There are two main modes of recognition for qualifications obtained overseas: the recognition of academic qualifications and the recognition of professional qualifications in regulated professions. In 2004 Ireland became a signatory to the 1997 Lisbon Convention on the recognition of qualifications in higher education in the European Region. The Convention requires that qualifications issued by other parties to the Convention for access to higher education be recognised in the host State unless a substantial difference can be shown in the requirements of the host State vis a vis those in the home State. The Convention requires that transparent mechanisms be established for the assessment and recognition of higher education qualifications.
Under the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act, 1999 the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland (NQAI) has statutory responsibility for facilitating the recognition in the State of academic awards made by bodies outside the State. In 2003 the NQAI assumed the role of the Irish ENIC-NARIC (European Network of Information Centres- National Academic Recognition Information Centre) and since then has established a qualifications recognition service (found at the website www.qualificationsrecognition.ie) which is aimed at individuals, employers, education providers and other stakeholders who may have enquiries concerning education and training awards made outside of Ireland.
The recognition service website includes an International Qualifications Database which contains information regarding foreign qualifications which have been processed to date by the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland and states the advice that has been issued regarding the comparability of the qualifications in Ireland. The recognition service receives a large number of formal applications for recognition information annually, peaking at over 2,000 in 2008, and the website was visited over 55,000 times during 2009. Professional qualifications are those qualifications which a person is required to hold in order to access a particular profession e.g. medicine. The qualifications which are required are set down by a competent authority and that body is then responsible for assessing a person's qualifications to ascertain whether that person should be granted access to that profession.
The main mechanism by which professional qualifications are recognised in Ireland is set down in EU Directive 2005/36 on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications. The purpose of the Directive, which came into force in October 2007, is to help make labour markets more flexible, further liberalise the provision of services, encourage more automatic recognition of qualifications, and simplify administrative procedures. Under the Directive, provisions are made whereby Professionals qualified in one (home) Member State can seek professional recognition of their qualifications in another (host) Member State for the purpose of practising their profession in that host Member State. My Department is co-ordinating authority for the implementation of the Directive and information regarding the Directive is available on my Department's website.