What is a centre consortia?
A centre consortium is a partnership between centres to offer qualifications.
Find out how to set up centre consortia for academic and vocational qualifications:
Qualifications include GCSE, A Level, International GCSE, IAL and BTEC Tech Awards 2022
Candidates from different centres may be taught and assessed together, but entered through the centre at which they're enrolled. In such cases, you'll need to let us know that your centres wish to be treated as a consortium.
Responsibilities within a centre consortium
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Home centres
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Lead centre
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Centres that make entries and registrations within the consortium programme, and are responsible for all administrative processes.
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A centre that delivers the consortium programme.
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How to apply for centre consortium approval
To tell us about your consortium:
- Nominate a consortium coordinator to liaise with us on behalf of your consortium
- Consortium co-ordinators must submit an online form for each series using the Centre Admin Portal (CAP) shown in the step-by-step below:
1. Log in to Edexcel Online and select ‘Access Arrangements Online’ from the left side menu:
2. Select ‘Access Arrangements Online’ (AAO)':
3. Select ‘Centre consortium arrangements’:
4. Complete the application form.
If additional support is required, please see JCQ Guidance Notes – Centre Consortium Arrangements 2024/25.
Please note:
- You'll need to complete a new application for each examination series
- The form must be submitted by 31 October for the following January series, or by 31 January for the following June series.
How the consortium will work
When you're set up as a consortium, your candidates will be treated as a single group for the purposes of coursework or controlled assessment moderation.
The consortium coordinator must ensure that internal standardisation is carried out by all the teachers involved in the subject in the consortium.
The same moderator will be allocated to every centre within the consortium for a particular component, with confirmation or adjustment of marks being applied to all centres within the consortium.
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How to apply for centre consortium / collaborative arrangement approval
To tell us about your consortium:
- Nominate a Lead Centre to liaise with us on behalf of your collaborative/consortium arrangement
- The Lead Centre must download the 'Collaborative and consortium arrangements for the delivery of vocational qualifications policy' and submit an application form for each collaborative/consortium arrangement.
- The current policy and application form can be found on our website here.
- Once the form has been completed please submit them either via email to examsofficers@pearson.com, or creating a case on the Customer Support Portal.
Please note:
- All centres in the arrangement must have approval for the qualifications you wish to deliver, before you can apply for a collaborative/consortium arrangement
- You must be approved for the collaborative/consortium arrangement before you start any delivery or assessment
Responsibilities within a centre consortium
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Home centres
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Lead centre
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Centres that make entries and registrations within the collaborative/consortium programme, and are responsible for all administrative processes.
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A centre that delivers the collaborative/consortium programme and coordinates all quality assurance activities.
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Once the collaborative/consortium application has been agreed, we'll issue the Lead Centre with a programme number (the number with ‘consortium’ in the title) which will also be visible to all the home centres.
The home centres will be responsible for their candidates’ registration against this consortium programme and all the related administrative processes.
The collaboration/consortium will be allocated the same standards verifier.
To find out more about offering qualifications as part of a collaborative/consortium arrangement, contact our customer service team. You can also download our policy for Collaborative and consortia arrangements for the delivery of vocational qualifications and the Centre Guide to Collaborative arrangements for vocational qualifications.
For additional JCQ guidance notes, please click here.
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