Announcing: International conference on qualifications frameworks

In less than a month, on 6 and 7 October in Brussels, the ETF will hold an international conference on qualifications frameworks. More than one hundred experts and policymakers will discuss how to implement national qualifications frameworks (NQF).

 

One of main goals of the conference is to establish a global community of practitioners involved in developing qualifications frameworks in order to share knowledge and experience, and better support each other’s work.

Participants hail from all over the world, from international organisations, EU institutions and governments. For all those who can’t attend in person, the ETF will ensure a good online coverage of the event.

We talked to the organisers of the conference, the ETF’s Arien Deij and Epke Vogel, about what qualifications frameworks are, how students, employers and policymakers can benefit from qualifications frameworks, and why frameworks are an attractive way of approaching the reform of education systems.

Meet the people behind the organisation of the conference.

Year/Date: 7/09/2011

http://www.etf.europa.eu/web.nsf/(RSS)/44A749ADEBF2A2FCC1257904004A31CC?OpenDocument&LAN=EN

Qualifications Professionnelles Internationales

Chaque année les diplômes City & Guilds couvrent plus de 50% de tous les NVQ (National Vocational Qualifications, en français : Qualifications Professionnelles Nationales) au Royaume Uni. Sur la scène internationale, City & Guilds est en place dans plus de 100 pays, et travaille de près avec les responsables gouvernementaux pour créer et établir des diplômes qui fortifient ainsi les qualifications locales/nationales.

 

Les programmes de qualification en dehors du Royaume-Uni s’appellent IVQ (International Vocational Qualifications) et ont été conçus pour mesurer les connaissances théoriques des candidats ainsi que leurs compétences pratiques, de sorte qu’ils puissent satisfaire aux exigences de n’importe quel travail. Ils ont été conçus pour le marché global et couvrent un éventail de domaines professionnels tels que la coiffure, les soins de beauté, le tourisme, les télécommunications et le commerce de détail entre autres.

 

Que sont les IVQ ?

 

Les Qualifications Professionnelles Internationales (IVQ) certifient les compétences au niveau de formation postsecondaire et pré-licence et ont été spécialement conçues pour le marché global. Ces examens, créés en collaboration avec employeurs et experts, testent l’expertise et les compétences en termes de théorie et de pratique.

 

Ils préparent efficacement ceux qui les ont obtenus dans le domaine de leur choix, les aident immédiatement à trouver un emploi sur le marché du travail. Les IVQ sont reconnus dans plus de 100 pays et fournissent d’excellentes perspectives d’avenir pour le développement professionnel.

 

Ces qualifications sont disponibles sur trois (3) niveaux :

 

Certificate

Diploma,

Advanced Diploma.

 

Catégories Générales pour les IVQ City & Guilds

• Soutien à l’Entreprise
• Construction & Bâtiment
• Professions Créatives
• Education et Formation
• Ingénierie & Transport
• Etudes Générales (inclus : Langues, Compétences pour la Vie – ‘Skills for Life’ - et Compétences Clés)
• Coiffure et Soins de Beauté
• Santé et Services Sociaux
• Qualifications de Plus Haut Niveau (HLQs : Higher Level Qualifications)
• Industrie Hôtelière et Restauration
• Technologies de l’Information (IT)
• Industries Agricoles
• Gestion
• Média & Photographie
• Multi-Discipline
• Manufacture &Traitement
• Commerce de détail & Distribution
• Sécurité
• Sport & Détente
• Télécommunications
• Voyage & Tourisme

http://www.peoplecert.org/fr/city_and_guilds/Certifications_City_and_Guilds/Qualifications_Professionnelles_Internationales/Pages/Qualifications_Professionnelles_Internationales.aspx

International Conference - Qualifications frameworks: from concepts to implementation

Date : du 06-10-2011 au 07-10-2011

Lieu : Bruxelles

Organisation : KVS Foundation

Programme :
ETF is organising a corporate conference on the implementation of National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs). The event is a follow-up to ETF’s 2009 conference on NQFs, and will involve participants from the EU, ETF's partner countries and from countries such as Australia, Malaysia and South Africa.

Since the 2009 event, there has been an exponential growth in the number of NQFs internationally and many of them aim to facilitate life long learning, and, internationally, mobility of citizens. The growth of international trade and the major population movements of recent times has triggered interest among governments and employers in how qualifications can be more clearly described, understood and compared.

The programme for the October conference reflects the progress made since 2009 and will focus on how frameworks can support the development of modern, fit for purpose qualifications. Workshops will cover practical implementation issues such as quality assurance, developing new qualifications, implications for reform of learning and curricula and the roles of institutions and stakeholders.

The ETF will also present the findings of its study on the implementation arrangements for qualifications frameworks based on the experience of ten countries, drawn from the EU member states (France, the UK), our partner countries (Kosovo, Morocco, Turkey, Tajikistan) and from Australia, Chile, Namibia and Malaysia. The study covers precisely those issues to be discussed at the conference.

The conference will also see the launch of a new Qualifications Platform. The Platform is a virtual community which aims to support practitioners and institutions implementing their own qualifications frameworks by providing information, facilitating access to policy learning and promoting exchange of expertise.

URL : http://www.etf.europa.eu/.../events_en?opendocument&id=6FBFA2A4D08AF288C1257824005650B9

Qualifications bring both sides of Mediterranean a bit closer

If you want a bricklayer job, you need bricklayer’s qualifications. But what if your potential employer doesn’t understand your qualifications? What if your qualifications can’t be formally recognised?

Lack of transparency and common understanding of qualifications often prevents employers from filling vacancies and jobseekers from finding work.

An ETF project on qualifications in the Mediterranean is adopting a new approach to this old problem. It aims to develop qualifications that will be valid across the region—in Egypt, France, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, Spain and Tunisia.

‘This will enhance the mobility of the people in the region and will allow companies in these sectors to recruit skilled people easier,’ said Jean-Marc Castejon, the ETF’s project team leader.

And this is important because unemployment is the main social problem in the region.
The project aims to create frameworks for four most common jobs in two key industries: waiter and receptionist in tourism, and bricklayer and site supervisor in construction.

The idea is first to make qualifications transparent, then to facilitate their convergence, before ultimately setting up common qualifications in the seven countries. The ETF works directly with employers to define the problems and develop new qualifications that could help solve them.

ETF head of operations and senior officials and experts met on 20 and 21 June with national teams to take stock of the work done so far.

Eva Jimeno, Head of Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Unit at ETF, underlined that the project fits well with the European Commission’s newly released package of measures to better manage migration flows from the Southern Mediterranean region.

Thematic Area: Portability of skills
Year/Date: 2011/06/21
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