In a single market it is pivotal to guarantee the quick and easy recognition of skills and qualifications, making workers able to move where their profile is most sought and students to continue their studies anywhere in Europe. This is essential to increase employability and to close the existing skills gap. 
The European Union has put in place several instruments which guarantee the transparency and recognition of knowledge, skills, and competences. One of those being the European Qualification Framework (EQF).

In May the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council adopted a revision of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), created back in 2008 as a common reference framework of eight European generic levels of learning, which function as "translation grid" between national qualifications systems.

The revision of the EQF guarantees on one side the continuity with the existing EQF and the other its further deepening. The Council recommended Member States, among the others, to “use the EQF to reference national qualifications frameworks or systems” ; to “review and update, when relevant, the referencing of the levels of the national qualifications frameworks or systems to the levels of the EQF with due regard to the national context”; to “ensure that qualifications with an EQF level are in accordance with the common principles for quality assurance set”; and to “promote links between credit systems and national qualifications frameworks or systems taking into account the common principles on credit systems”. The Council also invited the European Commission to support the development of the EQF.

The EQF covers all types and levels of qualifications including qualifications from higher education, vocational education and training and general education, but also qualifications awarded by the private sector and international sector organisations.

In addition to adopting the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning, during the meeting held in May the Council discusses a progress report on Europass.

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For more information on the EQF: https://ec.europa.eu/ploteus/search/site?f%5B0%5D=im_field_entity_type%3A97 

 

The “Council Recommendation on the European Qualifications Framework for
lifelong learning” are available at: http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-9620-2017-INIT/en/pdf