TISE EXPERTISE EXPER EXPERTISE QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION

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1 RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN QUALIFICATIONS

2 QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION EXPER EXPERTISE TISE EXPERTISE EXPERTISE The ENIC-NARIC France Centre is the national information centre for the academic recognition of foreign qualifications. Affiliated to the CIEP since 2004, it promotes international mobility by facilitating the interpretation of academic pathways. It also actively contributes to the construction of the European Higher Education Area. HIGHER EDUCATION AND EMPLOYABILITY The ENIC-NARIC France Centre has implemented a set of procedures based on the Lisbon Convention to evaluate foreign qualifications. This enables the centre to issue comparability certificates, which are useful for supporting job applications (if the profession in question is not regulated) or for continuing studies in a French higher education institution. The ENIC-NARIC France Centre also contributes to the construction of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and closely follows its developments. It has established partnerships with higher education institutions and maintains close ties with quality assurance organisations. It promotes the EHEA s mobility tools (Diploma Supplement, ECTS credits, national and European certification frameworks, etc.) and participates in the development of tools supported by EHEA ministries, such as the European Area of Recognition Manual, which was mentioned in the 2012 Bucharest Communiqué. The promotion of these mobility tools acts as a support for vocational integration. The ENIC-NARIC France Centre collaborates with employers and public administrations to raise awareness of good practices in the area of qualification recognition, so a given qualification can be appropriately interpreted during recruitment processes and/or entry examination preparations. Annual meeting of the ENIC-NARIC centres, July 2014.

3 THE ENIC-NARIC NETWORK The ENIC-NARIC France Centre is part of the international ERIC-NARIC network, which comprises 55 countries. Created on the initiative of the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO, this network aims to promote international mobility by facilitating the interpretation of academic pathways. It is a leading partner in the implementation and the consolidation of the European Higher Education Area. The ENIC-NARIC France Centre has been the president of this network since June Portugal Spain ,741 It also issues expert opinions to ministerial (or inter-ministerial) commissions and centres in the ENIC-NARIC network on foreign and national academic pathways. What is a comparability certificate? A comparability certificate is an official document that establishes an equivalence between a foreign qualification and a level of the French and European certification frameworks. It facilitates the interpretation of international academic pathways, whether this is to continue one s studies in a French education institution or to lend the qualification weight in the eyes of an employer. In order to Morocco Belgium 3, Algeria Tunisia 1,338 Italy 579 Romania 542 produce comparability certificates, the ENIC-NARIC France Centre has drawn up an analytical framework using different criteria that uphold the principles of international texts and the good practices of the ENIC-NARIC network. The comparative analysis that is undertaken also examines the individual s academic pathway on a case-by-case basis. To be eligible for a comparability certificate, training must last for a minimum of six months on a full-time basis and lead to a qualification. The ENIC-NARIC France Centre also issues study and/or training recognition certificates, which are useful for periods of university study that did not lead to the award of a qualification. Russia 646 Middle East and North Africa 32% Distribution of qualification recognition requests European Union 24% Europe (non-eu) 16% Asia Pacific 4% Latin America 4% North America 5% Africa 15% Cameroon 518

4 Members of the team leading the EU-MTR project Supporting the use of mobility tools in qualification recognition, CIEP, May EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS The ENIC-NARIC France Centre participates in many European and international projects on mobility tools and the internationalisation of higher education. These projects are carried out within the framework of European Commission projects, such as Erasmus+ and the Tempus programme. They cover different aspects of qualification recognition: standardising and disseminating good recognition practices among higher education and public institutions, developing a quality assurance system based on the norms and directives in force, and establishing qualification recognition centres in regions outside the European Union. The CIEP deploys experts as well as members of partner countries to ensure the development of these projects and their impact in other regions of the world. Flagship projects EU-MTR Supporting the use of mobility tools in qualification recognition Partners: the project is coordinated by the CIEP in partnership with the ENIC-NARIC Centres of Croatia, France, Italy, Latvia and the Netherlands. Aim: to train different actors involved in mobility (training institutions, public administrations, employers, etc.) in the use of recognition tools that favour the mobility of students and workers across Europe. Tempus RecoNow European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI): Disseminating good practices of foreign qualification recognition in countries of the South Partners: University of Bologna, CIMEA Italian ENIC-NA- RIC Centre, the Ministries of Higher Education of Jordan and the Palestinian territories. Aim: to disseminate good practices of foreign qualification recognition in countries of the South, by establishing a national recognition and information centre on foreign qualifications and a university-based recognition centre in Jordan and the Palestinian territories. Other projects aiming to promote recognition tools and mobility issues in the countries of Latin America and other regions of Mediterranean countries are currently being proposed to the European Commission.

