1. EUROPEAN AND EU PARTNERS’
EXPERIENCE IN QUALIFICATION
FRAMEWORKS
NATALIA CUDDY
BOGOTÁ, 28 JULY 2011

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Answering three questions: what, why, how?
• Qualification framework - global phenomenon?
• Qualification frameworks’ typology and objectives.
• Qualification frameworks in the education and
training reform.
• The development stages of the National
Qualification Framework.
• Conclusions.

3. a global development

4. THE EQF AND QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS WORLDWIDE
GREENLAND
ALASKA (USA) SWEDEN
ICELAND
FINLAND RUSSIA
NORWAY
CANADA ESTONIA
LATVIA
DENMARK
LITHUANIA
REPULIC OF
IRELAND UNITED BELARUS
KINGDOM NETHERLANDS
GERMANY POLAND
BELGIUM
CZECH
REPUBLIC UKRAINE
SLOVAKIA
AUSTRIA
KAZAKHSTAN
FRANCE
SWITZ.
HUNGARY
MONGOLIA
ROMANIA
ITALY
BULGARIA UZBEKISTAN
GEORGIA KYRGYZSTAN
SPAIN
PORTUGAL
NORTH
KOREA
GREECE
UNITED STATES of AMERICA TURKEY TURKMENISTAN TAHKISTAN
SOUTH
JAPAN
SYRIA CHINA KOREA
AFGHANISTAN
IRAN
MOROCCO
TUNISIA
IRAQ
ALGERIA PAKISTAN
NEPAL
LIBYA
WESTERN SAHARA EGYPT
SAUDI
MEXICO ARABIA
UAE
INDIA
TAIWAN
OMAN VIETNAM
CUBA
MYANMAR
MAURITANIA LAOS
MALI
NIGER CHAD
GUATEMALA
SUDAN YEMEN THAILAND
HONDURAS
SENEGAL
NICARAGUA CAMBODIA
PHILIPPINES
BURKINA
GUINEA
COSTA RICA
NIGERIA
PANAMA GHANA
ETHIOPIA
VENEZUELA COTE
SRI
LANKA
LIBERIA
D’IVOIRE CENTRAL
GUYANA
AFRICAN REPUBLIC
FRENCH CAMEROON
MALAYSIA
COLOMBIA SURINAME GUIANA
SOMALIA
UGANDA
KENYA
ECUADOR GABON CONGO
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF
CONGO
TANZANIA PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
INDONESIA
BRAZIL
PERU ANGOLA
ZAMBIA
BOLIVIA
MADAGASCAR
ZIMBABWE
NAMIBIA
PARAGUAY BOTSWANA
AUSTRALIA
REPUBLIC
OF SOUTH
AFRICA
URUGUAY
CHILE
ARGENTINA
NEW
ZEALAND

5. ‘GENERATION GAP’
1st and 2nd generation 3rd Generation
Explicit objectives New motivation
Establish national standards
Globalisation
and improve quality
Regional integration
(regulation/communication)
Enhance coherence of
New pressure/drivers
subsectors VET, HE and GE
(articulation)
Global convergence
Increase access and promote
lifelong learning
Compare and recognise
qualifications (inc. international
benchmarking)
Reform education sector

6. SIMILAR BUT VARIED GOALS
QF is a tool that responds to changing labour and educational
needs in demographically changing societies. QFs are
developed on the basis of negotiation and consensus between
stakeholders.
• to develop flexible pathways between education and training
sectors and the labour market
• to improve understanding of learning pathways and qualifications
and their relations
• to enhance quality and quality assurance
• to improve access to education and training opportunities and
progression
• to create incentives for participation in E&T
• to increase the scope for recognition of non-formal and informal
learning
• to optimise stakeholder engagement

7. NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS
NQFs
• Qualifications and Credit Regulatory/mandatory
Framework (QCF) England
Tool for national policy implementation
• Some EU MS Establishing national standards and
regulations
RQFs
 Transnational
Qualifications Framework Voluntary/inclusive
for the Small States of the Tool for translation and assessing
Commonwealth comparability of qualifications–
 European Qualification communication between countries
Framework (EQF)

