The European Commission has recently launched its European Qualifications Framework portal, a new interactive website designed to offer clearer comparisons of national qualifications frameworks in an effort to increase academic and working mobility throughout the European area.  

Some of the key features of the portal include

• a tool to compare how aligned national qualifications systems are with other national frameworks at various levels of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF),
• a search tool for qualifications (still in development) and
• a list of key terms and their definitions.

The portal also features documents on the establishment of the EQF, the criteria and procedures developed by the EQF Advisory Group, as well as national referencing reports which compare country-specific qualifications frameworks to the European Qualifications Framework. As of now the portal only provides four national referencing reports – from France, Ireland, Malta and the UK – but more will be added. In addition, the portal offers a link to its tri-annual newsletter and links to related sites such as Europass, Portal on Learning Opportunities throughout the European Space (PLOTEUS) and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

Future plans for the portal include accessibility in 27 languages and access to national databases on qualifications.

European Commission