The Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) was the national degree-awarding authority in the

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from 1965 until its dissolution on 20 April 1993.

Background

The establishment followed the recommendation of the UK government Committee on Higher Education (

Robbins Committee The Robbins Report (the report of the Committee on Higher Education, chaired by Lord Robbins) was commissioned by the British government and published in 1963. The committee met from 1961 to 1963. After the report's publication, its conclusions wer ...

), one of whose recommendations being the replacement of the diploma-awarding

National Council for Technological Awards The National Council for Technological Awards was a UK statutory body responsible for awarding Diplomas in Technology and Engineering undertaken in higher education colleges. It operated from 1955 to 1964 when its responsibilities devolved to the ...

with a degree-awarding council. That gave colleges more flexibility, as they could devise their own courses with the oversight of the council, rather than depend on existing universities to accredit courses. In 1974, the National Council for Diplomas in Art and Design was merged into the CNAA. The CNAA's Latin motto, as it appears on its Coat of Arms, is: ''Lauream qui Meruit Ferat'' this can be translated as 'let whoever earns the palm bear it'.

Qualifications

Qualifications included diplomas, bachelors, masters and doctorate research degrees; by the time of dissolution, it had awarded over 1.3 million degrees and other academic awards. The CNAA awarded academic degrees at polytechnics, central institutions and other non-university institutions such as colleges of higher education until they were awarded university status. When the CNAA was wound up, the

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asked the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

to continue the work of awarding degrees in non-university institutions. Additionally, the university has responsibility for CNAA records. The CNAA, through its many subject panels, oversaw the degree-awarding powers of polytechnics. Above all, the CNAA saw itself as preserving a comparability at the national level with degree level awards in universities, a feature which can be seen as having both positive and negative aspects: positive in that it preserved a formal "parity of esteem" between the awards of the two parts of the

binary system A binary system is a system of two astronomical bodies which are close enough that their gravitational attraction causes them to orbit each other around a barycenter ''(also see animated examples)''. More restrictive definitions require that th ...

(such as retaining the common currency of the undergraduate degree for entry to postgraduate study), but other scholars viewed it as negative because it encouraged an "academicism" in the new sector and slowed an acceptance of the transformations required finally to break the boundaries of the old, "elite" system. In the event, the polytechnics were associated with many innovations, including

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

, the academic study of

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and

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s, advanced

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

degrees in all functional specialities, and the rise of management and business studies; not least, they were much more responsive than older institutions in providing for the admission of non-standard students from technical colleges, advanced apprenticeships and other sources.

Patronage and governance

The Presidents of the Council for National Academic Awards were: * The Duke of Edinburgh, 1965 to 1976 * The

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, 1976 to 1989 * The

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, 1989 to 1993. The Council comprised a Chairman and 21 to 25 members all appointed by the

Secretary of State for Education The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the C ...

. The CNAA’s seven Chairmen were:Who's Who and Who was Who * Sir Harold Roxbee Cox, Lord Kings Norton, 1964 to 1971 * Sir Michael John Sinclair Clapham, 1971 to 1977 * Sir

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, 1978 to 1983 * Sir

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, 1983 to 1987 * Sir Ronald Ernest Dearing, Lord Dearing, 1987 to 1988 * Sir Bryan Nicholson, 1988 to 1991 * Sir Raymond Mildmay Wilson Rickett, 1991 to 1993

Academic dress

For graduation ceremonies the CNAA had its own academic dress comprising gown, hood and headwear. The bachelors’

gown A gown, from the Saxon word, ''gunna'', is a usually loose outer garment from knee-to-full-length worn by men and women in Europe from the Early Middle Ages to the 17th century, and continuing today in certain professions; later, the term ''gown ...

was a black Cambridge pattern worn twelve inches off the ground with sleeves reaching the elbow; the doctors’ and masters’ gowns were a standard black Oxbridge pattern worn eight inches off the ground; PhD gowns had a maroon silk yoke and facings;

higher doctorates A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

had a gold-yellow gown with cream brocade facings. Hoods were a gold-yellow

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, with a silk lining: turquoise for bachelors’; white for masters’; turquoise with a white facing for a MEng; maroon for a PhD; cream

damask Damask (; ar, دمشق) is a reversible patterned fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Damasks are woven with one warp yarn and one weft yarn, usually with the pattern in warp-faced satin ...

for higher doctors. Bachelors’ and masters’ wore a black mortar board; PhDs a cloth bonnet with a maroon cord; higher Doctors had a velvet

Tudor bonnet A Tudor bonnet (also referred to as a doctor's bonnet or round cap) is a traditional soft-crowned, round-brimmed cap, with a tassel hanging from a cord encircling the hat. As the name suggests, the Tudor bonnet was popularly worn in England and ...

with a gold cord.

References

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External links