Engineering Council

The first edition of the Approval and Accreditation of Qualifications and Apprenticeships (AAQA) was published on 31 August 2020 and implemented from 31 December 2021, with learning outcomes implemented by 31 August 2024.

AQAA is written to support approval and accreditation of programmes delivered in any country. It replaces the previous Approval of Qualifications and Apprenticeships Handbook (AQAH). The scope of this Standard is broader than AQAH to enable approval and accreditation of a wider variety of programmes, including those designed to develop engineering competence.

Approval and accreditation are carried out by Licensees on behalf of the Engineering Council, in line with the Accreditation of Higher Education Programmes (AHEP) and the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence (UK-SPEC).

Download the first edition of AAQA

• The summary of key changes below highlights the main differences between this first edition and the previous AQAH.
• The ‘Defining characteristics and learning outcomes’ table is contained in AAQA and sets out the characteristics that define accredited programmes and the generic learning outcomes (common to those presented in AHEP)
• The ‘Competence statements - AAQA first edition’ table is contained in AAQA and sets out competence statements (included under EngTech, IEng and CEng) taken from the UK-SPEC fourth edition, as well as intermediate competences, developed as part of AAQA to aid progression.

AAQA Toolkit

An AAQA Toolkit has been published to assist all users of AAQA, see the link under useful documents for the Toolkit document and the AAQA Quick Guide and FAQs.

Note that submission documents have been published which Licensed PEIs may wish to adapt (even if just to add their logo) before issuing the awarding organisations or providers seeking programme recognition.

For the Word versions of the Submission Form Templates and the Output Standards and Competence Matrices, please visit the Partner Portal.