One Awards was licensed as an Access Validating Agency (AVA) working mainly with colleges in the North East of England until 30 August 2022. One Awards was also previously known as Open College Network North East Region (OCNNER) and OCN (TROCN).

As regulator of the Access to HE Diploma QAA took the decision to withdraw the AVA licence for One Awards with effect from 5pm on Tuesday 30 August 2022 as One Awards was no longer able to meet QAA’s conditions of licensing as the company was starting the process of insolvency.

QAA worked closely with One Awards to oversee the assignment to QAA of all intellectual property rights for the Access to HE Diplomas awarded and/or certified by One Awards until 30 August 2022. QAA also received from One Awards information on students who had successfully completed their Access to HE qualification since 1996.

QAA worked with worked with all affected providers to support them to transition to another AVA or AVAs.

Q. WHAT IS AN AVA?

A. An AVA is an Access Validating Agency. They are licensed by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA) to act as awarding bodies and award the Access to HE Diplomas to successful students.

AVAs develop, approve and award Access to HE courses.

Q. HOW DO I KNOW WHO AWARDED MY QUALIFICATION?

A. If you completed your Access to HE studies between 1 July 1996 and 30 August 2022 your qualification would have been awarded by One Awards or its predecessor organisations (Open College Network North East Region (OCNNER) and OCN (TROCN)).

Students who successfully complete their Access to Diploma studies between 31 August 2022 and 31 July 2023 will be awarded their Diploma by the AVA selected by their college or course provider following the withdrawal of the AVA licence from One Awards. Your course provider can let you know the name of the AVA that will award your Diploma.

Q. I HAVE LOST MY CERTIFICATE, WHERE DO I GET A COPY?

A. If you completed your Access to HE studies between 1 July 1996 and 30 August 2022 your qualification would have been awarded by One Awards or its predecessor organisations (Open College Network North East Region (OCNNER) and OCN (TROCN)) and information about Access to HE qualifications certificated by One Awards was transferred to QAA.

If your details are included in this information QAA can provide you with a letter of achievement to confirm the units you studied and any grades you achieved. This letter of achievement can be used to support your application to higher level studies or employment.

Please contact QAA directly either via our website, email (ahe@qaa.ac.uk) or by phone (01452 557060).

Q. WHO CAN I CONTACT IF QAA DOES DO NOT HAVE INFORMATION ABOUT MY QUALIFICATION?

A. If your query is about an Access to HE qualification awarded by One Awards (or its predecessor organisations) and the information is not held by QAA, there is no-one else you can contact.

It is possible colleges or training providers may have a record of your attendance, but they would not be able to provide confirmation of achievement of an Access to HE qualification.

Q. I DID MY QUALIFICATION BEFORE 2014 AND HAVE BEEN ASKED TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE OF GCSE EQUIVALENCE, WHERE CAN I GET THIS?

A. GCSE equivalence was not certificated by One Awards as part of the Access to HE qualifications they awarded. Therefore, it is not possible for evidence of GCSE equivalence to be provided.

Please contact QAA directly either via our website, email (ahe@qaa.ac.uk) or by phone (01452 557060) if you wish to request a copy of the units of study that were awarded as part of the Access to HE qualification.

Q. I HAVE ADVANCED LEARNER LOAN FUNDING FOR AN ACCESS TO HE DIPLOMA, APPROVED BY ONE AWARDS. WILL I STILL BE ABLE TO GET THE BALANCE OF MY LOAN WRITTEN OFF?

A. If you meet the eligibility criteria for the loan, then yes. All courses which are eligible for Advanced Learner Loan funding will remain eligible following the transition to an alternative AVA or AVAs.

If you have any specific questions about Advanced Learner Loans, please contact Student Finance England.