My update on the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP) last time (quodlibs 194) prompted a response from Peter White (Kevala) which in turn led to an exchange of emails with the Register’s guardians (UfI, see below) and to further explorations of my own.

My random checks seems to suggest that the Register, as it currently stands, is a bit hit & miss.    Perhaps I’m wrong; perhaps I’m missing something.    But when I went in to hunt for ODL QC accredited providers (I checked most; apologies to any I inadvertently omitted), what I found was far from encouraging.

1. Many providers are clearly and unambiguously present in the database:   BSY, Caltrop, Computeach, i-to-i, ICP, IGA, IHGS, KLC, LSJ, LSCH, NCTJ, NEC, NITLC, OLCI, Projects Group, Publishing Training, Regent, Rhodec, Stratford Business School and Unison Open College.    A few are even in more than once:   Writers Bureau, for example, is listed as the Bureau (number 10007651), and as the Writers College (10007652).
2. A few others were also there, but took a little finding.    If the entry includes the trading name, then the provider can be found.    This is the case with the Learning Institute, or Kevala (the reason for Peter’s original approach).    Similarly Cambridge International College is registered as World-Wide Educational Services (UK) Ltd. but is visible because the former is listed as its trading name.
3. Several smaller providers are not there (or, at least, I failed to find them).    These include Advance Training, Animal Therapy, Diplomatic Council, Eversley Training, Forensic Linguistics Institute, Greenwich School of Theology, Highflyers, IIR, Intesol, Little Arthur, London Art College, SHM, and Top Cat.
4. Some may be invisible because I do not know the registered company name, and the trading name is not yet on the database.    A search for Music for the Media, for example, turns up nothing, even though the parent company, Music for Television, is registered.    Likewise NIG is listed as the Academy of Professional Investigation.    Then again, some are sole traders, an area where UKRLP admits its coverage is thin.
5. That leaves a group of (apparently) absent providers whose invisibility remains a mystery to me:   Cheltenham Tutorial College, Coaching Academy, ICS (perhaps because it isn’t English?), Ethos Associates, Horticultural Correspondence College, Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (Tutorship), IT Skills, Maple, MCI, MMI, RRC Training, and WES Home School.

According to UKRLP, they “have only migrated those providers which can be verified through our current verification procedures.    The main area of providers that we have not yet been able to verify through a trusted source is sole traders/non-limited companies.    We currently have a proposal with the project board that recommends a way of doing this, and subject to approval, we will be able to verify almost all learning providers.”

Anyone wanting to check whether or not they are currently on the register can check with the UKRLP Helpdesk, by either emailing helpdesk@ukrlp.co.uk or telephoning 0845 2021600