WHY WAS IT FORMED?
Manchester College and the University of Exeter, who, having developed a suite of Graded Examinations for Personal and Employability skills, were looking for an awarding organisation through which they could offer their examinations as a regulated qualification, BTDA took the decision to formulate a new awarding organisation with a generic name so that these qualifications could be awarded without there being any reference to the word dance on their certificates. Hence the Graded Qualification Alliance was born.
Following a long accreditation process the Graded Qualifications Alliance was recognised as an awarding organisation by the Regulatory Authorities and whilst BTDA at that time still held the regulated status in its own right, further down the line, the Regulatory Authorities chose to proceed with the more generic name.