The Business & Technician Education Council (BTEC) was a subdegree-conferring council in the United Kingdom until 1996, when its functions were transferred to Edexcel. The council offered further and higher education awards, particularly to polytechnics, and in particular the BTEC Nationals and BTEC Higher Nationals awards which remain prominent. It is not to be confused with BTech.
BTEC qualifications are undertaken in vocational subjects ranging from Business to Animal Care. They have an equivalence to other qualifications such as the GCSE and the A Level but a particular difference is that they tend to be based on practical work or coursework rather than timed examinations.