Improving the recognition system

Prof. Andrejs Rauhvargers President, Lisbon Convention Committee

Improving the recognition system Prof. Andrejs Rauhvargers President, Lisbon Convention Committee

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Want to complicate something? - Start with DEFINITIONS!

So, in how many senses do we talk about ”recognition”?

• Recognition of a higher education institution

• Recognition of a higher education programme

• Recognition of an individual qualification - nationally

• Recognition of an individual qualification abroad

Mom, I am coming home!Oh, yes, they RECOGNIZED my diploma, they only couldn’t fit me in to any job or programme...

Is a formal it to statement “we recognize this qualification” enough?

A definition of recognition for Bologna process

Recognition =

evaluation a foreign qualification with a view to find it’s right path in the host country’s a) education or b) employment system

Outcome of recognition is purpose - depending

Recognition of a qualification depends

• on the qualification itself (properties of issuing education system),

• on the purpose, for which it is sought,

• on the properties of the host system

Recognition – children’ s play?

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Legal framework of the Lisbon Convention

• Lisbon Recognition Convention (1997)

• Recommendation on the recognition of

international access qualifications (1999)

• Recommendation on Criteria and Procedures

(2001),

• Code of good practice in the provision of

transnational education (2001)

• Recommendation on the recognition of joint

degrees (2004)

Basic principles

• right to fair recognition,• Recognition of comparable level

qualifications if no substantial differences are evident,

• The burden of proof – on the competent authority

• Mutual trust among Parties and information provision

Mobile graduate’s prayer... and forgive

us our differences as we forgive those who differ from us ...

Equivalence

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Substantial differences may be in

• learning outcomes and competencies,

• access to further activities, may even be legally stipulated – but they should follow from learning outcomes

• key elements of the programme, are important only with a view of learning outcomes to be achieved

• quality of the programme/institution

What happens if the differences ARE substantial?

The recommendation is: look for possibilities for alternative or

partial recognition

At professional recognition under EU general systems’ directives:

If the differences are substantial, the applicant can chose between – aptitude test or – adaptation period

National implementation

• Ratification of the Convention,• Introduction of Diploma Supplement and

ECTS

Is that enough?

• Establishing and maintaining an ENIC centreLess developed issues• change of national legislation,• actual implementation of the principles of

the Convention

Institutional implementation

• 60% HEIs say their staff is not very aware or completely unaware of LC principles

• only 58% of HEIs had an institution-wide procedure recognition of foreign degrees

• no institution-wide recognition policy, decisions taken on a case-by-case basis

• little cooperation between institutions and ENICs/ NARICs - more than 50% of the surveyed HEIs say they don’t cooperate or even don’t know what ENIC/NARIC was

Reform of degree system – what impact on recognition?

• „programmes leading to [bachelor] degree may, and indeed should have different orientations and various profiles in order to accommodate a diversity of individual, academic and labour market needs”

• master degrees: already Trends II report indicated at least seven different purposes of Master degrees in Europe + introduction of two-tier structures across HE systems increases diversity even further.

Thus, reform of degree system increases transparency, but also increases diversity,

which means – easier to give formal recognition,

but more efforts needed to locate in host system.

Lifelong learning

Studies/training

Award of qualifi-cation

Nationalrecognition

Internationalrecognition

Which stage is the bottleneck?

Some conclusions from the general part (II)

There is a need to• actually embed the principles of the

Convention into both national legislation and institutional policies,

• substantially raise institutional awareness at all levels regarding recognition issues and the international legal framework,

• Create/ improve institutional recognition practices,

• create a positive attitude towards foreign qualifications and willingness to find the way how they can be used it in the host countries.

Some conclusions from the general part

• For the needs of Bologna process it is not enough to formally grant recognition – success of the EHEA requires proper positioning foreign qualification in the host country’s education or employment system

• The international legal framework for the recognition in the European Higher Education Area is well established and emerging needs are being properly addressed.

• There is a notable progress in the ratification of the LC after the Berlin ministerial meeting.

QualityAssurance

Nationalimplemen-

tation

Learning Outcome

s

Legal framewo

rk Qualificationsframeworks

Tuning

New degrees

Old degrees

Credits

Non-national qualif.

Joint degrees

Transnat.education

Information,DS

L L L

Labour market