The SCHOLAR programme, launched in June 2000 by Heriot-Watt University, offers an online learning to schools and colleges in a range of subjects. The programme set out to provide common educational resources and a 'virtual college' support network in order to improve student choice and flexibility and help students progress between school, college and university.

Cumbria was the first LEA in England to pilot the English version of Scholar which supports AS and A2 Maths, Physics, Chemistry and Computing.

The current pilot in Cumbria, supported by the Learning and Skills Council, has been very well received and SCHOLAR is being used by around 2000 pupils and 200 teachers within the county.  A key difference between the SCHOLAR approach and the myriad sources of e-learning already available, is that SCHOLAR includes an extensive range of learning services such as staff development, tutor support and the creation of learning communities.  SCHOLAR currently supports the OCR syllabus but the material has now been mapped against Edexcel and AQA.