Revised CXC®-AD

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC®) introduced the CXC Associate Degree (CXC®-AD) in 2005 in response to the changing educational demands of the region. The CXC Associate Degree is based on clusters of subjects taken by candidates for the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination® (CAPE®). The CXC®-AD enables persons to select for study, subjects that will meet specific requirements for work and for further education. The CXC®-AD was first revised in 2014 to improve its relevance as we continue to meet the changing needs of the region’s learners and labour force.

In August 2017, the University Council of Jamaica (UCJ) conducted a review of the CXC®-AD that revealed that the CXC®-AD is a higher education qualification with an overall credit value of 48 credit hours or a maximum credit weighting of six credit hours per CAPE® Unit.  The UCJ recommended that the Council align the CXC®-AD with the UCJ Tertiary Qualification Framework (TQF) and increase the credit value to 60 credit hours.  The UCJ also advised that the receiving institution may grant advanced standing to candidates awarded the CXC®-AD depending on the alignment of the CAPE® Unit to the course offered by the receiving institution.  The revised CXC®-AD, which responds to concerns raised in the UCJ Report and issues raised by stakeholders, was approved by SUBSEC in October 2018 for immediate release. 

Consequently, the Revised CXC-AD® Handbook is applicable to all candidates who sit their first set of CAPE® Units starting with the May–June 2019 examination session.  Candidates are now required to:

  1. pursue 10 CAPE® Units instead of eight for certification; and,
  2. select specified courses from four categories - General Education Requirements, Core Courses, Adjunct/Supporting Courses and Electives to meet the requirements for certification.

Additionally, the General Education requirements were revised to allow for the acceptance of CAPE® Pure and Applied Mathematics Units in lieu of CAPE® Integrated Mathematics.

In taking the decision to award Associate Degrees, the Council recognises the need for close collaboration among institutions in the region to provide articulated programmes of study. This articulation is necessary in order to facilitate the transfer of credits and to increase opportunity for more persons to obtain tertiary education through collaborative and cost-effective strategies. The Council will, therefore, continue to work closely with institutions in the region to identify equivalencies in programmes so that persons with a CXC®-AD will benefit from advantaged placement when entering other degree programmes.

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