Det europeiske kvalifikasjonsrammeverket (EQF)

Welcome speech

Dear Conference Participants,

Dear Experts from abroad,

Dear friends! 

It is a pleasure for me to open this conference on the European Qualification Framework (EQF). As I understand it, the goal of the EQF will be to act as a translation device between the various qualifications systems in the European countries. If successful, it will help employers and educational establishments across Europe compare and better understand the qualifications presented by individuals. For individuals, it will facilitate their mobility between European countries and systems in a life long learning perspective. 

I recognise the importance of both the Bologna Process for higher education and the Copenhagen process for vocational education and training (VET) in enhancing the focus in Europe on mobility and transferability of qualifications. One of the main challenges of the EQF will exactly be to ensure a smooth and transparent link between Bologna and Copenhagen and I invite you to discuss this issue today. 

Norwegian consultation process
During the consultation process in 2005, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research welcomed the EQF proposal. 

In our response to the Commission we did however underline the importance of  compatibility between the Bologna framework, and the EQF. We also emphasised the necessity of projects focusing on developing further and testing the EQF. 

National qualifications framework
Since the consultation process, priority has in Norway been given to developing a national qualifications framework for higher education as part of our follow-up of the Bologna Process. A working group with participants from the Ministry and from the higher education sector was established. The group’s proposal for a national qualifications framework for education was sent to all stakeholders in a broad consultation process, and we are currently in the process of summing up the response. It might, however, be of interest to our guests from the UK to hear that the categories chosen for the descriptors in the proposal for a higher education framework are knowledge, skills and competence - the same categories used also in the EQF. One of the main reasons for deciding upon these three categories was according to the group the fact that they are used in EQF, and using these categories in the higher education framework as well facilitates the development of a possible future national qualifications framework for all learning.  

The importance of trying out and testing the use of the EQF was underlined in the Norwegian consultation process by a number of stakeholders, and Norway is currently involved in several Leonardo da Vinci projects on EQF. The School Students Organisation in Norway is participating in a project where stakeholders are discussing experiences and examining challenges in establishing a national qualifications framework.  

Nordic project
The Ministry of Education and Research is participating in a Nordic project where different themes related to the implementation of EQF are being discussed. These projects have been running since the beginning of 2007, while several other interesting projects have just commenced their activities. All these projects will hopefully contribute to the possibility of making well informed decisions on the implementation of EQF in Norway.  

Cooperation with the social partners
At national level a pilot project has been administered by the Directorate of Education and Training in cooperation with the social partners. In this project, several trades and sectors gave feed-back on how well the proposed EQF descriptors fit the Norwegian VET qualifications. The project has also given us important feedback and input as to the further development of a national qualifications framework. 

I believe it is of the utmost importance that we give ourselves the time both to discuss and to reflect upon the EQF and on the national implications of introducing a national qualifications framework for all learning.

Even though we welcome and support the EQF, a national qualifications framework may have unintended consequences at the national level. To avoid this, sufficient time and a well-founded information strategy is required both at European and national level, and I believe we should not rush the process of implementing EQF. I am pleased to see so many of the stakeholders here today and I invite you to contribute actively in the discussions and in the workshops this afternoon.   

Complexity of reporting
With respect to this I like to make a short remark relating to the complexity of reporting. At least in higher level education we are now approaching an upper limit as to how much we should burden teachers and professor on reporting details. The same goes for researchers. We must be careful that we do not double up efforts on this, and that we as far as possible seek more flexible systems for reporting.

Further discussions
We have not yet formally committed ourselves to developing a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in Norway. This has to be discussed further . One option could be to link our national qualifications directly to the EQF without creating an over-arching national framework. We are, however, currently investigating the possibility of developing a national qualifications framework for VET and are examining the possibility to make this, together with the national qualifications framework for higher education, coherent with the EQF.  

As the EQF levels are based on learning outcomes, only qualifications based on learning outcomes can be placed at one of the eight levels of the EQF. In Norway, the new curriculum for general education and VET in upper secondary is based on learning outcomes. This could be an advantage if we link these qualifications directly to the EQF, but also an advantage for the possible development of a national qualifications framework. 

Tertiary vocational education
Challenges arise, however, when it comes to tertiary vocational education, accredited by The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT). No requirement exists relating to the description of learning outcomes for these programmes. There is no requirement which states that these programmes have to be described through learning outcomes in order to be accredited. Consequently, the programmes differ in this respect. Some of the programmes are described through learning outcomes, some through input mainly focusing on time and subjects. Providers of this category of education are invited to discuss these challenges further after the main conference today. 

We are at the very starting point of implementing EQF. This conference is the launch of the national follow-up. Relevant organisations were involved in the consultation process on the EQF, and they will have the opportunity of being involved in the follow-up. Shortly after this conference the social partners and other interested stakeholders will be invited to form a reference group with the purpose of giving input to the national policy on implementing EQF.  

I am looking forward to this cooperation, and I wish you the best of luck with the conference. Thank you for your attention!