5 QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION TRAINING TRAINING TRAINING TRAINING COURSES Through training courses, workshops and international conferences, the ENIC-NARIC France Centre contributes to standardising qualification recognition good practices, to a better understanding and use of mobility tools, and to the consolidation of the competencies of its institutional partners. TRAINING FOR UNIVERSITIES Against the backdrop of enhanced cooperation with universities, the CIEP has approached university admission services in order to provide training to enable them to better interpret foreign students academic pathways. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development has called upon the ENIC-NARIC France Centre within the framework of training put in place on the études en France platform, which is aimed at the admissions departments for foreign students. These training sessions aim to make universities familiar with the études en France platform and what it offers in terms of following up online registration procedures for CEF-procedure countries 1 and to explain foreign qualification recognition procedures. Closer collaboration with the CIEP is envisaged to support universities in the admission of foreign students. 1. Implemented in 33 countries, the CEF procedure is a mechanism that enables candidates to access study opportunities in France and to receive support throughout the entire process, from applying for a visa to keeping track of the advancement of their digital case file. International conference on the internationalisation of higher education, mobility and employability, CIEP, May 2015.

6 Workshop during the international conference on higher education, mobility and employability, CIEP, May TRAINING AS PART OF EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS Training sessions are organised in collaboration with European countries that are partnering within the framework of the Erasmus+ and Tempus programmes. The EU-MTR project ( Supporting the use of mobility tools in qualification recognition ), coordinated by the CIEP, has given rise to training courses and conferences on mobility tools for foreign qualification recognition. This training is aimed at higher education institutions, public administrations and employers. The ENIC-NARIC France Centre is participating in the STREAM project to design and create an online training platform on qualification recognition procedures, which is aimed at European higher education institutions. Lastly, since 2008 the ENIC-NARIC France Centre has taken part in training organised by the Dutch NARIC Centre, which is aimed at new qualification evaluators within the network. In this context, it takes part in producing modules on the education systems of third countries and the evaluation of qualifications awarded by education systems in other regions of the world (outside the ENIC-NARIC network). TRAINING FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATIONS AND EMPLOYERS The ENIC-NARIC France Centre is called upon by public administrations and employers to provide support in interpreting and evaluating foreign qualifications. These requests are generally made in the context of recruitment or examination procedures. Examples: Nursing training institutes (Instituts de formation des soins infirmiers, IFSI): supporting the evaluation of the level of training of students who completed their studies abroad and wish to take the nursing entry examination. Versailles Local Education Authority (Rectorat de Versailles): supporting procedures for recruiting teachers who completed their studies abroad, in order to better understand their academic pathway. RecoNow project, CIEP, September 2014.

7 QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION RESOUR CES Drawing on its expertise, the ENIC-NARIC France Centre publishes studies aimed at its institutional partners and the ENIC-NARIC network. It also manages a database that offers tools to process requests to recognise foreign qualifications both reliably and effectively. RESOURCES RESOURCES RESOURCES THE STUDIES As part of the European projects that it coordinates or partners, the ENIC-NARIC France Centre produces project appraisals and reports. It has recently published a report on the QFS-UHSE project ( Use or potential use of certification frameworks as a mobility tool by higher education institutions and other actors ), as well as the final report on the project entitled The use of the EQF in recognition procedures of the NARIC Centres, and the report on the Diploma Supplement. In addition, the ENIC-NARIC France Centre initiated a study, published by and for the ENIC-NARIC network, on the network s cooperation with other regions around the world. Initiated in 2010 and revised in 2015, this study analyses the migratory flows of students across the world, based primarily on statistical data from UNESCO and the OECD. It also presents the number of recognition requests broken down by country and recognition centre. This data has been used to implement a number of actions to reinforce cooperation with other regions of the world (Asia Pacific, Latin America, Africa, etc.) and to enable a better recognition of qualifications awarded in these regions. Key facts about our database Over 6,000 accredited institutions Over 2,000 evaluated qualifications The ENIC-NARIC France Centre database The CIEP has created a database to reflect its decade-long experience in qualification recognition. This database is aimed at higher education institutions, employers and administrative bodies. Unique in France, this database compares the French national certification system with the European Certification System (CES) for all foreign qualifications evaluated by the CIEP over the last 10 years. It also includes a list of all the recognised and accredited education institutions in the world that have been identified by the CIEP. Finally, the database contains country fiches that provide an explicatory overview of certain education systems, including qualification templates, in order to better guide users in their research. Institutional partners, notably higher education institutions, can access the database on a subscription basis.

8 Created in 1945, the CIEP is an institution of the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research. Its missions, which are part of the government s international cooperation priorities, centre on three areas of activity: cooperation in the areas of education, professional training and the quality of higher education; support for the promotion of the French language around the world by training teachers and education managers and by issuing certifications in French; international mobility for people through language assistant and teacher exchange programmes, as well as the issuing of foreign qualification comparability certificates. To carry out its projects, the CIEP relies on the know-how of a team of 250 staff as well as on a network of over 1,000 experts and national and international partners. Centre international d études pédagogiques 1, avenue Léon-Journault Sèvres cedex - France Phone: 33 (0) Member of Sorbonne University CIEP -Development and Communication Department - January 2016