Soon it will be easier for people to search for opportunities to work and study abroad. From 2008, EU member states have been undergoing so-called referencing processes in order to refer all existing qualifications to the common European Qualifications Framework. The result of the process will make it much easier than before to compare the qualifications, i.e. the knowledge levels, the competences and the skills of people from two different European countries. "When a person seeks a job abroad, employers will believe that he/she already has the specific qualifications", explains Miroslav Procházka, NÚOV Director.
Soon in terms of professional value on the labour market, the EQF level will be as important a piece of information as information about the highest education, academic degree or language level achieved. This is especially applicable for work or study abroad. The European Qualifications Framework (EQF), whose eight levels are used as a reference for all existing qualifications in specific countries, will allow the EU countries to compare national qualifications and the educational systems with one another. In view of the fact that the educational systems in every country are very different and that study programmes at various educational stages differ in duration and difficulty level, the referencing process is difficult and complicated, and requires long-term collaboration among institutions and experts in this field.
What is your EQF level?
All qualifications will be referenced to one of the eight EQF levels. Level 1 corresponds to the basics of education, Level 2 to completed primary education, Level 3 to secondary education with an apprenticeship certificate (duration 3 years), and Level 4 to completed secondary education with a final examination. Levels 5 to 8 correspond to tertiary education, where the highest level comprises doctoral studies, Level 7 completed master's studies, and Level 6 completed bachelor's studies or completed studies at a tertiary technical school. Level 5 corresponds to short-cycle programmes (less than 3 years), which are still to be developed in the Czech Republic. The levels are described by means of knowledge, skills and competences, i.e. by means of what you know, what you can do and what activities you are able to conduct.
What factors can influence the EQF level achieved? The European Qualifications Framework comprises not only the knowledge and the skills acquired at school from primary school to university, but also the knowledge and the competences acquired during work experience or through other courses or studies or in free time, on the condition that they are verified by a standardized examination. "The common European Qualifications Framework will allow comparing qualifications acquired outside the educational system", says Milada Stalker from the EQF Coordination Point. "Thus the EQF greatly supports lifelong learning."
The qualifications framework is continuously changing, depending on requirements on the labour market. "In ten or twenty years, the qualifications framework will be very different", said Jiří Nantl, Director of MEYS Department for Universities at the conference about the referencing process, which was held in Prague on 11 March 2011. "It is not very likely that people will stay at the same qualification level until they die; they will come back to the educational system."
The Czech Republic is the fifth in Europe
The Czech Republic is the fifth country in Europe that has prepared its National Report on the Referencing of the National Qualifications Framework. "This is a clear message to Europe that our educational system, following from the strong traditions of Czech culture and learning, can be effectively linked to European systems", adds Jakub Stárek, Director of MEYS Department for Tertiary Technical and Further Education.
What are specific outputs from the process now? "During the first stage of the process, the qualification levels acquired in our educational system (the degrees of education, in other words, e.g. secondary education, tertiary education, etc.) and the levels of partial qualifications acquired through further education (e.g. cashier, elevator mechanic, mountain rescue dog handler, etc.) were referred to the EQF levels", says the Head Project Manager of EQF NCP Project, Jitka Pohanková, describing the current results of the process. Hence EQF Level 2 comprises e.g. partial qualifications for road workers and guards, Level 3 comprises e.g. cashiers and locksmiths and Level 4, among others, expert service mechanics.
The referencing process has not been completed yet. The next, important step is the approval of the Report on the Referencing of the National Qualifications Framework by the Czech government in Summer 2011 and its presentation to the European Commission in Autumn 2011.
- More information can be found in the draft Report on the Referencing of the National Qualifications Framework of the Czech Republic at https://www.nuov.cz/publikace-a-periodika
- More information about the EQF NCP project, the EQF Coordination Point and the referencing process is available at www.nuov.cz/eqf
- More detailed information about Czech qualifications and their levels is available at www.narodni-kvalifikace.cz
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Contacts:
Ing. Jitka Pohanková, Head Manager of the EQF NCP project and NÚOV Deputy Director (jitka.pohankova@nuov
cz)
RNDr. Miroslav Kadlec (miroslav.kadlec@nuovcz)
Mgr. Milada Stalker (milada.stalker@nuovcz)
Mgr. Lada Plíhalová (lada.plihalova@nuovcz)
About the EQF NCP Project and the EQF Coordination Point
In 2010, the European Commission decided to support processes involved in referencing of national frameworks to the EQF by means of project grants. The EQF Coordination Point (EQF NCP) as the National Coordination Point in Czech Republic developed a draft proposal of the project called EQF NCP, which was approved by the European Commission. Through this project, the referencing process in the Czech Republic was funded by the European Commission and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports between May 2010 and April 2011. Within the project, several papers were produced as source documents for elaborating selected chapters of the Report on the Referencing of the National Qualifications Framework of the Czech Republic. In 2008, the EQF Coordination Point was established within the National Institute of Technical and Vocational Education in order to implement the referencing of Czech qualifications to the EQF levels.
Annex: EQF levels described by means of knowledge, skills and competences
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