Recognition of qualifications for academic and professional purposes

The Committee on Culture unanimously adopted the draft resolution. It appreciated the efforts of the Commission to ensure the introduction of a more satisfactory system for the mutual recognition of qualifications in order to facilitate the free movement of workers and, furthermore, called for a general report on the progress which had been achieved in this area, given that less than 1% of the European population was currently working in a Member State other than their country of origin using the means available for professional mobility. In this connection the Committee called for an increased effort to be made to provide more information and greater transparency. Other themes were also covered: the creation of academic and professional networks, the consensus-based adaptation of training courses, which would take account of Member States' ability to organize the teaching system in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty, and, from the same perspective, the assessment of the quality of the training courses. In this respect the Commission should adopt assessment criteria and a uniform methodology. In the same context of Community teaching policy, emphasis was placed on the European dimension of teacher training, for example by giving teachers the opportunity to take classes in other Member States by providing financial support for this purpose. Finally, the rapporteur wished to see the measures being proposed in the present communication extended to include academic and professional qualifications, as well as professional training courses, in line with the approach adopted in the 1996 European Year of "lifelong learning and training". �