decreased by 55,000 students—a decline of 77%.

In order to fight the alleged grade inflation within the Scottish education sector, SQA introduced more academically and cognitively rigorous examination standards and stricter marking; this resulted in strong criticism towards the SQA exam board and a decrease of exam pass rates of up to 15%.

National units and programs Many qualifications were titled vocational and were opportunistic stepping-stones for students at Scottish Colleges of Further Education to pursue one- or two- year programs tailored from a wide-ranging catalogue of National Units. The programs could be rigidly prescribed by employers or be freely chosen by students to meet any academic needs or career desires. The prescribed programs could be recognized by a National Certificate or a Scottish Progression Award.

SVQs and modern apprenticeships Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ) were an award for vocational education and training awarded by the SQA or other approved awarding bodies in conjunction with industry bodies. Scottish National Qualifications and Scottish Progression Awards were often important in a Modern Apprenticeship scheme along with SVQs. SVQs were developed by United Kingdom employers in tandem with National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

SVQ were assessed in the workplace (or closely regulated training workshops) by employers, training providers or colleges approved and monitored by the SQA (or other awarding bodies) accredited by its independent Accreditation Unit.

Higher National Certificates and Diplomas Qualifications aimed at students in their first two years of Higher Education included HNCs (Higher National Certificates)—taken as a one-year full-time course or as a two-year part-time course—and HNDs (Higher National Diplomas). These qualifications were extremely popular in colleges, workplaces and community education centers in Scotland, the UK and throughout the rest of world.

Students with disabilities Specific qualifications were available for those with severe to moderate difficulties (Access), the right to aid in completing assessments (for example, a scribe) and the right to challenge any unfair or artificial barrier in the rules for any qualification.

English as a second language There was a suite of National Units addressing the needs of economic migrants, asylum seekers and those seeking to master English before returning to their home countries. It had also developed qualifications for those seeking to teach English to refugees.

Partnerships SQA was one of the four partner national organizations involved in the Curriculum for Excellence. It worked with partners on all strands of the development. Its principal role was to contribute to work on qualifications and assessment. SQA's role in Curriculum for Excellence was to design and develop the new qualifications and assessment.

SQA joined with Universities Scotland, QAA Scotland and the Scottish Government to create the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework or SCQF. Every Scottish qualification—from the Access level for those with learning difficulties to a Doctorate and including vocational as well as ESOL and BSL qualifications—was allocated a level and credit value within this framework, which all partners agreed to recognize.

Controversy 2015 Higher Maths exam The Higher Maths exam sat by students in May 2015 was said to be far too difficult. This evoked heated debates among students, teachers and educationalists; the corresponding grade boundaries for the respective exam were thus adjusted accordingly, with a pass mark as low as 34%. The SQA later admitted that one of their Higher Maths exam papers had been unusually hard and unfit for purpose.

2016 exams National 5 Maths exam The National 5 Maths exam, sat on 12 May 2016, in particular Paper 1 (non-calculator), was also criticized by students after being considered much more difficult than previous years. A petition was created by students which was to be sent to the SQA demanding to know why the exam was exceedingly difficult, and it gained over 25,000 signatures.

National 5 Computing Science exam