160 experts from 44 countries gathered from 25–27 May in support of the automatic academic recognition of qualifications. In addition to this, the participants discussed the role of artificial intelligence in recognising qualifications, supporting mobility and transparency across education systems through automatic recognition, and the importance of building skilled, competitive societies that also foster the inclusion of refugees. The event marked the 32nd annual meeting of the European Network of Information Centres and National Academic Recognition Information Centres in the European Union (ENIC-NARIC networks), which comprises national information centres for qualification recognition across Europe. For over 40 years, these centres have worked to support the internationalisation, mobility and transparency of qualification recognition.
The meeting took place at the University of Arts and the Polytechnic University of Tirana, and was officially opened by Ogerta Manastirliu, the Albania Minister of Education and Sports.
The welcome remarks, chaired by Villano Qiriazi, Head of the Education Department at the Council of Europe, which co-hosted the event, included contributions from Hubert Perr, Head of Co-operation of the European Union Delegation to Albania, and representatives of UNESCO and the European Commission.
Event sessions also focused on a potential legal instrument co-ordinated by the Council of Europe, to explore ways to counter education fraud in the field of automatic recognition and enhance the quality of automatic recognition processes and the Erasmus+ programme. The meeting provided an opportunity to present the Committee of Ministers' draft recommendation on the qualifications and linguistic competences of refugees in Europe and featured presentations of the European Commission's Union of Skills and the development of UNESCO’s global and regional conventions on recognition.