Automatic Recognition
“Automatic recognition of a degree leads to the automatic right of an applicant holding a qualification of a certain level to be considered for entry to the labour market or a programme of further study in the next level in any other EHEA-country (access)”
1997
Lisbon Recognition Convention
is signed in Lisbon, representing the legal basis for the recognition of qualifications concerning higher education in the European Area.
1999
Bologna Process is launched
as a political initiative to give a European dimension to higher education qualifications.
2010
European Higher Education Area
(EHEA) has been created.
2012
Bucharest EHEA Ministerial Conference
for the first time the term “automatic recognition” has been introduced as the main objective to be reached within the EHEA through the implementation of national legislation reforms in compliance with the Lisbon Recognition Convention.
2018
Council Recommendation of 26 November 2018 on promoting automatic mutual recognition of higher education and upper secondary education and training qualifications and the outcomes of learning periods abroad
defined Automatic mutual recognition of a qualification as “the right for holders of a qualification of a certain level that has been issued by one Member State to be considered for entry to a higher education programme in the next level in any other Member State, without having to go through any separate recognition procedure. This shall not prejudice the right of a higher education institution or the competent authorities to set specific evaluation and admission criteria for a specific programme. It does not prejudice the right to check, if the qualification is authentic and, in case of an upper secondary education and training qualification, if it really gives access to higher education in the Member State of issuance or, in duly justified cases, if the granted qualification meets the requirements for accessing a specific higher education programme in the receiving Member State” [Council Recommendation of 26 November 2018 on promoting automatic mutual recognition of higher education and upper secondary education and training qualifications and the outcomes of learning periods abroad, ST/14081/2018/INIT, OJ C 444, 10.12.2018, p. 1–8].
2020
in the Rome EHEA Ministerial Communiqué
ministers agreed to “make the necessary legislative changes to guarantee automatic recognition at system level for qualifications delivered in EHEA countries where quality assurance operates in compliance with the ESG and where a fully operational national qualifications framework has been established.