Gold Award for Virtual College's pioneering learning approach

Virtual College has received the prestigious Gold Award in the Scottish Qualifications Authority Annual Awards 2003.

This award is presented to training providers or employers who can 'demonstrate good practice, innovation and where possible, unique initiatives in their day-to-day delivery of SQA Qualifications.'

Virtual College worked in partnership with Sun Microsystems to deliver SVQ (the Scottish equivalent of NVQ) qualifications to staff at their Linlithgow plant.

Virtual College's innovative, paperless solution involved delivering the training through CD-ROM and its web-based Training Management System.

Cathy Wilkie, Training Specialist at Sun Microsystems said: "We were keen to utilise Virtual College's technology to ensure we received a quality, practical solution to our training needs."

"This approach reduces the time and cost of the assessment process with assessors able to access candidates' portfolios online."

Commenting on the award, Mike Haggerty, Chairman of the Judging Committee of the Scottish Qualifications Authority, said:" Virtual College is a worthy winner - their system has improved access, delivery and flexibility."

At the award ceremony held on 24 November at Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, Virtual College's Sales & Marketing Director, Rob George, collected a Norfolk crystal trophy and laptop computer kindly donated by sponsors, Hewlett Packard.

Rob commented: "This award shows that e-learning is now a reality and can provide practical advantages over traditional training methods."