One might have hoped that this trend would increase rather than decrease research activities. To a certain extent this is indeed happening, but at the same time the nature of these activities is also changing since industrial research is tending to move to where manufacturing has gone. In this changing climate, the possibility to adapt one's activities becomes an important asset. Adaptation includes continued education and the ability to take initiatives in organizing work for oneself and for others. It also includes mobility.
Mobility is facilitated by professional qualifications which are widely recognised.
Professional Qualifications Formal professional qualifications exist in many occupations. Generally, a person receives such a qualification on the basis of a combination of academic attainments and experience in a profession. Where they exist, however, there are for some professions wide differences between formal systems of recognition, in the body awarding the qualification, in the criteria applied, and in the code of conduct an applicant is expected to abide by. Such differences may restrict the opportunities for citizens of a given country to exercise their profession elsewhere. The EPS includes EU countries as well as most of the European countries that are not part of the Union.