Candidate registration and results

Find out how to register, enter and result your candidates for accurate and timely certification.

Register a candidate

To register a candidate you must provide:

Once we have this information we will allocate a Scottish Candidate Number (SCN). A candidate should only ever have one SCN where their achievements will be recorded. If we find a candidate with similar details on our database, we will tell you about a possible match. You will then be responsible for checking if the candidate record we already hold is or is not your candidate.

If you find a candidate on our database with more than one SCN you can request that these records are merged by competing a merge request.

Registering a candidate under 16 years old

All candidates going through the Scottish education system are allocated a Scottish Candidate Number (SCN) from Primary 1.

For College and Training Providers, the SCN must be obtained from the candidate’s school. The SCN won't be activated on SQA Connect yet. Once the SCN has been confirmed, you can request for the candidates record to be activated by completing the candidate registration form.

For candidates under 16 years of age who have never gone through the Scottish education system and want to undertake an SQA qualification at your centre, please email candidate records.

Please note, this process is only available for College and Training Providers registering candidates under the age of 16. 

You can contact candidate records for any queries regarding this process.

Once the candidate is registered, you can process entries and results in your normal way.

Private candidates – information for centres

Your centre may be approached by a private candidate, such as a home-schooled learner, or their representative with a request that you act as their presenting centre.  

Private candidates - information for centres

Updating candidate details

It's important that candidate details are kept up to date as these will affect the certificate. Changes to a candidate's first name, surname or address can be made using SQA Connect Candidate Services or your MIS system. If the address the certificate is to be sent to is the centre's address, it's the centre's responsibility to amend this back to the candidate's home address once certification has taken place.

Other changes that can be made on SQA Connect Candidate Services include:

Adding a qualification to a candidate

Adding qualifications can be done on SQA Connect and on college MIS systems.

All SQA qualifications are allocated a six digit code broken into the code and level (4+2) - e.g. G7F5 22. The first 4 digits identify the subject and the last 2 digits refer to the level.

When adding a group award to a candidate's record you must also include the units the candidate is doing which make up the award.

When adding qualifications you enter a completion date. This is an estimated date and can be extended at a later date.

The maximum completion dates are:

Adding a lapsed or finished qualification to a candidate

Lapsed awards

For Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQs) only.

Entries for qualifications which have lapsed cannot be made on SQA Connect or the college MIS system and you should complete an EC02 form.

Before submitting your request, please ensure the candidate has been entered for the mandatory units.

You must provide the following information in your email:

Finished awards

Any request to enter a finished qualification must be made on the EC02 form.

Before submitting your request, please ensure the candidate has been entered and resulted for every unit required to gain the qualification.

You must provide the following information in your email:

For finished SVQs we will present this information to our regulatory body and inform you of their decision.

Entering candidate results

Results can be submitted on SQA Connect or your college MIS system.

Results include:

Results are only required for the individual units, not the group award. Once all contributing units have been achieved we will evaluate the group award and issue a certificate.

Amending a result

Where a result or withdrawal has been input in error and the candidate has not yet been certificated, this can be updated on the Candidate Entries page of SQA Connect.

Where a result has been processed in error and has resulted in a certificate being produced, the amendment can be requested on the Candidate Entries page of SQA Connect. An email is automatically sent to SQA Candidate Records to review and action.

Certification

Certification takes place continuously throughout the year.

See the certification timetable.

Replacement certificates

We offer a replacement certificate service.

It is important to ensure your candidate's details are up to date. If a replacement certificate is required because the candidate's name is incorrect or address has not been updated, the centre will be charged.