Automatic Recognition in the European Education Area 2030 (AR30)

Gaps in the implementation of mutual automatic recognition of qualifications
The project specifically addresses identified gaps and needs by the European Commission in the current implementation of the 2018 Council Recommendation on promoting automatic mutual recognition of qualifications and learning periods abroad:

• Divergence in current recognition practices across the EEA, both between as well as within countries;
• Conceptual confusion about the concept of “automatic recognition”;
• Limited implementation of the AR criteria as outlined in the 2018 Council Recommendation;
• A need to strengthen the quality assurance of recognition procedures in higher education institutions (HEIs);
• A need for capacity building and support of NARICs to implement the 2018 Council Recommendation;
• A call to further support the recognition of micro-credentials.

To address these issues, AR2030 aims to strengthen recognition in four main areas:

1. Strengthen LRC compliant Institutional Recognition Practices

AR2030 aims to expand the use of the Spotlight self-assessment tool to support the institutional quality assurance. Higher education institutions can use this self-assessment tool, to align their admissions and recognition procedures with the Lisbon Recognition Convention (LRC) and thus comply with the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) Standard 1.4 which concerns admissions and recognition.

Additionally, AR2030 aims to supprt national cooperation and peer learning in recognition practices via a publication highlighting a selection of best practices within national admissions networks.

Support the use of the European Area of Recognition – Higher Education Institutions (EAR - HEI) manual, by translating the manual into additional national languages to support staff within higher education institutions in LRC compliant recognition practices and the implementation of automatic recognition.

2. Promote a common concept of automatic recognition and the EHEA qualifications table

The EHEA qualifications table is a novel tool allowing users to directly apply the 2018 Council Recommendation criteria for automatic recognition to higher education qualifications in the EHEA. To increase the visibility and uptake of the table, it will be further disseminated through a virtual conference.

3. Update the Micro-Evaluator

Support the assessment of micro-credentials via an upgrade of the “micro-evaluator” app for. The first version of the tool developed in earlier projects will now be updated to remain fit for purpose with regard to the latest developments around micro-credentials. This second edition of the app will be launched and promoted through a virtual conference to advance recognition of micro-credentials.

4. Build capacity in national information centres

Develop a compendium of good practices on how to operate a national information centre. The publication will be based on examples from across the UNESCO regions to support the operations both in the European region and globally. In doing so AR2030 also supports the efforts of the UNESCO Global Convention to establish national information centres;

AR2030 also explorese the extent to which it will be possible to secure information-sharing between ENIC-NARIC centres to strengthen the quality of recognition services and cooperation. The results will be published in a paper.

Recognition Radio

The AR2030 project we will also launch the podcast series “Recognition Radio”. Stay tuned for more information!

The consortium consists of a project team and steering group:

Project team:

ENIC-NARIC Netherlands (coordinator)

ENIC-NARIC Italy

ENIC-NARIC France

ENIC-NARIC Lithuania

ENIC-NARIC Poland

ENIC-NARIC Ireland

ENIC-NARIC Sweden

ENIC-NARIC Denmark

ENIC-NARIC Norway

ENIC-NARIC Malta

ENIC-NARIC Croatia

ENIC-NARIC Austria

ENIC Ukraine

ENIC United Kingdom

Steering group:

European University Association (EUA)

European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU)