On 4 September, the Council of Europe hosted the annual meeting of national correspondents for qualifications frameworks. The Council of Europe coordinates this network, which gathers those responsible for overseeing national qualification frameworks for higher education. These again relate to the Overarching Framework of Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA), which the Council of Europe played an important role in developing

The turnout at this year’s meeting was exceptionally good, with 37 countries and several stakeholder organizations represented. The European Commission and the European Training Foundation also contributed to the meeting.

The main topics at this year’s meeting were the full integration of short cycle qualifications, mainly found in professional higher education, into the QF-EHEA in follow up to the Paris Communiqué adopted by Ministers in May 2018 as well as how competences for democratic culture can best be integrated into national qualifications frameworks.

See also the EHEA web site for qualifications frameworks, the report of the Structural Reforms Working Group 2012 – 15, co-chaired by the Council of Europe; the reports of the working groups on qualifications frameworks2009 – 12 and 2007 – 09, both chaired by the Council of Europe; the 2007 report and the report leading to the establishment of the QF- EHEA. The Council of Europe contributed to substantially to the two latter reports.

Presentations of participants:

• Luca Lantero - Head of the Italian BFUG Secretariat
• European association of institutions in higher education: short cycle he : Perspectives of professional higher education - Michal Karpíšek, Secretary General
• Level 5 in ETF Partner Countries by Michael Graham, ETF
• International Association of Universities (IAU) - A reference framework for the development of Competences for Democratic Culture and National Qualification Frameworks - Hilligje van’t land Secretary General