- 2015Approved/Agreed
- 2016Approved/Agreed
- 2017Implementation
- 2018Implementation
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
Background
The introduction of the national qualifications framework (NQF) in line with the European Parliament and Council recommendation on the establishing of the European qualifications framework for lifelong learning (EQF).
Objectives
The national qualifications framework aims to increase employability and mobility in the labour market as it facilitates comparison of qualifications gained through studies and/or work experience.
Description
The legal basis supporting the Swedish national qualifications framework (SeQF) came into force on 1 October 2015. The SeQF was referenced to the European qualifications framework (EQF) in June 2016 and can be considered to have reached (an early) operational status. It is operated by the National Agency for Higher Vocational Education assisted by a council comprising representatives from social partners, national education and employment agencies and student organisations. A register of qualifications was put in place and made accessible via the SeQF web portal.
In 2019, awarding bodies outside the formal education system are able to have their qualifications assessed and placed at a level within the framework by submitting an application to the Swedish National Agency for Higher Vocational Education. Six qualifications have been assessed and were placed in the framework until March 2019. Since then, new applications have been submitted but no qualifications have been placed in the system.
A total of eleven qualifications have been assessed and were placed in the framework until end of 2020.
In 2021 new qualifications were added during the year.
In 2022, a total number of 27 qualifications have been assessed and were placed in the framework until February 2022. As of February, 31 additional applications are waiting to be assessed. The interest in placing a qualification in the system has increased.
On 1 January, 2023, the ordinance governing SeQF (SFS 2015:545) was updated. The descriptor ‘competences’ describing learning outcomes are aligned to the EQF and replaced with ‘responsibility and autonomy'. As of 12 January 2023, a total of 55 non-formal qualifications were levelled to the SeQF. During 2022, a qualifications database was developed in which all non-formal qualifications are published.
Bodies responsible
- National Agency for Higher VET
Target groups
Other stakeholders
- Social partners (employer organisations and trade unions)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Transparency and portability of VET skills and qualifications
European principles and tools, such as EQF, ESCO, ECTS, Europass and ECVET, provide a strong basis for transparency and portability of national and sectoral qualifications across Europe, including the issuing of digital diplomas and certificates.
This thematic category looks at how individuals are supported in transferring, accumulating, and validating skills and competences acquired in formal, non-formal and informal settings – including learning on the job – and in having their learning recognised towards a qualification at any point of their lives. This is only possible if qualifications are transparent and comparable and are part of comprehensive national qualifications frameworks. Availability of qualifications smaller than full and acquirable in shorter periods of time is necessary; some countries have recently worked on developing partial qualifications, microcredentials, etc.
This thematic sub-category concerns all developments related to national qualification frameworks (NQFs). As in most countries NQFs are in place and referenced to the European qualifications framework (EQF), the thematic sub-category covers updating and expanding the frameworks, developing new qualifications and using NQFs as catalysts for other reforms.