Recognition of qualifications for academic and professional purposes

The rapporteur pointed out that many young people would like to be able to carry out part of their studies abroad and that other citizens wanted their qualifications to be recognised in another Member State. Mrs PACK regretted that the Commission communication was limited to measures on the recognition of university qualifications and neglected vocational training. The Commission did not make any mention of the possibility of the recognition of a qualification obtained abroad or a national qualification for working abroad. The rapporteur also regretted that the ECTS had not yet been extended to all countries nor to all types of training. The Commission communication should therefore as a priority define the remaining obstacles to mobility in the Member States. Finally, Mrs Pack welcomed the Commission’s proposal to develop new information networks, but she felt that it would perhaps be better in the first instance to refine those that already existed. Commissioner Deus PINHEIRO pointed out that the right to free movement within the European Union was one of the citizens’ fundamental rights. For this right to be applied, citizens’ qualifications should be easily recognised in host countries. He underlined the contradiction that existed between the theory and the practice, and he criticised the Member States that put up artificial obstacles to the recognition of qualifications. He called for a simplified system for the recognition of qualifications.