Spotlight on recognition

In addition to the multiple benefits associated with student mobility, such as European integration and exchange of knowledge, experiences and intellectual capital, the free movement of people to study within Europe is a founding principle and long-term objective of the European Higher Education Area. A crucial precondition for student (alongside staff and researcher) mobility is well-functioning, fair and transparent recognition of foreign qualifications and study periods abroad. This is achieved through recognition procedures in compliance with the Lisbon Recognition Convention, whereby recognition of a foreign qualification can only be refused if the recognition authority in the receiving country can prove that it is substantially different from that of the receiving country.

According to the 2018 Bologna Process Implementation Report, decisions on recognising foreign qualifications for academic purposes are overwhelmingly in the remit of higher education institutions, as opposed to the members of the European Network of Information Centres in the European Region and the National Academic Recognition Information Centres in the European Union (ENIC-NARIC) or governments. At the same time, and despite the abundance of available tools, frameworks, documents and networks created to facilitate and support fair and transparent recognition procedures (such as the European Recognition Manual for Higher Education Institutions (EAR-HEI Manual), the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) and the ENIC-NARIC networks), many reports conclude that current recognition practices fall short of expectations. Besides the 2018 Bologna Process Implementation Report, these reports include the European Students’ Union (ESU) 2018 Bologna with Student Eyes report, the recommendations of the Erasmus+ co-funded LIREQA (Linking Academic Recognition and Quality Assurance) project, and the report of the Erasmus+ co-funded FAIR (Focus on Automatic Institutional Recognition) project.

These reports also indicate a lack of awareness among university staff responsible for recognition-related processes and decisions on the documents and tools developed to establish a common European approach to academic recognition. Against this background, it can be concluded that provision of clear information to and training of staff responsible for academic recognition is needed. They form a basic prerequisite for making recognition procedures in compliance with the Lisbon Recognition Convention across the European Higher Education Area a reality.