New Zealand Joins the Lisbon Convention.

The accession of New Zealand to the Lisbon Convention in February 2008 is an important step forward for the Tertiary sector in that recognition of our Bachelor and Masters qualifications will be freely recognised and accepted internationally by the various national quality assurance agencies.

 The Lisbon Convention and Bologna Declaration

Background

In 1997 the Council of Europe signed an agreement in Lisbon for a multilateral legal framework to improve international recognition of higher education and periods of study. “The Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region” became known as “The Lisbon Convention”.

Following the signing of the Lisbon Convention, development work continued and in 1999, Ministers of Education from 29 countries signed an agreement in Bologna. This was aimed at establishing a European Higher Education Area (EHEA), where national systems possess common key features in which:

• qualifications offered by institutions from the signatory countries are easily recognised;
• qualifications are easily assessed by institutions and employers for the purposes of further study or employment;
• they will allow a high level of mobility  for students and staff between countries and institutions.

“The Bologna Declaration”, as it became known, agreed to establish the EHEA by 2010 and the international recognition of qualifications by member countries by:

• National quality assurance agencies.
• Uniform degree structures.
• The adoption of a common credit transfer system.
• A common way of describing the qualification (known as a “Diploma Supplement” see below).
• A focus on life long learning.

Since that time the membership of the Bologna Declaration has gradually expanded to over 50 countries including those outside of Europe to become a global strategy. While not many Asian countries have joined the Convention, an Asia/Pacific Convention is currently under consideration and will be discussed in more detail in 2009.

New Zealand Joins the Lisbon Convention

The accession of New Zealand to the Lisbon Convention in February 2008 is an important step forward for the Tertiary sector in that recognition of our Bachelor and Masters qualifications will be freely recognised and accepted internationally by the various national quality assurance agencies.

NZQA Participation

NZQA have been appointed as the National Reference Body for qualification register in relation to the Convention and the Bologna Declaration. As the National Information Centre they will be the one stop shop for all decisions and processes under the Lisbon Convention. It is expected that all processes will be in place by 2010.

The first qualifications to be recognised will be the Bachelor Degree and Masters level qualifications to be followed much later by Diplomas.

What is a Diploma Supplement?

The Diploma Supplement is a guide to the qualification to which it relates and which provides information describing the qualification in a standard format designed to be easily understood.

The Diploma Supplement will be issued to all students on successful completion of their higher education qualification. It contains information on the nature, level, context content and status of the studies that were undertaken and successfully completed by the student. It also describes the structure of the higher education system of the country in which it was issued.

Students will require a Diploma Supplement as recognition of their studies regardless of the country of study and it is being promoted as a “graduate passport”. The format of the New Zealand Diploma Supplement is likely to follow the style of those issued by other countries; this is currently under action by NZQA.

What does it mean for Acupuncture Graduates?

The New Zealand School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine is the first TCM training institution in New Zealand that offers a Bachelor degree in Acupuncture. This means that our graduates completing their Degree studies from 2009+ will be given a Diploma Supplement which will make it much easier for them to get their qualification recognised if they travel overseas. This will give our Bachelor students international recognition and transferability of their qualifications by 2010. Remember that this applies only to a Bachelor Degree and NOT a Diploma in Acupuncture issued in New Zealand.

It also means that the acupuncture professional bodies in signatory countries will have better information in order to judge if an acupuncturist holds the appropriate qualification to register and practice in the respective country.