The Recommendation of the European Parliament and Council of Ministers to establish a European Qualifications Framework (EQF) was approved on 23 April 2008.
is to create a common reference framework which should serve as a translation device between different qualifications systems and their levels, whether for general and higher education or for vocational education and training,
as well as recommending that Member states:
use an approach based on learning outcomes when defining and describing qualifications, and promote the validation of non-formal and informal paying particular attention to those citizens most likely to be subject to unemployment or insecure forms of employment, for whom such an approach could help increase participation in lifelong learning and access to the labour market.
This issues paper considers the Framework and attempts to examine how, and how well, it is likely to achieve its own stated objectives.