InBUSINESS Q4 2015

Page 137

IB SURVEY QUALITY AND QUALIFICATIONS IRELAND

QQI AWARD.

Know it when you see it. The new QQI Award heralds the best in education and training.

Q

uality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) was established in 2012 as a result of the amalgamation of a number of predecessor organisations; among them two awarding bodies, FETAC and HETAC, which were well-known to learners, providers, employers and the general public. QQI was conscious that it was important to ensure that the value of the qualifications awarded by these bodies was maintained in the transition to a new QQI award brand. To help build that understanding and confidence, we first coupled the QQI Award brand with references to FETAC and HETAC. Following this transitional period, we now believe it is time to promote the statutory QQI Award brand in its own right. Creating awareness of any brand takes time and needs to be approached in more than one way. In autumn 2015 a number of initiatives were undertaken at both a national and a provider level, which will be built upon over the duration of the 20 month campaign. The strapline for the promotion campaign is QQI Award. Know it when you see it. Building on this idea, a series of promotional images have been designed which focus on the QQI certificate and on a series of characters that speak about reaping the benefits of education and training in their chosen paths. These images are being used as advertisements in national newspapers and for promotional posters. The stories created around the characters InBUSINESS | Q4 2015

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are also the subject of radio advertisements which have commenced on national radio stations. In order to further highlight the new QQI Award brand, we held a launch event on November 18th in the Aviva stadium. We were very pleased that the Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan T.D., was in attendance Dr Padraig Walsh, to present CEO, QQI commemorative certificates to learners from across the country who represented achievement at all ten levels of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ). The event was a keen reminder of the significance of qualifications and the importance of ensuring that the national, statutory and quality assured nature of QQI awards is known to learners, providers, employers and the general public. For further information on the QQI Award Launch please visit http:// www.qqi-award.com/. Press, radio and events are obviously important elements in this promotional campaign, but we are also increasing our use of the QQI website to promote the brand and to direct providers to further information on usage of the Award brand and logo. The carousel at the top of the

QQI website www.QQI.ie draws direct attention to the promotional campaign. Our ambition is to increase our information and communication activities, and to improve the quality and effectiveness of our interaction with stakeholders such as providers and employers. In this context, we wish to highlight one of the organisational goals in our recentlypublished Strategy Statement 2016-18 whereby we seek to ensure that the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) and its qualifications are used to develop education and training programmes with clear occupational and educational purposes and learning outcomes for informed career and other choices by learners.

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