QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS AND RECOGNITION IN THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA Meeting of Asian and European Rectors Berlin, October 27 – 29, 2008 Sjur Bergan Council of Europe

WHY ARE QUALIFICATIONS IMPORTANT?  Knowledge society requires qualifications  Competences important for modern society  From procedures and formalities toward contents  Emphasis on learning outcomes – what you know, understand and are able to do. –NB Knowledge without understanding can be dangerous  Attitudes are also important – cf. democratic culture

BROADER BACKGROUND  Increased mobility  Increased emphasis on recognition of qualifications for mobility - and as an individual right  Increasing demands on public authorities and institutions  Transparency  Increasing diversity of HE?

WHAT IS A QUALIFICATION?  A name? –Ph.D –Doktorsexamen –Dr. art. –Doktor nauk –Kandidat nauk –Doctorandus  Time spent at university? –Four years good, two years bad?

QUALIFICATIONS: A COMPLEX PHENOMENON  Quality  Workload  Level  Profile  Learning outcomes

WHAT IS A QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK?  Description of all qualifications in a given (higher) education system  Description of how these qualifications articulate  Description of how learners can move between qualifications within a system  Description understandable to informed foreigners  Description of learning outcomes

QF AND THE EHEA  Global dimension: – origin: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa  National qualifications frameworks in place in some “Bologna” countries before 2003  Request by Ministers in Berlin 2003 for “overarching framework of qualifications for the European Higher Education Area”

MINISTERS IN BERGEN 2005 AND LONDON 2007  We have an overarching framework (adopted in Bergen 2005)  We will develop national frameworks compatible with the EHEA framework by 2010  This is a steep challenge and we need some coordination even if QFs are ultimately a national responsibility

FRAMEWORKS AND FRAMEWORK National framework  closest to the operational reality  owned by national system  ultimately determines what qualifications learners will earn  describe the qualifications within a given education system and how they interlink EHEA framework  facilitates movement between systems  face of “Bologna qualifications” to the rest of the world  provides the broad structure within which national qualifications frameworks will be developed (“outer limits” for diversity)

BASIS FOR DIALOGUE  Dialogue around the concept of qualifications  Make QFs a frame for making sense of diversity rather than bureaucratic straightjacket  Develop focus on learning outcomes  Divert attention from systems and procedures to content and outcomes  Make rational use of QFs: HEIs, program design, QA, recognition

BASIS FOR COOPERATION  How do we see the concept of qualifications?  What are our criteria and procedures for recognition?  What are valid reasons for non-recognition (“substantial differences”)?  How can we establish and train national information centers?  How can we share experience?  How can we make QFs a useful instrument and not just a bureaucratic device?  How can we consider foreign qualifications with the same broad mind with which we would like our own qualifications to be considered abroad?

THE BROADER ISSUE  Qualifications for what purposes? –Preparation for the labor market –Preparation for citizenship –Personal development –Broad, advanced knowledge base  What kind of education do we need? =  What kind of society do we want? –(Eugenio Tironi)