About OCN North East Region

Welcome to Open College Network North East Region

Open College Network North East Region (OCNNER) supports learning & widens opportunity by recognising achievement through credit based courses and qualifications.

To view our mission statement and values please click here

What does this mean?

Very simply, OCN celebrates learner achievement!

Our aim is provide formal recognition of the widest range of learning achievements in the most open and flexible way, to encourage adults to continue learning throughout their lives. We support learners’ efforts to develop and progress their learning, whatever their starting point.

We work with learning providers to help them identify exactly what someone will learn throughout a course of study or practical learning. Once the learning outcomes’ have been agreed and the learner has completed their course of study, we are able to confirm whether each learner has achieved the agreed standard. If they have, we award an independently-verified certificate for that course of learning. Our support ensures a high quality learning course, delivered to standards guaranteed by formal approval processes.

To visit the OCNNER website, click here http://www.ocnner.org.uk/

Where do we work?

Our membership includes over 300 providers within the Tess Valley, Co Durham, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland regions and parts of Scotland. Our role in helping to develop learning that is relevant and interesting is therefore key to drawing these learners back into education to enhance their individual economic and life potential, and that of the region as a whole.

Our new offices are based in Peterlee, County Durham.  Follow information about Peterlee click here http://www.peterlee.gov.uk/

Our history – from small beginnings….

OCNs were established to provide a mechanism for formally recognising the achievements of adult learners on courses which did not lead to a traditional qualification. In particular, OCNs sought to provide access to recognition for learners for whom other qualifications were either unsuitable or inaccessible.

The first Open College Network was established in 1975 in the North West. A second OCN was set up in Manchester in 1981 and the National Open College Network was established by nine OCNs in 1987. Eight OCNs have operated in the North East and Cumbria over the years, culminating in the formation of a single OCN in the North East when Open College Network (TROCN) and the North East Open College Network merged in August 2005.

There are now eleven OCNs across the UK, covering all of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. OCNs are generally membership organisations, with over 3,500 organisations using and supporting the OCN accreditation framework. OCN member organisations include adult and community education centres, further education and sixth form colleges, voluntary and community organisations, universities and higher education institutions, trade unions and employers, local education and authorities and training organisations.

Local Learning within the National Picture

Open College network North East Region is one of eleven OCNs covering the whole of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

We operate under licence from two national bodies:

  1. Our work on Access to Higher Education is monitored by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA)
  2. The accreditation of the National Qualifications is monitored by the National Open College Network, who are themselves licensed by the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

The National Open College Network (NOCN) manages the QCA licence for the eleven OCNs throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. NOCN works with national bodies to promote the OCN approach to learning, and supports OCNs through the development of approved National qualifications. NOCN is a National Awarding Body, subject to regulation by QCA (in England), ACCAC (in Wales) and CCEA (in Northern Ireland). Some NOCN qualifications and services are also available in Scotland.

NOCN is much more than just an Awarding Body, however. Through its National Qualifications, NOCN seeks to widen access to lifelong learning and develop modern and innovative solutions to exclusion and under-achievement. Above all, NOCN qualifications are designed to be accessible and to support the development of skills and knowledge that will enable people to participate in work, in their communities or in further learning.

For more information about OCN please visit www.nocn.org.uk