1. ETS Working Group, 5-6th June 2012
Item 6.2: Guidelines for the core variable "Educational attainment" in social surveys
ETS WG 5-6th June 2012

2. Operational manual on the measurement of educational attainment - stay of play/calendar
Operational manual - draft elaborated by Eurostat and OECD INES network LSO
Next version - to be prepared by Eurostat after consultation with ETS WG members in June; it will be consulted once more with LSO (meeting in September in Tallinn) and other non OECD EU-MS
A draft EA manual will be circulated to the ETS WG in November to allow the dissemination of "version 2012" by end of It will include approved guidelines on two EU priority implementation issues for educational attainment data: partial completion of ISCED level 3 and classification of qualifications obtained via short tertiary programmes. ↓
Discussions on the remaining issues will start from September Corresponding clarifications will be included in an up-dated EA operational manual ("version 2013") → for implementation in 2014
ETS WG 5-6th June 2012

3. ETS WG members are invited to:
agree on the structure and the content of the operational manual on educational attainment;
comment on the guidelines proposed for two priority issues as concerns educational attainment:
partial completion of ISCED level 3 (agreement on this issue is expected)
classification of qualifications obtained via short tertiary programmes;
agree on the list of other issues for which guidelines are still needed
ETS WG 5-6th June 2012

4. Ad.1 - Structure and content of the manual
Four main sections:
ISCED 2011 concepts and definitions related to educational attainment (extracts from the UNESCO document on ISCED more detailed explanations)
Borderline cases (with examples)
Data collections (including recommendations for "diploma approach")
Metadata (including ISCED integrated mappings)
Comments? - completeness of important issues, usefulness of all definitions included, clearness of explications, place and number of examples, etc.
ETS WG 5-6th June 2012

5. Ad.2 - Two priority issues for agreement
Partial completion of ISCED level 3
Eurostat proposes to clearly state in the EA operational manual that:
cumulative duration, programme duration and access to higher level of education are the first criteria to consider for the definition of educational attainment level 3;
an additional criterion to use for the allocation of code 342/352 (partial completion of ISCED level 3) is that the related part of the sequential educational programme should provide a qualification included in the NQF/EQF;
partial completion of ISCED level 3 is to be considered as educational attainment of ISCED level 3 as defined in ISCED 2011.
ETS WG 5-6th June 2012

6. Two priority issues - cont.
Classification of qualifications obtained via short tertiary programmes
Eurostat proposes that:
In case of tertiary educational programmes shorter than two years, the level set for qualifications in NQF (EQF (level 5) prevails on other criteria (duration) for the allocation of the educational attainment level.
Content and duration of programmes prevail in other cases (i.e. below EQF 5).
ETS WG 5-6th June 2012

7. Ad.3 - List of other issues for which guidelines are needed
Formal/non-formal education programmes leading to "formal qualifications“
Implementation of orientation (general/vocational)
Situations when enrolment=level L+1, educational attainment = level L
Double qualifications (general/vocational)
Foreign qualifications
Successful completion of educational level but without final certification giving access to higher level
New!: allocation of some programmes/qualifications to ISCED 5 or 6
More guidelines on old programmes ?
……….
ETS WG 5-6th June 2012

8. Thank you for your attention!
Please send your comments by the end of June to
ETS WG 5-6th June 2012