Qualifications databases help people, schools, and employers understand, compare, and trust qualifications. They are key to digital services like automated advice tools and digital certificates. This guide supports countries in creating strong national qualifications databases based on the European Interoperability Framework (EIF).
The EIF helps public services work better across borders. It promotes open standards, reuse of resources, user-friendly design, and collaboration.
To build a good database, countries must focus on four main areas:
Legal (Regulatory): Countries should create a national database that acts as the official source of qualifications. Laws must support clear, secure, and fair data collection. Rules should also define how data is structured.
Organisational: The database needs strong governance and clear processes. These cover how qualifications are designed, approved, published, updated, and reviewed. A good structure separates strategic, governance, and operational tasks.
Semantic: It’s important to use shared language and definitions. Data should be treated as a valuable resource. Countries should agree on reference terms and adopt the European Learning Model (ELM), or map their systems to it, to make sharing easier and cheaper.
Technical: The system should allow collecting, storing, checking, publishing, searching, and exporting qualifications. It must meet technical standards, including secure access, stable links, and quality checks. Optional features include modern data formats and high-performance setups. The interface should be easy to use, accessible, and work across languages and devices.
By following these steps, countries can build trusted, connected databases that support qualification recognition and mobility.
