Move to ensure recognition of academic qualifications

Date: 25/04/1996

By Rory Watson

A NEW drive will be launched next month to remove obstacles which prevent students from one EU member state from using their academic qualifications to continue their studies in another.

The impetus behind the move is coming from the Italian EU presidency, which has informed education ministers that it intends to use their next meeting on 6 May to focus on the measures necessary to ensure that academic qualifications obtained in one country are recognised throughout the Union.

“This is a problem which affects people wanting to study in another member state, whether the transition is between school and college or between university and postgraduate work,” said one official.

Pan-European legislation exists for the mutual recognition of qualifications for professions as varied as hairdressers and doctors, but academic achievements are purely a matter for member states. “The problem is that behaviour varies depending on the authorities and educational establishments involved. The same qualifications may be accepted by one college and not by another,” said one expert.

Italy is proposing that ministers examine the idea of attaching a voluntary annex to diplomas explaining the type of studies which have been completed. This would make it easier for educationalists in other member states to understand the academic standards reached.

The Union's efforts to ease the passage of students from one country to another are being bolstered by a wider campaign to pinpoint the legal, administrative and practical barriers which individuals hit when trying to live and work in another member state.

The Commission has turned to former European Parliament President Simone Veil and an eight-expert panel to flush out the remaining obstacles and submit proposals for reform by next February.

“There are a number of shortcomings and these result in particularly serious situations for European citizens directly affected. These difficulties should not arise and the credibility of the Union is at stake,” said Veil, speaking after the group's first meeting this week.

She added: “I receive quite a lot of post. Sometimes national administrations do not apply the text of legislation that exists. I get letters from people saying we do not have enough Europe. I receive more of these than from people who say there is too much Europe.”

The Commission estimates that five million EU nationals already live in another member state, but is convinced the panel's work will concern a far larger constituency.

“Formalities, administrative practices and legal requirements have made it impossible for many others who might have wanted to move to do so,” said one official.

Ironically, the Italian authorities are coming under increasing pressure from the Commission over the plight of foreign language teachers in the country.

Commission officials recently raised the prospect of an embarrassing legal case before the European Court of Justice over complaints about contracts which discriminate between Italian and foreign university teachers.

They have also demanded an explanation for the recent dismissal of 88 foreign language teachers at the University of Naples.

But for one group of foreign teachers, the tide has begun to turn. After a ten-year legal battle, a court in the South of Italy has awarded a group of nine EU teachers some 850,000 ecu in back payments.

The Veil group can be contacted in Brussels by phone (32 2/296 9523), fax (32 2/295 9331) or electronic mail (e2@dg15.cec.be).