8. EHEA (Bologna) EQF (LLL)
HE Sector led, Council of Europe EU initiative,
46 countries participating, 32 countries signed up + 25 EU
partner countries
Meta framework for European Higher Reference framework for lifelong
Education Area learning (including HE)
Based on 3 cycles and intermediate 8 level framework
cycle L5 – L8 aligned with FEHEA
descriptors
Focuses on HE frameworks and main Supports the establishments of NQFs
HE qualifications Levels for all types of learning/
achievements at different levels
Learning outcomes are the basis Learning outcomes (knowledge, skills
and competences) are the basis
Established 2010 Established 2010
Reference to the EQF levels in all MS

9. FROM FRAMEWORKS TO SYSTEMS
Beyond qualifications frameworks, qualifications systems are about
1. how stakeholders coordinate and manage qualifications
2. how qualifications are developed and maintained
3. how they are delivered
4. how they are assessed and awarded (certificated)
Capacities,
Resources,
Communication and for progress
Quality assurance
Adopted from A.Deij

10. BOARD OF QUALIFICATIONS
QUALIFICATIONS SERVICE
ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE LEGAL
BASIS
ASSESSMENT /
RECOGNITION OF DESIGNING OF
MANAGEMENT QUALIFICATIONS
QUALIFICATIONS
RESEARCH OF
ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES
REGULATIONS
QUALIFICATIONS STANDARD SETTING
ASSESSMENT METHODS FRAMEWORK INSTITUTIONS
ASSESSMENT AND NATIONAL
RECOGNITION OCCUPATIONAL
INSTITUTIONS ACQUISITION OF STANDARDS AND
QUALIFICATIONS
QUALIFICATIONS
CURRICULA OF FORMAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (VET,
HIGHER EDUCATION)
INFORMAL AND EXPERIENTAL LEARNING
QUALIFICATIONS PROVISION INSTITUTIONS

11. STARTING POINT, PROCESS AND
DESIRED OUTCOMES
Contexts for VET reforms differ between countries
socio-economic and cultural factors play an important role
 In applying QFs countries have different cultural
backgrounds, reference systems and values (role of
government Georgia and Belarus e.g. on LM regulation,
Market of Qualifications (England) or National Consensus
France, holistic occupational (Germany, Austria, Denmark)
vs skills (UK & Ireland) approaches.
 QFs and the reform of qualifications systems are part of
wider education and training reforms.
 Capacity building and policy learning: How to ensure
NQFs that are embedded in local contexts.
Adapted from A. Deji

12. FRAMEWORK BUILDING
10 Bologna steps in developing a 6 steps ETF Working paper approach:
national qualifications framework:
1 Decision to start - taken by national body
responsible for HE 1. Exploratory stage: do we need a NQF?
2 Setting the agenda - the purpose of NQF
3 Organising the process: Identifying 2. Conceptual: develop and refine
stakeholders - setting up a committee rationale
4 Design Profile - level structure, level descriptors
(learning outcomes), credit ranges
5 Consultation – national discussions and 3. Design stage: stakeholders agree design
acceptance of design by stakeholders
6 Approval by Minister/Government/legislation 4. Testing phase: do tools work
7 Administrative set-up – implementation by HEI
and QA bodies, etc.
8 Implementation at institutional/programme 5. Implementation stage: capacity and
level – reformulation of study programmes to a institution building + adding qualifications
learning outcomes approach + QA focus
9 Inclusion of qualifications in the NQF
10 Self-certification of compatibility with the FQ-
EHEA 6. Review stage: gauge progress, redesign,
11 Establish website test, etc.
No perfect sequence but all steps are necessary to make a
realistic project of key partners achieve realistic goals. This
is a long-term, costly and phased project.

13. DEVELOPMENT STAGES OF THE NATIONAL
QUALIFICATION FRAMEWORK
ETF APPROACH - MEDA/MENA COUNTRIES EXPERIENCE,
SO FAR

14. EXPLORATORY AND CONCEPTUAL
STAGES
• Stocktaking exercise to map and analyse existing
qualification systems in terms of existence or lack of
progression, access, quality, transparency and
relevance
• Secondary research of the QF international experiences
and lessons learnt
• Awareness raising among policy makers on the
international debate on the contribution to quality TVET
and context’s specifics
• Exposure phase – study visits (positive and negative
aspects)
• Conceptualization – NQF rationale agreed. Legislation?
• Challenges: reaching out stakeholders; building a
common understanding; managing expectations.

15. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND
GOVERNANCE
• Aim – to bring all stakeholders under one umbrella
with clearly defined strategic roles, ie leading,
facilitating, developing.
• -Government ministries and key agencies
(governance and supply side)
• Employer organisations, chamber of commerce
and alike (demand side)
• Trade unions .
• Technical SG with a similar set up.
• Challenges: reaching and sustaining consensus and
long-term commitment.

16. INTERACTION STAGE
• Form working (aka focus, dialogue, task force) groups of
managers/researchers and policy makers to develop a
common understanding of the issues, challenges and
opportunities/implications. Peer review activities with
facilitating and developing roles. Scenarios.
• Develop vision statement and action plans to pave the
way forward to QF development, leading to adoption of
formal policy papers.
• Create an e-portal/forum as a tool for knowledge
management and collective learning experience.
• Challenges: framework-centred (goal in itself rather than
a tool); fine-tuning the concept (provisional limitations of
technical/socio-cultural settings).

17. DESIGN STAGE – POLICY AND
TECHNICAL
• Collaborative partnership work results require government’s
endorsement to be carried forward into action. Scenarios.
• A strategic lead (inter-ministerial Steering Group) to be identified
to build on the consensus achieved and to link the associated
range of reforms. Build synergies.
• Agree? on the architecture (levels, level descriptors etc)
• Establish broad criteria for qualifications to be described in
common terms (LO).
• Start aligning different qualifications for the development of the
framework
• Develop a common language and a set of tools to build trust
• Realistic time planning - a two year planning cycle with a long-
term perspective.
• Challenges: need to look at all subsectors; strong experiential
scientific approach; lack of clear concept and rationale; risk of
exporting unfit for the national context models.

18. TESTS AND TRIALS
• Can inform the design stage
• Costly but necessary phase
• One or several sectors? Which ones?
• Top down or bottom up approach?
• Build-in external evaluation in the design
• Upon completion , validation tests on occupational
categories
• - Check if completed grid relates to the
• Challenges: allocating sufficient resources and
time; ensuring critical impartial evaluation.

19. IMPLEMENTATION STAGE
• Framework is approved. Institutions to support framework
created. NQFs become operational in stages, normally
starting with populating the QF with qualifications,
followed by access for learners/candidates, provision,
assessment, certification and possible transfer of results
and progression of the learners. Framework coordination
(or regulation) needs to be ensured. Quality assurance is
becoming a real concern at this stage.
• Challenges: The implementation raises many practical
issues including funding. Managing change.
Implementation driven too much top down may lead to
conflicts & lack of trust. Too much bottom up driven
approaches are difficult to link. The practical tasks are
opportunity for learning but effects take years to
manifest.

20. REVIEW AND REDESIGN STAGE
• Research around frameworks can provide valuable lessons for
policy learning, and increase the effectiveness. Research and
peer learning can be done in cooperation with other countries,
but the transferability of experiences from abroad are limited by
the fact that each framework is a response to a specific situation.
• A review of the frameworks is normally carried out after 5-7 years
of operation. Frameworks normally develop by addressing
perceived weaknesses, which become apparent during
independent reviews of the frameworks. These lead to
reconceptualisation and redesign and the cycle starts again.
Challenges: Learning about the QF development process requires
independent research capacity. Learning should start as early as
possible. Politicians and implementing institutions may not want to
know about things that go wrong. Critical academic researchers
may lack the understanding of the practicalities involved in
developing frameworks.

21. EU AND EU PARTNER COUNTRIES’
EXPERIENCE - CONCLUSIONS
• Many countries in Europe have decided to develop QFs. This
development is stimulated by the EQF.
• QFs are meant to improve the functioning of deployment of people,
opening up E&T systems and improve quality (assurance).
• QFs cannot lead to these results on their own, but need to be part of
wider E&T reforms.
• Every QF is different: a unique response to a given situation – national
contexts define QFs. It changes overtime (no “one size fits all”
solution)
• The development & implementation of QFs takes years. It requires
resources, commitment of stakeholders and adaptability First cycle of
system reforms takes at least ten years and building up capacities
and involvement of stakeholders from the world of work even longer,.
• The development passes through different stages, in a dynamic and
iterative way (looking backwards/outwards or changing directions –
“work in progress”.

22. GOOD LUCK
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION