hnc

[singapore54]

how long has this qualification warranted a capand gown?

[abstibus]

I don't know how long, but it is probably marginally longer than their use for children moving from nursery school to primary school, which I have seen in the area in which I live.

[singapore54]

I'm sorry I don't understand what you are getting at.

[barry1010]

Depends on the institution but I was first aware of a cap and gown 'graduation' ceremony for BTEC HNC in 1996.

[singapore54]

I'm just curious as it was'nt in the seventies when I was doing it. So about 13 years then?

[barry1010]

13 years in my area, could have been before that elsewhere. Definitely not in the 70s.

[singapore54]

thanks a lot

[buildersmate]

All part of a pretence by the Government and educational establishments that such qualifications are of equal standing to an honours degree - so it goes with the territory.
Those of us with long memories still know the 50 'original university establishments that existed in the 70s before all these polytechnics and colleges got delusions of grandeur.
Since when has the UK needed 300,000 new 'graduates' per year anyway.

[abstibus]

In my youth the cap and gown were the preserve of awards at University Degree level and were worn at graduation ceremonies which marked the award of the Degree. In recent years the verb "graduate" is widely used to describe the reaching of almost any educational threshold and in many cases the reaching of the threshold is marked by the wearing of cap and gown. They are worn at HNC/HND presentations at the upper end and, as I stated earlier, have been worn at ceremonies to mark the successful completion of Nursery School education before transfer to Primary School, the event being publicised in our local Press as "graduation".

[buildersmate]

And I seriously thought your original answer was a joke, AM.