Print version Recommend this page Press release
32/ 2011
Bonn, 29.06.2011
BIBB Board recommends assigning university entrance qualification to Level 4 of the German Qualifications Framework (GQF)
The Board of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) adopted "recommendations regarding the classification of the general qualification for entrance to higher education in relationship to vocational certificates and in comparison to other European countries" on 28 June 2011. Unlike the School Committee of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK), the "parliament of vocational education and training" - as the BIBB Board is known - advocates assigning the Hochschulreife in general (qualification to study at a university or other institution of higher education) - in other words, the Fachgebundene Hochschulreife (qualification which entitles the holder to study a specific subject at any institution of higher education in Germany) / Allgemeine Hochschulreife (general, unrestricted qualification for entrance to higher education, including all universities) and the Fachhochschulreife (qualification for entrance to universities of applied sciences) to Level 4 of the German Qualifications Framework (GQF). The KMK School Committee had proposed assigning the Allgemeine Hochschulreife to Level 5 of the GQF. However according to the BIBB Board, the qualification level of the Allgemeine Hochschulreife does not match the requirements set forth in Level 5 of the GQF. "Assigning the Allgemeine Hochschulreife to such a high level would also go against the concept of lifelong learning. This would suggest that more than 60 per cent of the potential education that an individual could obtain would already have been attained with the Allgemeine Hochschulreife although an individual with the Allgemeine Hochschulreife would only be in possession of the fundamentals needed for vocational training," the Board noted.
A comparison with the Allgemeine Hochschulreife indicates that 3-year and 3.5-year vocational training programmes should be assigned to at least the same level as the Allgemeine Hochschulreife due to the highly complex vocational competence that is taught during these programmes.
A look at other European countries shows that the Allgemeine Hochschulreife is usually assigned to Level 4 in other EU Member States - as is vocational training, the Board stated. "Assigning the Allgemeine Hochschulreife to Level 5 of the GQF/EQF (European Qualifications Framework) would cause considerable confusion in other European countries," noted the Board.
The BIBB Board is therefore calling particularly on the education ministers and premiers of Germany's federal states: "The EQF and GQF will enjoy broad acceptance only when the upcoming work to be done in the GQF Working Group is continued on the basis of a consensus between the relevant representatives of the individual education sectors and the results of their work are recognized in political decisions."
At its meeting in March 2011, the BIBB Board gave the work done to date to develop the GQF overall positive marks and recommended that the stakeholders in the vocational education and training field should continue to play an active role in the development of the GQF.
Under German law, the BIBB Board has the task of advising the German government on fundamental issues involving vocational education and training. Representation on the Board is equally divided between labour, management, Germany's federal states and the federal government.
Background:
The German Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (GQF) is the first comprehensive table to span a number of education sectors and offer a transparent depiction of qualifications obtained in Germany. The GQF describes occupational and personal competences which are acquired in general secondary schools, universities and vocational training. These descriptions are used as the basis for classifying qualifications.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) agreed in October 2006 to jointly develop a GQF and involve relevant players and the professional public in the process. This decision was based on the EU recommendation on the establishment of the EQF which went into force on 23 April 2008 and is to be implemented in all EU Member States with the help of national provisions. Being a reference framework for lifelong learning, the EQF maps out the different types of education provided by the respective national education systems in Europe, using eight levels. By doing so, it helps make learning outcomes from all education sectors more understandable and comparable internationally and helps put employees and learners in a position to use their qualifications in other countries. In order for the outcomes of the German education system to be recognized throughout the EU, it must be possible to reference them appropriately to the European Qualifications Framework. This is done using the qualifications framework which was developed for Germany.
Representatives of the secondary education, vocational training, university and adult education sectors took part in the development of the GQF.
The resulting framework has eight levels and was launched in March 2011. Each of the eight levels contains brief descriptions of the requirements for the respective level and related descriptions of knowledge, skills, social competence and autonomy (www.deutscherqualifikationsrahmen.de ).
The text of the BIBB Board's recommendation is available here.
