Toward improved data on student mobility in Europe: Findings and concepts of the Eurodata study

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich. - This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively

Current practices on external quality assurance of academic recognition among QA agencies

The fair recognition1 of qualifications, periods of study, and prior learning (to which we will refer in this report as “recognition for academic purposes” or “academic recognition”) has been one of the main objectives of the Bologna Process since its creation. The Lisbon Recognition Convention (LRC) sets up some agreed common operating principles that are legally binding for the concerned countries. However, according to the 2015 Bologna Process Implementation Report2, after two decades of existence, implementation of the LRC is still a challenge. In particular, students are still facing major barriers to mobility because of imperfect academic recognition of periods of study, certificates, diplomas, and degrees obtained from another national system or institution. Even though the situation varies between countries (with different legal frameworks and bodies involved), several reports make it evident that academic recognition in European higher education is largely in the hands of higher education institutions. The fact that higher education institutions are autonomous, and the signatory countries have limited capacity to bind them to the principles of the LRC, is identified as a major challenge. With the adaptation to the ESG 2015, it is clear that QA agencies now have responsibility for addressing academic recognition issues in their external quality assurance (EQA) processes. ENQA has taken up the challenge of exploring the current and potential role of QA agencies in improving institutional recognition practices as well as developing suitable strategies to support QA agencies in this task