PROF PHILIPPOS POUYIOUTAS 1,2,3, DR HARALD GJERMUNDROD 1,4, DR IOANNA DIONYSIOU 1,4, AND MR MICHALIS MICHAEL 1 1 UNIVERSITY OF NICOSIA RESEARCH FOUNDATION, CYPRUS 2 PARTICIPATING IN: THE UNILO PROJECT 3 CO-ORDINATING/ 4 PARTICIPATING: IN THE REPROTOOL PROJECT THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAPQFTOOL A Software Tool for National Qualifications Frameworks ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Presentation Structure ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus 2 The Bologna Process European Qualifications Framework MapQFTool Motivation for the Tool Sample queries Examples of use of the Tool The Architecture and Database Conclusion

The Bologna Process 3 The Bologna process aims at developing a European Educational Framework of standards/definitions/concepts so as to provide the basis for European countries to transform their educational system according to this framework. This will result in comparability/compatibility of the various European educational systems which will then result in: collaborations amongst educational institutions exchanges of students and teachers within Europe transparency and transferability of qualifications. ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

European Qualifications Framework 4 EQF and NQFs describe in terms of Learning Outcomes (knowledge, skills, competences) t he various levels of education starting from the pre-primary level and reaching the doctorate level. EQF caters for eight such levels, whereas NQFs may cater a different number of levels. European Qualifications Framework Provides for mapping the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) of each European country to this framework, thus transitively, mapping each countrys educational system to another countrys system ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

European Qualifications Framework 5 ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/eqf/rec08_en.pdf ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

EQF and NQFs 6 (adopted from EQF Newsletter April 2010 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

MapQFTool 7 Current practice of trying to map the various NQFs against the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), and through the EQF against each other is tedious and error prone Advantages of automating this process using a software tool. Provide the tool as an online application which provide universal access. MapQFTool is a software tool that provides support to the understanding and comparability of the National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) of the European countries. ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

MapQFTool (Cont.) MapQFTool will be a very useful asset to all stakeholders, namely the European Commission, National Quality Assurance Agencies of all European countries Educational institutions Ministries of Education and Labor Prospective students, students, and Erasmus co-ordinators Employers, careers officers, and the general public. 8 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Sample Queries 9 Given an award type, what is its NQF level in a given country Given an award type, what is its EQF level Given an award type in country A, what is its NQF level in country B Given an award type in country A, what are the equivalent NQF levels in all other countries Given a qualification, what is its NQF level in a given country Given a qualification, what is its EQF level Given a qualification in country A, what are its equivalent qualifications in country B Given a qualification in country A, what are its NQF levels in all other countries ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Sample Queries 10 Given an NQF level in country A what is its equivalent EQF level Given an NQF level in country A, what is its equivalent NQF level in country B Given an NQF level in country A, what are the equivalent NQF levels in all other countries Given an EQF level what are/is the equivalent level(s) in the NQF of country A Given an EQF level what are/is the awards of that level in country A ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

User Login 11 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Setting/Viewing EQF 12 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Summary of the NQF Levels of a Country 13 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Setting/Viewing an University 14 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Sample Query 15 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Sample Query 16 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

MapQFTool Architecture MapQFTool is built on Microsoft.Net platform using the DXperience tool by DevExpress. It uses a three-tier web application architecture Presentation Layer Provides the interface to the user for accessing the application, i.e. done through a web browser like: FireFox, Safari, Chrome, IE. Application Logic layer: Handles the requests on behalf of the user on the web service, i.e. performs the action that the user have requested. Data Access Layer: The data for the application is stored in a database which is accessed by the web service (tier 2). 17 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Users and System Architecture 18 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

The Design of the Underlying Database 19 ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

Conclusions 20 MapQFTool is a very useful Tool which allows the various National Qualification Frameworks (NQFs) to be mapped against the European Qualification Framework and thus against each other. We expect that MapQFTool will be a very useful asset to all stakeholders. ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus

21 Thank you. Questions? For more information us: ReProTool and UNILO Information Day/Workshop March 2, 2012, Nicosia, Cyprus