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Fair recognition of qualifications earned abroad is one of the cornerstones of student mobility. Sjur Bergan gives a first-hand account of the past, present and future of a key European framework.
Whether they take a full degree abroad or participate in a short term exchange, most students need to have their qualifications fairly recognised. This requires a good international legal basis as well as sound recognition policy and practice to make the legal framework function in practice.
In Europe, the Lisbon Recognition Convention (LRC) is the fundamental legal text on the recognition of qualifications. However, this was not always the case.
By the early 1990s, the Council of Europe had six recognition conventions, while UNESCO had a regional convention for Europe. All were outdated.
The Council of Europe and UNESCO therefore decided to join forces in developing a new, joint convention. Work on the new convention started in 1994, and in April 1997, the convention was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Lisbon.
The LRC was developed at a time when Europe was opening up following the fall of the Berlin Wall. The atmosphere was conducive to international cooperation, and for the first time in a generation or more, it was possible to work across all of Europe. The belief in a rules-based international order was also largely uncontested. Almost a generation later, international cooperation is more difficult, as shown by Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, among other factors.
The LRC introduced some new concepts that were absent from the older conventions.
The most important is ‘substantial differences’. This is the notion that foreign qualifications should be recognised unless the differences with the corresponding national qualifications are such that they will most likely prevent the degree holder from studying or working successfully in the host country. In other words, many differences are not important enough to justify non-recognition. In addition, the convention outlined that it is up to the recognition authority in the host country to demonstrate that a difference may justifiably be considered ‘substantial’.
While these provisions may seem undramatic now, they represented something of a paradigm shift in the 1990s. A big part of this shift was a change in mindsets, i.e. to contend that the point of studying abroad is not to duplicate what students could have done at home, but rather to gain new perspectives and insights.
Since the older recognition conventions were outdated in a generation, is that also a fate that could befall the LRC? The risk may have been real if it were a static document. However, two features of the convention help to ensure that recognition regulations and practice are up to date.
Firstly, the LRC allows for a system of subsidiary texts, mostly recommendations, adopted by the States Parties in the Lisbon Recognition Convention Committee (LRCC).
Even if they are of lesser legal status than the convention itself, they have proven to be important in enabling the LRC to take account of newer developments without renegotiating the convention. In the current international climate, this would most likely be close to utopian.
So far, recommendations have covered topics such as the use of qualifications frameworks in recognition, recognition of joint degrees, and recognition of qualifications held by refugees. A recommendation on the criteria and procedures for the assessment of foreign qualifications spells out many of the provisions of the LRC in greater detail, using more examples than it was possible to do in the text of the convention itself.
Importantly, two monitoring reports, in 2016 and 2022, identified provisions that are well implemented and others that are not. For example, the 2016 implementation report spurred the development of the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees.
Secondly, the LRCC and Europe’s network of national information centres not only ensure exchange of information between the countries. They are also important in developing recognition policy and practice to take account of new developments, such as the use of learning outcomes and digital technologies. This international community of practitioners ensures that the LRC is implemented in ways that keep up with key developments.
With 57 States Parties, the Lisbon Recognition Convention has become a reference not only in Europe, but also beyond. It has inspired a new generation of UNESCO regional conventions, developed from around 2010 onwards, as well as the UNESCO Global Recognition Convention, adopted in 2019.
But where do we go from here?
The history of the LRC demonstrates the importance of having a single regional recognition convention for Europe. The convention has proven that it can deal with emerging issues through a combination of subsidiary texts and agreement on good practice, and this will remain the best way to deal with issues like the recognition of micro-credentials or automatic recognition.
Yet, while the LRC is well known among credentials evaluators, making it better known among the broader higher education community, as well as public authorities, employers and other users of qualifications, remains a challenge. It is one to which not only the Council of Europe and UNESCO but also the public authorities and universities of the States Parties must rise.
Finally, the relationship between the LRC, other regional conventions and the UNESCO Global Convention needs to be clarified. The Global Convention is important in ensuring fair recognition across regions. That said, it cannot replace the agreements achieved through subsidiary texts or the community of policy and practice that has developed on the basis of the LRC and inspired other parts of the world.
Note: This article is based on the Universitas Quaderni publication ‘Crossing Bridges between Education Systems: The History and Relevance of The Lisbon Recognition Convention’, which Sjur Bergan co-edited.
