The renewed Ad Hoc Working Group on Automatic Recognition held its meeting on 15 January 2025 at the Council of Europe office in Paris. The membership of the Working Group, active since 2022, has been extended to include more key stakeholders, including public authorities in charge of higher education, as well as representatives of the European Commission and UNESCO.

The primary objective of the Ad Hoc Working Group is to identify and design the necessary building blocks to ensure clarity, build trust, and establish the preconditions required for the successful implementation of automatic recognition.

The Group will advise on the development and implementation of a common framework for automatic recognition of higher education qualifications. An essential aspect of the Group’s work is establishing a triangular, mutually reinforcing relation between the new instrument, Multilateral Treaty and the Lisbon Recognition Convention.