lifelong learning and distance higher education - Asia Pacific Region

Nuffic (the Netherlands NARIC/ENIC) plays a crucial role in recognition. Because ofits focus on foreign target groups in many of its activities, Nuffic provides informationon the Dutch educational system in general and specific programmes targeted at theforeign student body in particular to foster incoming mobility. Nuffic hosts a Web site toinform potential students on “Study in the Netherlands” (www.studyin.nl). The numberof e-learning courses is still very limited in the Netherlands. As a consequence, theseprogrammes are not included in this database. In addition, in the context of a pilot projectof the ENQA and the ENIC/NARIC networks, Nuffic has developed a Web site in cooperationwith the NVAO which explains the quality assurance and accreditation facilitiesin the Netherlands from the perspective of the foreign student. The Web site covers boththe regular national education system and the private sector. It also tries to help studentsto ask the relevant institutions the right questions before starting a study programmein the Netherlands. This Web site will be launched in 2005 (www.nuffic.nl/qa-in). ThisWeb site does not specifically address e-learning; nevertheless, providers of e-learningprogrammes can use the Web site to find out which issues need to be addressed in theirstudy programme information.To foster outgoing mobility, Nuffic promotes all the relevant tools and activitiesdeveloped or identified by the NARIC/ENIC networks in the Netherlands. In the 1990s itpromoted the Diploma Supplement and ECTS, as well as application of the methodologyof the Lisbon Recognition Convention (although the Dutch government had not yetratified the Convention). The Diploma Supplement aims to promote transparency andrecognition of higher education qualifications for academic and professional purposes.UNESCO-CEPES has developed a template that can be used by institutions to provideall the required information about a study programme to enhance recognition. Otherexamples of relevant tools to be promoted are the Code of Good Practice in theProvision of Transnational Education and the Recommendation on the Recognition ofJoint Degrees, both official documents of the Lisbon Recognition Convention regime.Furthermore, Nuffic offers two credential evaluation products for students who haveearned a Dutch diploma. First of all there is the equivalence letter, which containsinformation that answers the questions most frequently asked by credential evaluatorsin other countries. Second, there is the diploma description, which is issued on requestto individual graduates. This documents provides information about the Dutch studyprogramme that was followed.Lastly, accreditation and international recognition are being integrated in another, uniqueway. Because both Flanders and the Netherlands integrated their accreditation systemsfor higher education programmes into one organisation based on a bilateral agreement,the two NARICs/ENICs (the Flanders Ministry of Education and Nuffic) decided toinvestigate the possibilities of automatic recognition of each other’s national degreesand even the automatic recognition of each other’s recognition statements regardingcredentials from third countries. After the necessary consultation rounds with the relevantstakeholders in both countries, the Flemish and Netherlands NARICs/ENICs willcommence their co-operation in mid-2005. In this way, common accreditation will resultin a common recognition (or evaluation) area.IDENTIFICATION, ASSESSMENT AND RECOGNITIONOF PRIOR LEARNINGAs a consequence of the Bologna process, recognition of lifelong learning has also grownin importance. The education ministers have included this concept in the Bologna processin Prague in 2001. This poses a major challenge to credential evaluators especially if126