Qualifications are a key element of higher education policies in general and of the Bologna Process in particular. Much work has been accomplished in this area over the past few years, and a proper understanding of qualifications is essential to making the European Higher Education Area a reality. This book provides a systematic overview of the concept of qualifications, discusses its main elements, such as Ievel, workload, quality, profile and learning outcomes, examines generic and subject-specific competences. The author also considers the development of qualifications frameworks and explores the impact of our understanding of the concept of qualifications on recognition.Sjur Bergan is Head of the Department of Higher Education and History Teaching of the Council of Europe, a member of the Bologna Follow-Up Group and one of the authors of the Council of Europe/UNESCO Recognition Convention. He has played an active role in the development of the overarching qualifications framework of the European Higher Education Area.

This publication, the outcome of a forum role conference on the recognition of higher education qualifications, aims at securing the fair recognition of academic qualifications as a cultural right for the individual and as an obligation and a responsibility of society.

This book gives an updated overview of how a number of countries are dealing with cross-border education as well as examining international frameworks on recognition of qualifications including UNESCO Regional Conventions and trade agreements.

This publication sets out the Council of Europe's legal standards for the recognition of higher education qualifications, developed jointly with UNESCO (known as the Lisbon Recognition Convention (1997)). It contains the texts of the Convention, and subsidiary texts adopted under the Convention including those relating to: international access qualifications (1999); criteria and procedures for the assessment of foreign qualifications and periods of study (2001); the provision of transnational education (2001); and the recognition of joint degrees (2004).

The OECD series Making Integration Work draws on key lessons from the OECD’s work on integration, particularly the Jobs for Immigrants country reviews series.

This publication focuses on two topics in particular. First, how qualifications that have not been earned through traditional study programs at classical higher education institutions can be recognized, and second, recognition in a global context. In addition, this book gives an overview of the national action plans for recognition submitted by all the members of the Bologna Process prior to the London ministerial conference in May 2007.--Publisher's description.