WRITTEN QUESTION E-1304/98 by Cristiana Muscardini (NI) to the Commission (29 April 1998)

Subject: Recognition of academic qualifications

An Italian information campaign aimed at European citizens includes an advertisement mentioning the right to recognition of academic qualifications.

Students of the Open University in Britain have said that the Master of Arts degree is not automatically recognized in Italy. Can the Commission:

1. confirm this claim;

2. if so, say what steps it intends to take to ensure the right to recognition of qualifications publicized in the above-mentioned campaign;

3. say what conditions a student with a Master of Arts degree must comply with in order to ensure that his or her degree is recognized?

Answer given by Mrs Cresson on behalf of the Commission (16 July 1998)

Article 126 of the EC Treaty states that 'The Community shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States and, if necessary, by supporting and supplementing their action, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for the content of teaching and the organisation of education systems and their cultural and linguistic diversity.'

Consequently, each Member State is responsible for the content of its teaching and the organisation of its own education system. This means that there are no diplomas that can be automatically recognised in all Member States. The universities, as autonomous institutions, are entirely responsible for the content of their curricula and for the diplomas and certificates they award to their students. These diplomas and certificates are recognised by the authorities of the Member State concerned.

As regards recognition of diplomas for academic purposes, the Commission has encouraged mutual recognition between the different education systems in Europe via Community programmes such as Erasmus. Although participation in Erasmus is entirely voluntary, the programme has contributed significantly to the understanding and mutual recognition of what are often very different education systems. In particular, the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), which has now been adopted by some 1 300 educational establishments in the Community, the European Economic Area and associated countries, and is entirely based on cooperation between universities, facilitates academic recognition of periods spent in an educational establishment of another Member State.

A further concrete measure taken under the Erasmus Programme to promote a better understanding of matters relating to recognition of academic qualifications has been to create a network of national academic recognition information centres (NARIC).

Finally, a third initiative aiming at promoting transparency of diplomas, thus facilitating their recognition, was launched in September 1997. It involves a pilot project implemented jointly with the Council of Europe and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). The idea is to study the feasibility of introducing a European administrative annex to diplomas. The results will be available in a few months' time.

As regards recognition of professional diplomas, several Community directives have been adopted on the recognition by Member States, for the purpose of allowing access to a regulated profession, of qualifications obtained in another Member State. It should be noted that these directives apply to professional people (and not students), i.e. people who possess all the qualifications required for practising a given profession in a Member State.

Directive 89/48/CEE on a general system for the recognition of higher-education diplomas awarded on completion of professional education and training of at least three years' duration has been transposed into Italian law by 'decreto legislative', No 115 of 27 January 1992 ((GU 40, 18.2.1992. )), which lays down the conditions that the holder of the diploma must fulfil in order to obtain recognition.