GRANTING LICENSES TO AWARDING BODIES (AB)
An awarding body (AB) is en entity which has been granted a license to award particular market qualifications, incorporated into the Integrated Qualifications System (IQS), by the competent minister.
Such entity has the right to carry out validation procedure and issue certificates confirming the awarding of a given qualification.
REQUIREMENTS TO BE MET BY AWARDING BODIES
The IQS provides for no restrictions in terms of applying for a certification license.
The only conditions specified by the act are those identified below.
An awarding body status may be granted to any entity which:
- carries out an economic activity,
- is not in arrears with taxes and contributions to: social insurance, health insurance as well as Labour Fund and Employees Guaranteed Benefits Fund;
- has demonstrated that it is capable of ensuring appropriate conditions in terms of organisation and personnel, which enable performing validation in line with the requirements identified in the qualification description.
Various entities become awarding bodies. These include sectoral organisations, sports unions, associations, companies offering training services, companies specialising in a given field – e.g. in data recovery or operation of specialist industrial equipment.
SEPARATION OF TRAINING FROM VALIDATION
According to the system, it is not relevant how one has acquired knowledge – what is relevant though, is what the person can do. In the event en entity applying for an awarding body license offers training services, it shall ensure separation of training from validation.
The separation should be ensured in terms of:
- personnel – those who trained a given candidate must not rate the candidate through the validation process;
- process – training must not be combined with validation.
An awarding body must offer validation pursuant to identical terms to all candidates – regardless of their participation in the training offered by the awarding body.
LICENSE GRANTING PROCCEDURE
Becoming an awarding body (AB) requires submitting an application for a license to certify a given market qualification.
The application is submitted via the Integrated Qualifications Register.
The application must include:
- details of the applying entity,
- declaration regarding no arrears with taxes or social insurance institution contributions,
- information on meeting organisational and personnel-related requirements relating to validation.
A PLN 10,000 fee payment receipt must be attached to the application. The fee is a single payment.
In the event an application for a license and an application for incorporation of a given qualification into the integrated Qualifications System (IQS) are submitted simultaneously, the fee shall be PLN 5,000.
License granting procedure
1
If the application is correct, it will be communicated to the competent minister. The minister shall asses the application and shall have the right to request the awarding body (AB) to provide additional information.
2
In the event the assessment result is positive, the minister – pursuant to an administrative decision – grants a license to certify a given qualification.
3
Once the license has been granted to a given awarding body, the minister shall assign an external quality assurance entity (EQAE) to the awarding body (AB) and to the specific qualification conferred by the same. Subsequently, the minister signs a relevant agreement with the EQAE. From this moment on, the AB shall have the right to carry out the validation procedure.
