A4-0261/95

Resolution on the Commission's communication on recognition of qualifications for academic and professional purposes (COM(94)0596 - C4-0123/95)

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the communication from the Commission on recognition of qualifications for academic and professional purposes (COM(94)0596 - C4- 0123/95),

- having regard to its resolution of 18 April 1985 on the recognition of national university degrees and professional qualifications at European level (( OJ C 122, 20.5.1985, p. 121.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 14 November 1985 on the proposal from the Commission to the Council for a Directive on a general system for the recognition of higher education diplomas (( OJ C 345, 31.12.1985, p. 80.)),

- having regard to its opinion of 24 November 1989 on the revised proposal for a Council Decision amending Decision 87/327/EEC adopting the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS) (( OJ C 323, 27.12.1989, p. 172.)),

- having regard to its opinion of 17 May 1990, on the proposal for a Council Directive on a second general system for the recognition of professional education and training which complements Directive 89/48/EEC (( OJ C 149, 18.6.1990, p. 146.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 15 May 1992 on education and training policy in the run up to 1993 (( OJ C 150, 15.6.1992, p. 366.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 25 June 1993 on the situation of managers in Europe, which stresses the need for a genuine system of recognizing certified qualifications (( OJ C 194, 19.7.1993, p. 405.)),

- having regard to its opinion of 22 April 1994 on the proposal for a European Parliament and Council Decision establishing the SOCRATES Community action programme (( OJ C 128, 9.5.1994, p. 479.)),

- having regard to its opinion of 3 May 1994 on the proposal for a Council Decision establishing an action programme for the implementation of a European Community vocational training policy - Leonardo da Vinci (( OJ C 205, 25.7.1994, p. 60.)),

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education and the Media and the opinion of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and Industrial Policy (A4-0261/95),

A. whereas the White Paper 'Growth, Competitiveness and Employment' emphasizes the necessity of making further progress in the recognition of diplomas in order to remove the remaining obstacles to mobility, and to create a large and competitive European employment market,

B. whereas the European Parliament and the Council, by their Decision 95/2493/EC establishing 1996 as the 'European Year of Lifelong Learning' seek, among other objectives, to build a complementarity between academic and vocational training systems in order to reinforce equality of opportunity,

C. whereas the Council, by its Decision 89/489/EEC adopted the LINGUA programme to promote foreign language competence in the Community; whereas by their Decision 95/819/EC, the European Parliament and the Council adopted the SOCRATES Programme which integrates and continues in its Chapter III Action 1, the objectives of the LINGUA programme; whereas the barriers of language still remain one of the principle existing obstacles to mobility,

D. whereas the ECTS (European Community course credit Transfer System) pilot system of recognition of diplomas was set up by the ERASMUS programme in 1988; whereas the success of this system is acknowledged,

E. whereas there is a wide number of information networks concerned with education, vocational training and recognition of diplomas, already established by the European Community, such as EURYDICE, CEDEFOP, NARIC etc., and whereas it is necessary to reinforce their efficiency and coordinate their action,

F. whereas the main legal obstacles for regulated professions have been overcome; whereas, however, certain difficulties and numerous impediments persist for professions considered to be non-regulated,

G. whereas there are several international organisations working in the field of recognition of diplomas, such as the Council of Europe and UNESCO, whereas it is necessary to harmonise their actions and reinforce their collaboration,

H. whereas pursuant to Article 126 of the Treaty, the Community is to contribute to the development of the Europeanisation of education by encouraging recognition of diplomas, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of their education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity,

I. whereas it has adopted many resolutions on the necessity of developing the European dimension in education, emphasizing the mobility of teaching staff (( OJ C 48, 25.12.1991, p. 216. OJ C 150, 15.6.1992, p. 366. OJ C 255, 20.9.1993, p. 161.)),

1. Welcomes the Commission's plan to establish an improved system for the recognition of qualifications with the aid of the proposed main areas of action and so make a major contribution to the freedom of movement of workers;

2. Sees a need for a thorough analysis of the present obstacles to mobility and for proposals for possible solutions to overcome those obstacles before further action is taken;

3. Calls for labour and management involved in collective bargaining to be a party to the system of mutual recognition of professional qualifications, for other organizations to be invited to take part on a flexible basis and depending on the fields under consideration, and for national bodies to be involved in line with the principle of subsidiarity;

4. Calls on the Member States, in the context of their recognition of academic qualifications, also to examine their national systems for the holding of foreign academic degrees or their conversion into qualifications customary in the Member States for compatibility with the right of workers to freedom of movement;

5. Calls for comprehensive documentation on the stage so far reached in the mutual recognition of academic and professional qualifications and for the dissemination of all the relevant information;

6. Expects the Commission, not least in view of the objectives of the European Year of Lifelong Learning, to introduce coherent rules on the mutual recognition at European level of qualifications (professional and academic diplomas) so that employees with professional qualifications can exercise the right of freedom of movement;

7. Believes that the parts of EU education programmes that promote foreign language teaching, with particular reference to LINGUA, should be expanded;

8. Calls for progress achieved in the recognition of academic qualifications under the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) to be documented and, parallel to the expansion of the ECTS, for inter-university cooperation programmes to be stepped up where the ECTS cannot be used;

9. Endorses the Commission's efforts to establish an efficient information network, but believes that, wherever possible, the general national information bureaux it proposes should be attached to such existing facilities as the institutions forming the National Academic Recognition Information Centre (NARIC) system;

10. Sees a need for such existing information networks as EURYDICE and NARIC, and also CEDEFOP, to be linked more closely and for the Council of Europe information network for greater recognition to be given to diplomas (ENIC) in the deliberations than in the past;

11. Advocates closer cooperation among existing information centres at national and European level and hopes that their respective terms of reference will be clarified;

12. Emphasizes the need for information on the opportunities and requirements for gaining access to the various course of study, especially with regard to a possible assessment of the quality of curricula;

13. Calls on the Member States to link the agencies responsible for the recognition of academic and possibly professional qualifications to their national information and/or general advice centres whenever possible;

14. Questions the need for and feasibility of academic and professional networks and the tasks envisaged for them as long as both their structure and their objectives remain unclear, and therefore urges the Commission to begin by defining clearly the function of these academic and professional networks;

15. Is concerned at the Commission's intention to encourage the jointly agreed adaptation of courses of study and therefore urges it to give priority instead to transparency about the content of training or study courses;

16. Believes that in the longer term consideration should be given to comparable requirements in final examinations and that the aim should be to approximate training periods and certificates, but that the Member States or individual universities should be responsible for the content of courses;

17. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to establish uniform assessment criteria on the basis of the pilot projects that have been launched, to identify a uniform methodology and to ensure that it is accepted by the institutions concerned before the quality of training courses is assessed;

18. Calls on the Commission to ensure that students are also involved in the appraisal process during the assessment of quality;

19. Advocates that teacher training in particular be Europeanized by means of incentives;

20. Calls on the Commission to pay greater attention to the mobility of university teachers, given the importance of personal contacts for the recognition of academic qualifications and the considerable influence that teachers have on the willingness of young people to spend part of their training period abroad including, for example, within companies and administrations in other Member States;

21. Considers it essential for the two sides of industry to participate in a debate on the recognition of qualifications;

22. Strongly urges the professions already organized at European level and the local chambers to play an active role in the recognition of professional qualifications, by recognizing equivalence in terms of pay scales in their industry's collective agreements, for example;

23. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States.