1. The World is Your Oyster
Developing a global system of qualifications recognition to facilitate international labour mobility
Dr Sashigaran Sivathasan
PhD (Oxford), Chartered Engineer

2. Introduction
National Qualifications Frameworks classify accredited vocational and higher education qualifications.
Examples include the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
Countries moving towards mutual recognition of qualifications through transnational qualifications frameworks (like EU and ASEAN Qualifications Frameworks)

3. Australian Qualifications Framework
Level
Qualifications HE
TVET 1
Cert I x 2
Cert II 3
Cert III 4
Cert IV 5
Diploma 6
Adv Dip, Assoc Degree 7
Bachelor degree 8
Grad Cert, Grad Dip, Bachelor (Hons) 9
Masters degrees 10
Doctoral degrees

4. Why Global Qualifications Framework?
Serve as bridge between various National Qualifications Frameworks around world
Facilitate free-movement of labour within economic regions (EU, ASEAN) and world
Promote higher quality qualifications system, a global benchmark

5. Challenges
Diversity of education and training systems in different countries
Some NQFs overly-focused on Higher Ed qualifications
Different stages of development of NQFs of different countries
Consensus on a framework which includes both Higher Ed and TVET qualifications

6. Case Study: EQF European Qualifications Framework
Eight levels (HE and TVET)
By April 2017, 32 countries had mapped their qualifications frameworks to EQF
Pilot studies underway to compare EQF with non-European NQFs like the AQF, the New Zealand QF and the Hong Kong QF

7. European Qualifications Framework and TVET qualifications*
EQF Level
Example of TVET qualification and country 1
VET Level 1 (Malta), Vocational Training Preparation (Germany) 2
VET Level 2 (Malta), Vocational Qualification 1 (England) 3
Level 3 Cert (Ireland), Vocational Aptitude Diploma (Luxembourg) 4
VET Diploma (Malta) 5
VET Higher Diploma (Malta), Higher National Certificate and Diploma (UK) 6
Master Craftsman (certified) (Germany), Operative IT professional (certified) (Germany) 7
Senior detective (Czech Rep), Chemical Engineer Product Manager (Czech Rep), Strategic IT Professionals (Certified) (Germany) 8
Chartered Engineer (Estonia), Chartered Architect (Estonia) *

8. Case Study: AQRF
Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Qualifications Reference Framework
Still being developed
To encourage the ‘free flow of skilled labour’ and to ‘establish national skills frameworks’
Countries at different stages of developing NQF

9. Conclusion
One of the main benefits of global system of qualifications recognition – international labour mobility
Differing levels of progress in the development of NQFs among countries
Regional transnational frameworks like EQF, AQRF steps in the right direction