Detailed roadmap for the eqf referencing of the nqf in fyrom

Development phase

The National Framework for Higher Education Qualifications that closely defines the profile, objectives and initial creation of the curricula of the first, second and third cycle of studies and curricula for vocational education shorter than three years was developed in the framework of the Tempus Project N° 145165-TEMPUS-2008-SE-SMHES. The project was developed by an in­ter­national consortium involving: the Linkoping University - Sweden, ‘St Clement Ohridski’ Un­iversity – Bitola, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, ‘Ss. Cyril and Methodius’ University – Skopje, South East European University – Tetovo, ‘Goce Delchev’ University - Shtip, State University of Tetovo, Ghent University - Belgium and University of Applied Sciences, Osnabruck - Germany. Main activities under the project: reviewing the existing higher education qualifications at national level; training visits; designing the NQF HE; evaluation survey on the designed NQF HE and aligning the NQF HE with the Qualifications Framework for the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA); setting up criteria for accreditation and registration of qualifications in the NQF HE; verifying the criteria by the Ministry of Education and Science; publishing a Guide on the National Framework for Higher Education Qualifications of the Republic of Macedonia; designing learning outcomes oriented study programmes and dissemination activities. In 2010 the Government of the Republic of Macedonia adopted the Decree for the National Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (Official Gazette of the Republic Macedonia N^o154/2010).
On 7 November 2012 the Minister of Education and Science established the Working Group for Development of the National Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning, coordinated by the Ministry of Education and Science with members from: the Ministry of Education and Science (Department of Primary and Secondary Education, Department of Higher Education, representatives of the Cabinet of the Minister, EU Department), Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Centre for Adult Education, VET Centre, Bureau for Development of Education, Employment Service Agency, State Statistical Office, Ministry of Information Society and Public Administration; representatives of the Chamber of Commerce, the Organisation of Employers of the Republic of Macedonia and the Chamber of Crafts. The composition of the Working Group is presented on website http://mrk.mk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/resenie-1.pdf.
The intensive work of the Working Group in the period November 2012 - April 2013 resulted in a draft Macedonian Qualifications Framework - Baselines. The development of levels and level descriptors of the NQF for LLL was supported by Ms. Anne - Marie Chéreau from the Commission Nationale de la Certification Professionnelle (CNCP) of France. The draft Ma­cedonian Qualifications Framework - Baselines was submitted to the ETF for consultation. Mr. Arjen Deij, ETF expert on qualifications frameworks and Ms. Eduarda Castel - Branco, ETF country manager for the Republic of Macedonia provided written feedback. Following the improvement of the draft document in accordance with the ETF recommendations, the draft Macedonian Qualifications Framework – Baselines was put on the website of the Ministry of Education and Science (March 2013). This enabled all interested parties and individuals to provide comments and recommendations for improving the text.
On 9 April 2013 the public debate on the draft Macedonian Qualifications Framework – Baselines took place in the premises of the Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of Macedonia. Representatives of the: Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Ministry of Economy, Employment Service Agency, VET Centre, Bureau for Development of Education, Centre for Adult Education, State Statistical Office, local self-government (municipalities), higher education sector (pri­vate and state universities), pre-school education institutions (kindergartens), primary schools, secondary schools (general and VET schools), Association of Educational Workers of the Republic of Macedonia (Sojuz na prosvetni rabotnici na Republika Makedonija), Union of the Higher Education Stu­dents, Union of Secondary Education Students, open universities for lifelong learning, employers, Chamber of Commerce, Chamber of Crafts of the Republic of Macedonia, Trade Union, National Examination Centre, the Board for Accreditation and Evaluation of Higher Education, National Agency for European Educational Programmes and Mobility, representatives of the donor community active in the area of education (USAID, British Council, experts from the IPA Twinning project for VET, experts from the IPA Twinning project for adult education), non-governmental organizations, media representatives (in Macedonian and Albanian language), as well as the UNDP participated and contributed to the event. The Minister of Education and Science chaired the public debate. Copy of the flyer and the agenda of the public debate are on website http://mrk.mk/?p=212&lang=mk.
The recommendations of the stakeholders were in­corporated into the draft document. The most important intervention that resulted from the public discus­sion was the development and introduction of three components of level descriptors for the higher education sector (knowledge and understanding, skills and competence), as adjustment of the five components of the descriptors of the NQF HE (knowledge and understanding, applying knowledge and understanding, making judgement, communication skills and learning skills). The final draft of the Macedonian Quali­fications Fra­me­work - Baselines was presented at a Governmental session and adopted by the Government on 30 July 2013.
The Macedonian Qualifications Framework – Baselines was the basis for developing the Law for the National Qualifications Framework. The draft Law was uploaded on ENER (national electronic register of legislation). The Government of the Republic of Macedonia discussed the proposal and forwarded it to the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia for adoption. The Law for the National Qualifications Framework was adopted in October 2013 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia N^o 137/2013). The application of the Law effectively started from 30/09/2015.
Visibility of the work at international level
The work on the development of MQF and the NQF HE was presented and discussed on different occasions, the most important ones being:

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  Poster presentation on the implementation of NQF HE at the International Forum on Qualifications Conference organised by IBE (Warshaw, Poland, 8-9 November 2012)
  
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  Launching meeting of the Western Balkans Platform for Education and Training, established by the Directorate General for Education and Culture (March 2012)
  
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  20-th meeting of the UNESCO Assembly (Paris, France, November 2013)
  
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  ETF conference on the development of NQF, held in the European Parliament (April 2014)
  
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  Meeting on the referencing of the National Qualifications Framework of Montenegro (May 2014)
  
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  Meeting of the Subcommittee of Innovation, Information Society and Social Policy (European Com­mis­sion, Brussels, May 2014)
  
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  Western Balkans Platform on Education and Training, Regional Conference on Erasmus+ (Athens, Greece, 17-18 January 2014)
  
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  Third ministerial meeting of the Western Balkans Platform on Education and Training (European Com­missio­n, Brussels, 19-20 June 2014)
  
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  ETF regional knowledge-sharing workshop on EQF implementation for the enlargement countries, on 30/09-01/10/2015, in Podgorica (Montenegro)
  
• 
  Council of Europe SEE Regional QF network (Istanbul, Turkey, 15-16 October 2015) – presentation on the development of the National Framework for Higher Education Qalifications.
  

The Republic of Macedonia is member of the ERI SEE cluster of knowledge on NQF, which enabled the Ma­ce­donian experts to participate in the peer learning and exchange of good practice of the SEE countries in the development of NQFs (quality assurance and NQF, validation of non-formal and informal learning etc.).

In June 2014, upon request of the national member of the EQF AG, Ms. Eduarda Castel-Branco – ETF member of the EQF AG and country manager for the Republic of Macedonia, briefed the participants on the progress made by the Republic of Macedonia.

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