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Tariff processes

What qualifications are being considered for Tariff points?

The UCAS Board has decided to suspend the assessment of new qualifications for inclusion in the UCAS Tariff whilst the Qualifications Information Review is underway. There are a few exceptions to this decision and qualifications that meet the following criteria will be considered for inclusion on the Tariff:

  1. Qualifications that have been amended to comply with new qualification framework guidelines
  2. Qualifications that are on the Tariff on a provisional basis, subject to a review of candidate evidence
  3. New qualifications that are to all intents and purposes the same as existing qualifications that attract Tariff points

The definition of "to all intents and purposes the same as existing qualifications" as follows:

  • Qualifications must be regulated through the appropriate qualifications regulator
  • Where qualifications are vocational, they must have been endorsed by the appropriate Sector Skills Council (assuming that the existing Tariffed qualification is endorsed through the SSC)
  • For QCF qualifications, there must be easily identifiable similarities in terms of qualification titles between the proposed and existing qualifications
    • The proposed qualification must be comparable to the one already on the Tariff in terms of three or more of the following criteria: size, scope of qualification (eg aims and/or objectives or the equivalent), learning outcomes and grading structure
  • UCAS cannot guarantee that qualifications meeting these criteria will be allocated the same Tariff points as existing qualifications. There are other areas of consideration such as assessment methodology that will be taken into account that may influence the resulting Tariff points.

How do qualifications get Tariff points?

Subject to qualifications meeting one of the criteria identified above review qualification specifications, assessment materials and candidate evidence (where available) to answer a set of questions covering the following themes:

  • aims
  • size
  • content and coverage
  • assessment objectives/criteria
  • assessment models
  • grade/performance descriptions
  • Tariff domain scoring
  • strengths and weaknesses.

It is important to note that UCAS facilitates the comparability work with final decisions made by the Tariff Adivsory Group, supported by HE subject specialists as appropriate.