THE REFERENCING OF TQF TO EQF

The Recommendation of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe on the formation of European Qualifications Framework for life-long learning dated April 23,2008 (2008/C 111/01) advises that the countries form their qualification frameworks; associate these with EQF and that this process is coordinated by the National Coordination Points.

As per the recommendation, The Vocational Qualifications Authority (VQA) was assigned as the National Coordination Point and has represented our country in the EQF Advisory Group since December of 2008.

VQA is responsible for the referencing of qualifications that take place in the qualifications system with EQF levels; provision of the usage of a transparent method during the referencing process; the access of stakeholders to the related information and guidance on how the qualifications are associated with EQF through qualification systems and the involvement of the related stakeholders in the process of comparison and usage of these qualifications at the European level.

One important goal of VQA is to make the qualifications (diplomas, certificates, vocational qualification certificates) certified in our country recognizable and valid in European Union countries. The first step towards this aim is the entry into force of Turkish Qualifications Framework (TQF) in the Official Gazette dated 19/11/2015. The second important step of the process is the referencing of TQF to EQF.

The referencing of TQF to EQF was started by Vocational Qualifications Authority in 2014 and has been conducted in cooperation with Ministry of National Education (MoNE), Council of Higher Education (CoHE), the ministries, public institutions, related institutions at EU level, unions, professional organizations, non-governmental organizations, student councils, national and international experts and academicians.

The final outcome of the referencing process is the national referencing report which includes true and trustworthy instructions towards the referencing criteria that the European Qualifications Framework Advisory Group published.

The Turkish Referencing Report was prepared in English and Turkish by the report writing team which comprised national and international experts along with two representatives of MoNE, CoHE and VQA, and at the end of the negotiation process, it took its final shape by being revised through the opinions of national and international stakeholders.

The Turkish Referencing Report introduces our education system and TQF to the international community, proves the compatibility between TQF and EQF, presents true and explicit answers related to the criteria of referencing which is published by the EQF Advisory Group and includes plans for the TQF implementation process.