Review of HNC/D Computing and Networking

We had an initial meeting this afternoon about the proposed review of HNC/D Computing and HNC/D Networking. These awards are scheduled to be reviewed this year and it has been suggested that they should be reviewed as a single package rather than separately.

Representatives of four centres attended the meeting to discuss the options for change that we will present to a public meeting early next month. We considered various options such as:

• the status quo: continuing with the current separate HNC/D awards
• three separate streams: separate HNC/D awards in Software Development, Technical Support, and Networking
• single award: creating a single HNC/D award that covers all of the knowledge and skills
• common HNC: a common HNC award leading to separate HND awards.

The importance of links with vendor awards was emphasised. So was the level of difficulty of the current awards, the assessment demands, and the role of core skills.

These issues, and others, will be discussed at the open meeting on 4 June. The intention is to arrive at a consensus on the way forward so that we can get down to developing the new award(s). Don't forget to come along if you want to participate.