Events
Forward Thinking: Planning for the Future
Qualifications Scotland welcomed 105 delegates from 35 centres to the 2026 Professional Development Conference in Chengdu, China., marking the first in-person CPD event held in the country since the transition from SQA to Qualifications Scotland.
This year's theme was Forward Thinking: Planning for the Future. The conference content connects to the Circle of Success, our continuous professional development model, which highlights the key stages needed to deliver our qualifications successfully: plan, prepare, deliver, assess and review.
The conference brought together qualifications development, quality assurance and verification experts, along with teaching staff and coordinators from our centres in China. Presentations shared good practice and offered recommendations, while workshops gave delegates the chance to work with subject specialists and peers to discuss how best to deliver our SQA Advanced Diploma programme. We also had specific sessions for coordinators, led by our quality enhancement manager.
Our speakers brought a wealth of practical experience and understanding to support your delivery. They included Robert Quinn, Head of Service for Qualifications Development, Gail English, Qualifications Manager, Jill Little, Quality Enhancement Manager, Senior External Verifiers John Elliott and Donna Gray, and External Verifier Anca Marcantonio, along with Gillian Hepburn, Head of International for Business Development, and Jimmy Zhang, China Manager.
We were also grateful to speakers from our centres who shared their expertise of delivery and assessment. Ms. Liu Jiali, who leads the Business with Accounting project at the International College of Xiamen University, gave a session on the use of AI in the classroom. Drawing on her experience building an AI support tool for students, with clear boundaries around what the tool could and couldn't do, and analysis of over 3,000 real student interactions with it, Liu explored the difference between students delegating process while retaining their own judgement and delegating their thinking altogether. The session offered practical ideas helping to keep learning visible even as AI tools become more widely used.
Ms. Jun Wang is SQA-AD Programme Director and Centre Coordinator at Xi'an International Studies University who shared her experience of preparing to deliver the new SQA Advanced Diploma in Creative Art and Design, specifically reflecting on her centre's visit to Glasgow to work with the Senior External Verifier and colleagues at City of Glasgow College and UHI Perth.
Ms. Jun Wang also contributed to a panel session for coordinators along with Dr Haifei Huang Associate Dean (Teaching and Research) of the School of International Education and Training, and Deputy Director of the SQA Programme Centre, at Beijing Institute of Technology, Zhuhai. Both shared their recent experience of systems verification with Jill Little in a session that helped their peers understand what to expect from the quality assurance process, since both centres received excellent outcomes during their verification visits.
