I started working in the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland three years ago. I had to go to European meetings and it took me a year to work out all the different committees and who was doing what. I still find it complex because committees still pop up that I have never heard of with various responsibilities and roles. It makes this whole area complex to explain.
These developments come down to a simple fact. With regard to qualifications, there is transparency, recognition and quality. Those are the three key dimensions. Add all these together and mobility is improved in different ways.
Quality is dealt with in vocational education by the Copenhagen process and higher education in the Bologna process. The aim is that each different member state should have its own systems of quality assurance that guarantee the outcomes. There have been no calls for any international agency to sign off on any of this, which would be against the policy approach. Various networks and support services have been set up, but the overall approach is to keep it within member states. Transparency and recognition have been developing at the same time but there are differences between the two. Transparency is about explaining the system as simply as possible so that everybody can understand what the qualification entails and what knowledge and skills an aspirant employee has when seeking employment. Recognition is stronger than this, in that it states that it is agreed that the qualification or award is equivalent to another member state's qualification system. There are two particular purposes behind recognition: for employment or for entry to further learning opportunities.
Europass would be very helpful for recognition. However, this is not the key way we are going in recognition. The key way, in my view, is to have regard for the complexities for these general directives. I have heard it said in Brussels that if we were to have a general directive for every employment sector or field of learning, it would take a hundred years to complete them and by that time they would all be irrelevant. The aim is to go to a higher level above that and to get out of the detailed recognition agreements.
That is where the idea of qualification frameworks and levels of qualifications come in. The Bologna process is about this with its three cycles. There is a first cycle for degrees, a second for masters and a third for doctorates. Parallel to this, we are doing the same for vocational education and training.
The problem is that across Europe there are not even general understandings. The nearest to this is the idea of craft, school leaving, intermediate and completion of primary education awards. In the last six months, the European Commission has started to press strongly for the idea of having a single overarching framework of qualifications for Europe to improve transferability. It is not in any way to control systems, but at least that each national system could relate to the international one and improve mobility. In many cases, it is not necessary to know the details to have a detailed professional recognition agreement. What is really needed is a guarantee that when one gets an award in one country, it can relatively fit into another country's system in a general way. This would ensure that the individual in question can be identified at degree or school-leaving level. One can also be satisfied that the award, whether it is from Cyprus or the Czech Republic, is of sufficient standing.
This approach requires national systems to kick in on quality. If it is an award following a correspondence course, such as the Open University in the UK, then in a country without external checks it will be known that the award was signed off by the UK quality assurance agency.
We are trying to push the boat out first on transparency because the easiest thing to do is to get as much information as is available. Two instruments are being planned. One is the diploma supplement that Ms Margaret Kelly mentioned. In higher education, all Ministers for higher education have given a commitment to implement this by 2005. There are 40 countries in the Bologna process. This means that anyone getting a higher education award will have a background document stating the outcomes associated with the award, the award's name and where it fits in the national system. This will be a big advantage. Parallel to this, in the vocational education and training sector, there will be a certificate supplement stating what the award means and how the certificate fits in the national system.
These two developments will happen over time with the 2005 commitment for the diploma supplement. Already in discussions, some countries have said it is too ambitious but at least it will have started in every country. In Ireland, the Minister for Education and Science will be announcing the first awarding of the diploma supplements next week in Letterkenny. There is a big development with a number of pilot implementations under way. In a short time, many of our higher education institutions' awards will come with diploma supplements.
The diploma and certificate supplements are happening. That is the easy bit. Once they start coming out, people will ask to see the certificates and that is where they will become relevant. Prospective employers will ask to see the supplements to have the system explained to them. This then links in with the common curriculum vitae, which will set out what qualifications an individual has and, if that is fitted into the Europass, the diploma and certificate supplements will have to be included.
This will enhance the use of the curriculum vitae. The aim of the common curriculum vitae is to have them written in a similar way across Europe as far as possible and in a voluntary way. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment was involved in the discussions on the common curriculum vitae with FÁS, the employment agency, which co-ordinated its implementation. The key factor is that it links into various education and training initiatives in order that they all come out together in a composite way.
Two other elements in the Europass are the other two transparency elements already there. From a European dimension, it is important to show that one has a competency with a modern European language, which is where the idea of a European language element comes into this portfolio. It has begun to be piloted in Ireland in school awards for language competencies, particularly at senior cycle. There are also pilot projects under way for language competency in primary schools. However, this is at an early stage and there is a need to spread it out more because language learning is much more than just schooling.
The one element that has been used for very many years is the Europass MobiliPass. This is where an individual can have their work experience abroad certified. It is not an assessment of the work experience, simply a certification. FÁS has run with this scheme for many years on an international basis. It has been surveyed and analysed. The name Europass was previously associated with the scheme but it was thought such a good name that the whole scheme is now called Europass. This resulted in the original scheme being changed to Europass MobiliPass. This has caused some dissension among the former Europass users but that is neither here nor there.
That is the thrust of the scheme. It will take time to work through. We all recognise that there are difficulties with recognition and we cannot wait for all these overarching developments to take place. The NQAI is working with various awarding bodies and social partners to develop a better national policy approach to the recognition of international awards outside of the professional EU directives which are working away and cannot be changed. We are trying to link it into the framework and get to the stage that there can be better understanding of the relative positioning of awards. The first place where we need to do that is on the island of Ireland. The next relates to this island and Great Britain. We are working with the authorities there in an effort to map the different qualifications in a general way against each other, so that one knows for example what a NV2, level 4, in the UK may be equivalent to in Ireland. That sort of over-arching effect is needed in recognition.
Sometimes, but not always, one might need something more specific. For example, in a few years' time, if one has a craftsperson in a certain area where there is no detailed recognition agreement, trying to get a job in Ireland or Italy, for example, that person should carry a Europass, which at the very least would have a certificate supplement with that person's craft award, to show what the outcomes associated with that craft award were and where that award fits into its own national system.
The person should also lay out the CV in a common way when presenting. That would make it easier and communicable. It will not get over all the barriers because there will always be cultural and other barriers and it will take time to overcome them. That is why this is exciting. It is another step to facilitate the increased movement of people within Europe which has been so positive for Irish learning in recent years. We have had the great experience of people coming in to Irish learning and indeed into the labour market internationally, as well as going the other way for short or long periods of time. This will facilitate that development even more.