Call: Quality assurance at European level for enhanced transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications

Key Action 3 provides grants for a wide variety of actions aimed at stimulating innovative policy development, policy dialogue and implementation, and the exchange of knowledge in the fields of education, training and youth. The majority of them are managed by the EACEA. Most of the actions under KA3 are managed outside the annual general call for proposals. This Subprogramme focuses on the following topics:

• Initiatives for policy innovation
• European policy experimentations
• Civil Society Cooperation
• Studies and surveys
• European policy tools
• Cooperation with international organisations
• Stakeholder dialogue, policy and programme promotion

Description, objectives, and themes

The general objective of the call is to test possible procedures, mechanisms and quality criteria at European level that could be applied when:

• relating international qualifications or international sectorial qualifications systems or frameworks to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and for awarding international qualifications that are related to the EQF; 
• relating potential European core profiles of qualifications to the EQF and for awarding qualifications forthcoming from them;

With the aim of creating ground for trust in the levels and procedures to support recognition of qualifications forthcoming from European core profiles of qualifications and to improve the de-facto and formal recognition of international qualifications.

The present Call will provide funding through the 3 following themes:

Theme A: Relating an international sectorial qualifications system or framework to the EQF and describing quality assurance principles, mechanisms and possible quality criteria for this and for awarding qualifications forthcoming from it;

Theme B: Relating (one or more) international qualification(s) to the EQF and describing quality assurance principles, mechanisms and possible quality criteria for awarding this qualification(s).

Theme C: Developing one or more potential European core profiles of qualifications based on ESCO occupational profiles, relating it/them to the EQF and describing quality assurance principles, mechanisms and possible quality criteria for awarding qualifications forthcoming from it. Since the full version of ESCO will be published by 2017 the applicant is to select one or more ISCO level 4 occupations. The relevant ESCO occupational profile(s) will be provided after award of the pilot. 

Activities may start between 1 June 2016 and 1 August 2016. The activities to be funded under this call may include desk reviews, analyses, research; mapping, surveys, drafting proposals, testing preliminary results with stakeholders, validation of results, reporting and coordination activities with the Commission (twice a year). All the activities should have an international nature or impact. In order to achieve noteworthy results, a large representative group of stakeholders in more than two countries must be involved. 

The total estimated budget available for the co-financing of actions under the present call is 400,000 €.

Financial contribution from the EU cannot exceed 75 % of the total eligible action costs.

The maximum estimated grant will be:

180,000 € under Theme A

60,000 € under Theme B

80,000 € under Theme C

The Agency reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available for the call. 

The application package is available on the internet at the following address:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/quality-assurance-european-level-for-enhanced-transparency-andrecognition-skills-and-qualifications_en