Proposal for a Council Recommendation on the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning and repealing the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning

In today’s and tomorrow’s world, people need a higher and broader set of skills to work, communicate, access information, products and services and for social and civic participation. A proper understanding and valuing of skills available is fundamental to help individuals to acquire and update skills throughout their life as they move between different types and levels of education, between education and employment and across countries. In this way, a better match can be achieved between supply of skills and the needs of the labour market.

Qualifications express what people know, understand and are able to do. They can take different forms such as a diploma or certificate. Transparency about what people actually learned in order to obtain a qualification ('learning outcomes') is key to ensuring that individuals and employers give the appropriate economic, social and academic value to qualifications. Differences between education and training systems in the EU make it difficult to assess what someone holding a qualification from another country knows, understands and is capable of doing in learning or work contexts. Insufficient understanding hampers trust in the quality and content of qualifications acquired in another Member State.

The same goes for qualifications awarded outside the formal system and by international bodies and organisations. Insufficient trust in such qualifications reduces professional development, recruitment and promotion opportunities and further learning opportunities for the workers and learners who hold them, creating barriers to worker and learner mobility in the EU, within and between borders. To cope with these differences we need a mechanism that can compare national qualification systems and ensure that the learning outcomes of each qualification can be easily understood and compared.

The European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (EQF) was established in 2008 through a European Parliament and Council Recommendation. The aim was to improve the transparency, comparability and portability of people’s qualifications in Europe. The Recommendation created a common reference framework of eight European generic levels of learning, which serves as a 'translation grid' between national qualifications systems. The 2008 Recommendation on EQF invited Member States to:
(1) relate their qualification systems and levels to the eight levels of the EQF by 2010;
(2) indicate EQF levels on newly issued certificates / diplomas and or certificate / diploma supplements by 2012.

This proposal builds on the achievements of the 2008 Recommendation on EQF. It ensures continuity in the processes launched by individual countries to reference their qualifications frameworks and levels to the EQF. The core of the EQF process, namely referencing of national qualifications frameworks and their levels to the EQF, remains in place. The proposal seeks to further develop the EQF and make it more effective in facilitating understanding of national, international and third-country qualifications by employers, workers and learners. The initiative should thus contribute to a better use of available skills and qualifications for the benefit of individuals, the labour market and the economy.

The proposal is one of the initiatives of the New Skills Agenda for Europe and is complementary to other actions proposed in that context.

See also:
- Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A New Skills Agenda for Europe - Working together to strengthen human capital, employability and competitiveness
- Proposal for a Council Recommendation on establishing a Skills Guarantee

EUR-Lex: COM(2016)383: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2016:383:FIN

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