EQF Referencing Process - Examples and Proposals - EQF-Ref
March 2009 – February 2011

Background
To implement the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), countries are asked to link their qualifications systems or national qualifications frameworks (NQF) to the EQF: National qualifications systems should be referred to the EQF until 2010 and references to the EQF levels should be introduced in all new certificates and Europass documents by 2012.
According to common agreement, the national EQF referencing processes must use transparent procedures and methods. The EQF Advisory Group has decided on criteria and procedures that should be considered for the referencing of national qualifications levels to the EQF. However, each country’s qualifications authorities must choose the modality of linking their qualifications levels to the EQF. To establish mutual trust in the referencing process, EU countries need to discuss and exchange experiences.

Aims
The purpose of the EQF-Ref project is to facilitate communication between the partner countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands), to enhance learning from each other and to develop ‘mutual trust’ in referencing qualifications levels to the EQF. In particular, the project aims to identify procedures of ‘good practice’ for referencing qualifications levels to the EQF and to propose the structure of the EQF referencing reports.

Results
The main results of the project will be: National Case Studies: describing the steps and procedures that partner countries are planning or have already accomplished in referencing national qualifications levels to the EQF.
Comparative / Evaluation report: identifying commonalities and differences in the approaches planned or taken by the partner countries, evaluating the national case studies based on the criteria developed by the EQF Advisory Group, and continually evaluating the criteria of the EQF Advisory Group.
Proposal for the structure of the ‘referencing report’: The proposal will be developed based on the criteria developed by the EQF Advisory Group. It will include illustrative examples from the partner countries (e.g. regarding the kind and amount of evidence that should be provided) as well as recommendations on how peer review among countries could be organised to ‘assess’ referencing to the EQF. A draft version of the proposal will be presented and discussed at an international expert seminar.

Target group
The project considers the national qualifications systems of the partner countries and their processes for NQF development and EQF implementation; and, as a result, the project will have an impact on the design of the EQF referencing processes on national levels. Therefore, the target group includes public authorities and stakeholders involved in these processes in the partner countries as well as policy makers on the EU level (in particular, members of the EQF Advisory Group, of the European Commission and of national contact points in other countries).

Funding
The EQF-Ref project has been funded with support from the European Commission and the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, the Arts and Culture (bm:ukk). The content of this website does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Commission or the bm:ukk, nor does it involve any responsibility on their part.
147833 LLP-1-2008-1-AT-EQF