Who Owns WJEC?

WJEC was founded in 1948 as the Welsh Joint Education Committee, or Cydbwyllgor Addysg Cymru, a partnership between Welsh local education authorities and the University of Wales. It took over responsibility for school examinations in Wales from the Central Welsh Board, which had examined Welsh pupils since 1896, and from English university boards that had previously served Welsh grammar schools.

The committee's founding purpose was distinct: to run examinations designed for Wales, assessed through both Welsh and English, and reflecting Welsh curricula and contexts. It offered the Certificate of Secondary Education and GCE examinations as the national system developed.

Through the late twentieth century WJEC became the dominant awarding body in Wales for GCSEs and A Levels, while also serving schools in England that preferred its specifications. It developed the Welsh Baccalaureate, launched in 2003, as a distinctive overarching qualification for Welsh learners.

Devolution changed the regulatory landscape. Qualifications Wales was established in 2015 as the independent regulator for Welsh qualifications, ending WJEC's historic combined role as both regulator's partner and monopoly supplier in some areas. In response, WJEC created the Eduqas brand in 2015 to offer Ofqual-regulated GCSEs and A Levels in England and Northern Ireland, separating Welsh provision from its cross-border business.

Recent years brought reform of Welsh qualifications under the Curriculum for Wales, with new made-for-Wales GCSEs rolled out from 2025. WJEC remains the default awarding body for Welsh state schools while Eduqas competes for entries in England alongside AQA, Edexcel, and OCR.