About Access to HE
The Access to Higher Education (HE) Diploma is a qualification which prepares students for study at university. It is designed for people who would like to study in HE but who left school without the usual qualifications, such as A levels. A wide range of people and organisations are involved in Access to HE. For more information, please see What is Access to Higher Education?
About QAA
This website is owned by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). We regulate the national recognition of Access to HE courses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Find out more about QAA >>
QAA's remit for Access to HE
QAA has been responsible for assuring the quality of recognised Access to HE courses since we were established in 1997. To meet our responsibilities, we have developed the QAA Recognition Scheme for Access to Higher Education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
We license regionally-based access validating agencies (AVAs) to recognise Access to HE programmes and to award the qualifications to students.