Awarding Organisation of the Year Highfield Qualifications is top of the class

One of the UK’s leading exam boards is celebrating after winning the top honour at its industry awards.

Highfield Qualifications took the coveted ‘Awarding Organisation of the Year’ accolade at this year’s FAB Awards.

FAB – the Federation of Awarding Bodies – is the membership organisation for the UK’s circa 170 technical and professional organisations. It represents awarding organisations to the highest bodies in the land, including government departments and ministers.

The business, which has three offices in the north of England and further offices in the Middle East, took the top honour after demonstrating its growth and development over the last 12 months, as well as its support for major projects including developing specialist qualifications for the National College for High Speed Rail (NCHSR).

Judges for the awards included Sir Deian Hopkin, former Vice Chancellor and former President of the National Library of Wales, Emily Chapman, Vice President of the National Union of Students, and David Willett, Director of the Business Development Unit at the Open University.

It’s the third major accolade for the organisation in as many years, with Highfield winning the prestigious Queen’s Award in 2016, and a Learning Technologies Award in 2017 for its e-learning.

Jason Sprenger, Chief Executive, said,

‘We’ve always prided ourselves on the quality of our work, and especially the quality of our people. But it’s fantastic to have that recognised by the wider education sector. To win Awarding Organisation of the Year is a huge achievement, and another feather in Highfield’s cap after our recent achievements in the Queen’s Award and Learning Technologies Awards’.

He added, ‘We really couldn’t have done this without our amazing and hardworking team, who make our core beliefs of quality, value, service and integrity into reality, and provide our customers with the world-class service and support they’ve come to expect’.

Tom Bewick, FAB Chief Executive, said,

‘With qualifications growth at 30% per annum, Highfield is one of the most rapidly expanding awarding organisations in the country, and were deserving winners of this prestigious award. It was a tough field full of some great organisations, but the judges were impressed by Highfield’s dedication and commitment to their customers and to developing world class qualifications and learning programmes’.

The FAB Awards took place at the Marriott Hotel, Leicester, on 18 October 2018.

About Highfield Qualifications: Part of the Highfield Group, which is the UK and Middle East’s leading supplier of compliance, apprenticeship and work-based learning qualifications, training materials, e-learning and assessment. It is one of the UK’s largest exam boards, and is actively involved in the development of the UK workforce and productivity, as well as contributing to government plans for three million apprenticeships by 2020.

The organisation, which has its headquarters in Doncaster, works with some of the biggest names in international business to help develop its staff, including PepsiCo, Nestle, Marks & Spencer and Superdrug, and each year supports over 2 million learners across the globe to achieve their educational aspirations.