City and Guilds 3668
The City & Guilds 3668 is the UK’s industry standard qualification in fibre optics. The 3668 fibre units, and the older 3667, 3666 and 3466 equivalent, is recognised as such by the FIA (Fibre-optics Industry Association) and forms the foundation of the FIA qualification scheme. The 3668 scheme is approved by the UK Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to give successful candidates a level 2 award (GSCE A-C equivalent).
The course content has been updated in consultation with the UK fibre optics industry to ensure that the course syllabus is both relevant and up-to-date, reflecting the latest industry standards & codes of practice. Indeed the Fibreoptic Industry Association (FIA) has approved the City and Guilds 3667 scheme as the cornerstone practical skills qualification for people wishing to enter the fibre optics industry in UK.The 3667 award is recognised internationally wherever the UK and European standards for cable installation are used. This includes UK, the rest of Europe, Australia, India, most of the Far East and Africa. Only the USA use a different set of standards.
The 3667 qualification scheme:
The new scheme consists of 4 units which can be taken independently. Successful candidates will be awarded a certificate of unit credit for each completed unit. To achieve the full 3667 Certificate, unit 1 and any one of units 2, 3 and 4 must be taken.
3668 Unit 1: Basic Principles of Communication Systems: Safe working practices, SI units, dB and symbols, communication systems and datacommunication. Theory only, no practical skills content. Assessment by invigilated online exam.
3668 Unit 2: Fibre Optic Cabling. Optical fibre basics, safe working practices, SI units, dB and symbols, fibre optic cables, ODFs, enclosures and components, fibre preparation, fitting connectors, splicing and completion of enclosures, external installation procedures, optical components and testing. Covers both theory and hands-on training. Assessments include practical skills and an online exam.
3668 Unit 3: Internal Copper Cabling Cabling: Basic electric theory and datacoms principles, safe working practices, SI units, dB and symbols, standards and structured cabling, copper cables and components, termination, installation procedures and copper network cable testing. Covers both theory and hands-on training. Assessments include practical skills and an online exam.
Practical Details:
The 3668 courses are available both as company events on your site, and as public scheduled courses open to individual bookings.
We primarily run the public 3668 courses at:
Lucid Training Centre in Garsdale is about 15 min from M6 J37, convenient for North of England and Scotland
We also run some courses at a facility in Crawley near Gatwick Airport: Convenient for London and the South
We take max 6 delegates on public courses, and supply at least 3 modern fusion splicers, 3 OTDRs and 3 complete sets of hand tools for a full course of three pairs of trainees, so there will be plenty of time for the trainer to help everyone, and no waiting for equipment.
The assessments consists of a practical skills test, where the trainer watch you carry out a number of tasks correctly, and a theory test that you take on a PC or laptop under exam conditions.
Who should attend:
- Installation technicians and supervisors who will be installing
telecoms, CATV, CCTV, fibre optic or copper datacoms systems - Managers, engineers, planners and sales staff who require an introduction to theoretical and practical aspects of fibre optics or copper communications cabling
- Test engineers who will be required to perform communications
system characterisation or acceptance testing - Maintenance staff who will be required to perform routine
maintenance or emergency fault finding and repair.
3668 course formats and unit combinations
We schedule our public courses in the following formats, as these are by far the most popular with trainees:
5-day C&G 3668 Unit 2 Fibre Optic Cabling: this is pretty much identical to the previous 5-day 3667 Combined Unit 2 Internal & Unit 3 External Fibre”, apart from minor updates to reflect the latest industry developments
Alternatively, we can run either Unit 2 Fibre cabling on your site for a group of 6 delegates.
4-day C&G Unit 3 Structured Cabling (Internal Copper Datacoms): This is pretty much identical to the previous 4-day “3667 Unit 4 Internal Copper Cabling”. There is little overlap between this and the fibre unit 2. Hence we run this as a separate 4-day course. You will be awarded a Certificate of Unit Credit for unit 3, as well as the overall 3668 Communications Cabling (Level 2) Certificate.
course review and online exam. Please note, however, that ideally bookings should be finalised at least two weeks in advance to allow time to receive the manual and complete the home study
Why Chose Lucid for your City & Guilds 3668?
We believe we offer the highest quality of training and the best support, but don’t just listen to us, click on this link for the views of the experts who inspect us and our training from City and Guilds. These are the independent people who can tell you about training centres, and very few training centres are prepared to publish their comments as we do.
When comparing pricing please ensure that the cost quoted to you includes everything you expect. We have come across some training providers offering City and Guilds 3668 training courses and then asking for more money if you want to be enrolled to gain the qualification itself. We believe this is sharp practice to make the course look good value, but technically they have only promised you the City and Guilds 3668 training and not the enrolment, assessments and certificates.
Awards after the City & Guilds 3668 Qualification
Following your City and Guilds 3668 qualification Lucid can offer you a range of more advanced qualification in the testing or design and planning of fibre optic and copper communications networks. Wherever possible we provide recognised qualifications from licensed awarding bodies. These are not just our own certificates, although we do find that our own course attendance certificates are well recognised and respected within the industry too.
The City & Guilds 3667 scheme
The “3668-02 Communications Cabling” took over from the 3667 qualification in April 2022.
I have already done a unit of 3667 can I do further units and complete it?
No. The option to take further 3667 units ended March 2024, two years after new enrolments for 3667 qualification ended – enrolments on City & Guilds schemes generally remain valid for 2 years, after which you have to re-enrol to take further units.
Can I upgrade my 3667 or 3666 to the 3668?
Yes you can. City & Guilds do not offer any specific conversion or upgrades of the 3667 units to the equivalent 3668 units. But, if you did your previous equivalent 3667 qualification with Lucid, we will still have the records of your practical assessments, so you would just need to sit the 3668 online test(s). This is because the City & Guilds qualifications are based on demonstrating an appropriate level of skill and understanding in a formal assessment. There is no requirement to attend any specific training sessions before the assessments, hence we would not require you to repeat the training.
If you would like to upgrade but did NOT do your 3667 units with Lucid, – please contact us to discuss the options. We would not have any records of your previous practical assessments, so the situation is more complicated.
The reason for upgrading could be to ensure units count towards any future larger qualifications, where all units counting will need to be on the RQF (there may be exceptions, but this is not guaranteed).