IT
Project Manager:
Davide Premutico
A proper understanding and assessment of skills and qualifications are essential to ensure that individuals, employers, and education and training providers attribute the correct economic, social, and academic value to what has actually been learned. The key challenge is ensuring that students and employers have access to information on the content of qualifications for study, career, and mobility purposes.
Since 2008, the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) has served as a common European reference and a translation tool between different qualification systems, addressing learners, workers, jobseekers, employers, social partners, and education and training institutions. The founding Recommendation of the EQF was reviewed and updated in 2017 to better respond to the complex realities of today’s labour market and education and training pathways.
The EQF is an eight-level framework of increasing complexity that can be applied to any type of qualification. Each level is defined by a set of descriptors, known as learning outcomes, which are structured into three dimensions of competences: knowledge, skills, and autonomy and responsibility. A shared European framework can help individuals acquire or update their competences throughout their lives, facilitating transitions between different types and levels of education, as well as between training and employment, both nationally and internationally.
At the national level, the EQF is linked to the National Qualifications Framework (QNQ), established in 2018 and updated in 2022 with the new Italian referencing report on qualifications to the European EQF – Update: 2022 training maintenance: 2022.
The National Coordination Point (NCP) for the EQF supports Italian and European citizens and institutions in understanding and implementing the European strategy for qualifications transparency and skills portability. It promotes the EQF and QNQ through national and international events, adopting a flexible, multi-channel approach and targeted activities for a broad range of beneficiaries (practitioners, end users, stakeholders, etc.). It also participates in the European Advisory Group on the EQF, which oversees international discussions on the European strategy for qualifications transparency and topics related to the Validation of Non-formal and Informal Learning (VFNL). Drawing on this experience, between 2021 and 2023, the NCP coordinated the complex process of updating the new referencing report on qualifications to the EQF/NQF, supporting and collaborating with public bodies responsible for qualifications.
At the national level, between 2024 and 2026, the NCP EQF will work closely with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, central and regional administrations, and other INAPP research groups to ensure the full implementation of the National Skills Certification System, the National Qualifications Framework, and the recent Decree on Individual Validation of Competences (IVC). At the European level, it will collaborate with the European Commission and other Member States in implementing the European strategy for qualifications transparency through participation in technical meetings, peer reviews, European project groups, peer learning activities, and targeted research promoted by international organisations such as Cedefop and the OECD.
All thematic content of the NCP EQF will be promoted under the SkillON brand, building on the 2018–2023 experience with the Europass and Euroguidance Contact Points. This will be achieved through a dedicated section on the official website and social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube), with the aim of informing all stakeholders and those interested in staying up to date on skills, training, and mobility in Europe.
For further information: [email protected]
Documentation
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