Qualifications Frameworks/Three-Cycle System

Qualifications Frameworks/Three-Cycle System
Qualifications frameworks describe the qualifications of an education system and how they interlink. National qualifications frameworks describe what learners should know, understand and be able to do on the basis of a given qualification as well as how learners can move from one qualification to another within a system. Read more.
Composition
Armenia, Austria, Belgium/French Community Federation Wallonia-Brussels, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, BUSINESSEUROPE, European Commission, Education International, ENQA, EQAR, ESU, EUA, EURASHE.
Representatives of sub structures under the Structural Reforms WG should be involved in its work as required.
Purpose
The Working Group on Structural Reforms is mandated to develop proposals for policy and practice aiming to improve instruments for structural reform (QF, QA, recognition of qualifications, transparency instruments) and the coherence between the main elements of structural reform within the European Higher Education Area as well as to oversee and advice the BFUG on the implementation of structural reforms.
The Working Group should consider structural reforms in relation to the major purposes of higher education:
    Preparing for employment;
    Preparing for life as active citizens in democratic societies;
    Personal development;
    The development and maintenance of a broad, advanced knowledge base;
as well as the three missions:
    teaching and learning;
    research;
    service to society. 
It should furtherbe guided by the following policy considerations:
    Students, employers and society at large want more objective, reliable and high quality information about higher education;
    There is an increasing societal expectation of Higher Education Institutions that they enhance the employability of graduates and provide students with skills relevant to the labour market;
    There is a need to adapt the Bologna goals and instruments for structural reforms to the ever changing context of higher education and of our societies and to the evolving needs within the EHEA;
    There is a need to build trust and confidence in higher education;
    The relationship between the structural reforms developed within the EHEA and their impact on other regions needs to be considered;
    There is a need for a more supportive environment for academic staff and students;
    Higher Education needs to contribute to Lifelong Learning.
Specific Tasks
    Consider and make recommendations on specific issues of policy and practice related to quality assurance, qualifications frameworks, recognition of qualifications and transparency instruments and their mutual interaction;
     Consider how the development and implementation of learning outcomes impact on and may strengthen the coherence between the policy areas covered by the WG;
     In consultation with the ENIC and NARIC Networks and the Network of national QF correspondents, develop policy proposals aiming to improve the interaction between qualifications frameworks and the recognition of qualifications;
    The EQF Advisory Group and the BFUG working group on Structural Reforms, in co-operation with ENQA and EQAVET, should review and make proposals to strengthen the common principles of quality assurance to be applied across HE and VET.
    Develop policy proposals aiming to improve transparency instruments for describing individual qualifications as well as higher education systems, in particular as concerns the Diploma Supplement and the ECTS.  In this, the Working Group should establish cooperation with the institutions and bodies charged with the oversight and implementation of the relevant transparency instruments;
     As appropriate, provide input to the WGs responsible for mobility and internationalization; the social dimension and lifelong learning on the role of structural reforms as well as to the Working Group on implementation in furthering the goals of these groups;
    Consider and make recommendations on the interaction between the structural reforms and transversal issues, i.a. employability and the global dimension;
    Consider and make recommendations concerning third cycle qualifications, the review the ECTS Users’ Guide, the Recognition of Prior Learning and the implementation of qualifications frameworks on the basis of proposals by the relevant sub structures.
    Consider and make proposals concerning joint degrees and programmes on the basis of suggestion by a small ad-hoc group reporting to the working groups on Structural Reforms and Mobility and Internationalization.
    Comment, as appropriate, on draft amendments to the European Standards and Guidelines prepared by the Steering Committee (E4 plus EQAR, EI, BUSINESSEUROPE).
    Help identify and set priorities for peer learning activities concerning structural reforms;
    Organize, or stimulate the organization of, Bologna conferences, mini-seminars, peer learning activities and events on issues related to structural reforms;
    Consider developments in relation to EQAR-registered quality assurance agencies operating in countries other than their countries of origin and make policy proposals or recommendations, as appropriate;
    As appropriate, commission research to support its work;
    Maintain contact with and, as needed, oversee the work of any sub groups established to address specific aspects of structural reforms;
    Advice the BFUG on any issues referred to it by the BFUG;
    Submit proposals to the 2015 Ministerial conference, through the BFUG, aiming to improve the coherence of the structural reforms within the EHEA.
Last Update
2012-2015 ToR_Structural Reforms WG.
News and documents.
Contact Person
Sjur BERGAN – Council of Europe 
Noël Vercruysse – Belgium/Flemish Community
Friedrich Bechina – Holy See
Bartłomiej Banaszak – Poland