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National Open College Network (NOCN) awarding body

What we're all about

NOCN has been creating opportunities through learning and skills development for over 30 years.

NOCN Group is an educational charity whose core aims are to help learners reach their potential and organisations thrive. The group includes business units specialising in regulated UK and international qualifications, End Point Assessment, Access to Higher Education, assured short courses, SMART job cards, assessment services, consultancy, and research.

Our heritage, rooted in upskilling workers for redeployment in industrial Britain, informs our social mobility agenda, and our charitable status drives our purpose and activity:

  • We believe passionately in the power of education and its impact
  • We want more people to engage in education, apprenticeships and skills training, more often in their lives
  • We want to build awareness and promote the positive value of education, apprenticeships and skills training to employers, learners and parents

We are the only awarding body in the UK which specialises in productivity and focus on increasing the UK's competitiveness globally. As the second-largest awarding organisation in the UK construction sector, we are committed to working for a better future for UK construction.

NOCN is proud to be the very first awarding organisation to be given the 'Leader in Diversity' award by the National Centre for Diversity, a leader in promoting equality for all in the UK and also recognised by Ofqual, CCEA and the Welsh Government, working with a number of strategic partners in the UK and internationally.

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