Stonebridge college

claire259

HI
im just finishing a course level 4 in social care with stonebridge it cost £350 and plan to use it to gain entry to uni as stonebridge state quite clearly on their website that the course is accredited and saw no problem i then contacted a couple of universitys only to find out that the course is not accredided and the course is a useless piece of paper the following is what the college course states...

At the end of this course successful learners will also receive a Level 4 NCFE Award Certificate of Achievement. Our course has been accredited under our NCFE IIQ Licence and the course measurable learning outcomes have been benchmarked at Level 4 (using Ofqual’s Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF) level descriptors) to allow you to consider the depth of study, difficulty, and level of achievement involved.
This award has been designed by Stonebridge Associated Colleges to meet specific learners' or employers' requirements. Accreditation by NCFE is a guarantee of quality. It means that this learning programme has been scrutinised and approved by an independent panel of experienced educational professionals and is quality audited biannually by NCFE

so i emailed OFQUAL and i got this back...

hanks for contacting us about the Level 4 Social Care with Children and Families Course with Stonebridge Associated Colleges.
NCFE does offer a wide range of qualifications which are nationally recognised by the Office of the Qualifications and Examinations Regulator (Ofqual) but the aforementioned course is not one of them.
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]As well as NCFE’s range of national QCF qualifications which are regulated by Ofqual, NCFE also offers training solutions through our Accreditation Services. These programmes are non-regulated provision (which don’t form part of the QCF) and therefore shouldn’t be confused with [/FONT][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]NCFE’s 400+ nationally approved QCF qualifications.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]Stonebridge Associated Colleges[/FONT][FONT=Arial,sans-serif] have been approved for the NCFE Investing in Quality (IIQ) Licence which is designed to give formal recognition to an organisation’s [/FONT][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]bespoke[/FONT][FONT=Arial,sans-serif] programmes that fall outside the Qualification and Credit Framework (QCF). The licence is based on a number of Quality Statements which provide a quality assurance framework for the development, delivery and evaluation of their programmes. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]In Summary, NCFE hasn’t accredited this course as an ‘Ofqual regulated qualification’[/FONT][FONT=Arial,sans-serif] but through the IIQ Licence we do give formal recognition to training/courses which result in the ‘award’ of a certificate of achievement. [/FONT][FONT=Arial,sans-serif]The NCFE certificate of achievement is not for a nationally regulated qualification.[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]bit confused can anyone shed any light on this please????[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial,sans-serif]thanks[/FONT]

Funky_Bold_Ribena

Have you got a copy of the complaints procedure?

I'd be following it if I were you to get your money back.

claire259

I emailed them rather a rude letter and told them I wanted a refund only to be told to put it in writing which I did today but just wanted confirmation that I didn't read it wrong and that what they are advertising is false advertising!!

philip1988

Stonebridge haven’t provided miss information here. They have stated that the course has been accredited through NCFE’s IIQ Licence. They have made no reference in the information that you provided that the course was QCF accredited (and therefore the training provider may be able to get the course part funded by the Government) Benchmarking against level 4 standards to ensure the level of study is very different to a course receiving QCF accreditation

Even had the course got QCF accreditation there is no guarantee that the course would have provided you with an entry route to university and you really should have done some research on the UCAS website to identify what were acceptable entry requirements. Looking at the Stonebridge website it looks like your course was a 20 week long which wouldn't provide the depth of study compared with the normal entry requirements of either 2/3 A levels, a level 3 Edexcel Diploma or other recognisable qualification required by universities and other HE institutions. Suggest that you book careers appointment with your local FE college.

saintjammyswine

Have to agree with philip1988 on this one, sorry. It is benchmarked against the levels but is not a full Level 4 qualification.Another example of this would be Prince2 Practitioner which is benchmarked at level 4 or 5 but attracts no funding and is only up to 5 days long.

crate_of_beer

Perhaps you'll get lucky and if you contact a university directly they may be low on students with the current state of the economy and offer you a place! worth a try - at least you have shown you can study independently and if you write a strong email or letter or sound confident by phone - who knows!!