2008.05.07

The European Qualifications Framework: a new tool to translate qualifications

The EQF is a lifelong learning framework, applying to qualifications obtained in all sectors of education, including general education, higher education and vocational training. Its core is its eight reference levels of qualifications, from those obtained at the end of compulsory education, (level 1) to the highest (level 8: doctorate or equivalent).

The three highest levels correspond to higher education levels as defined within the European Higher Education Area, under the Bologna Process, e.g. Bachelor, Masters and PhD levels. But they may also stand for highly specialised professional qualifications.

Mobility

The EQF will make qualifications from different countries easier to compare and more readable and so support citizens' mobility. It therefore supplements and supports the existing range of programmes and instruments aiming to help Europeans live and work anywhere in the EU, such as the Erasmus programme for student mobility and Europass, which provides a standardised portfolio to enable people to describe their skills in a transparent way.

For example, currently an enterprise in Ireland may hesitate to recruit a job applicant from Hungary because it doesn't understand his or her qualifications. But once the EQF is implemented, Hungarian certificates would carry an EQF reference e.g. "EQF level 5", allowing Irish employers to more readily interpret the level of such qualifications.

Lifelong learning

Many countries are already establishing their own National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in response to the EQF. Qualifications frameworks are increasingly seen as instruments able to connect different parts of a country's education system, so that people can pursue a variety of learning pathways, for example by moving more freely between different types of institutions such as universities or vocational training institutes or by gaining recognition for their non-formal learning.

The EQF – and its national counterparts – therefore recognise the reality of modern careers and modern learning – that an individual„s career consists of a variety of different types of learning, some of it structured, some of it informal, but to be pursued throughout the course of one“s life. The EQF and NQFs can therefore help equip societies for the challenges of the knowledge economy.

Next steps

At a practical level, the Recommendation sets targets of 2010 for countries to relate their qualifications systems to the EQF. From 2012, all new qualifications should bear a reference to the EQF, so that employers and institutions can identify a candidate's skills knowledge, skills or competences.

The Commission and member states are already working together on the practical tasks of implementation. An Advisory Group, comprising the governments and social partners (employers and trades unions) will coordinate the processes required to relate national systems to the EQF.

Here you will find further information about EQF.