A Study Of The Evolution And Reform Of The European Qualifications Framework

In the 21st century,talent training and optimal combination of human resources are the most important issues for the development of various countries.There are many factors that affect a country's talent situation,and the National Qualifications Framework(NQF)is the most critical.As the world's second largest economy,the talent dilemma is the biggest challenge we face in the critical period of China's economic and social transformation.Looking at international experience,it is the most effective way to solve the talent dilemma to establish the National Qualifications Framework that conforms to China's national conditions and highlights the concept of lifelong learning.On the one hand,the establishment of the NQF can well ensure the full realization of the individual's right to education and employment;on the other hand,it can also fully realize the high-level supply of talents needed for national construction.Western developed countries have already started to construct and form a relatively perfect NQF.Europe has also established a cross-border Qualifications Framework recognized by many countries,namely European Qualifications Framework(EQF).The EQF promotes the cultivation and flow of talents in the region and ensures the optimal combination and allocation of human resources in sovereign countries.The construction of the NQF is of great significance to our country.Learning from the experience of other countries will help us to improve our NQF system,thus providing institutional guarantee for our country to solve the problem of talent shortage.Based on the concept of lifelong learning,this study explores and analyzes the historical development,framework model,and content composition of the EQF with literature and comparative methods as the main research methods.At the same time,it studies the reform and improvement of the NQF in France and Germany under the EQF and ponders the construction of China's National Qualifications Framework.The European Qualifications Framework takes the concept of lifelong learning as its guiding ideology.Its goals,structure and implementation path fully embody the basic concepts of universality,full-time nature and global nature.It focuses on the development of individual life at every stage and pays more attention to the learning and career advancement of adult workers.The EQF consists of three first-level dimensions of "knowledge","skill" and "ability" on the horizontal axis and eight levels on the vertical axis.The EQF is an inevitable outcome of the changes in the internal and external economic situation of European countries,the pursuit of political voice,the wide recognition of the overall development of the region and the advancement of the process of educational integration.Its development has gone through the embryonic stage aimed at promoting the free movement of workers,the construction stage aiming at improving the participation of the public and the reform and perfection stage focusing on actual effect.The starting point and goal of the framework construction in different stages,the main ideas of the design and the specific measures have different characteristics,which reflects the general understanding of the concept of lifelong learning in Europe and the dynamic needs of the overall development of its society.Among them,2017 European Qualifications Framework is the version that can best embody the spirit of lifelong learning concept so far.It takes supporting the in-depth development of European integration and improving the optimal allocation of human resources as the overall functional orientation of the framework design,promoting human development as the core objective of the framework establishment and implementation,promoting vertical qualifications grade integration and developing horizontal level descriptions as the key technical path of the framework construction,and stipulates the standards and procedures for the framework participating countries to establish their own NQFs with reference to the EQF,revises the common principles for quality assurance of higher education,vocational education and training,and introduces the common principles of credit system,thus forming a more advanced qualification framework system.Under the guidance of the EQF,participating countries have established National Qualifications Frameworks with their own characteristics.The NQF of France centered on meeting social needs and the NQF of Germany focusing on "learning outcomes" and "capabilities" are among the National Qualifications Frameworks cases that best reflect the implementation of the EQF in sovereign countries.According to the construction experience of the EQF and combined with China's institutional environment,we can gradually open up the situation of the construction of China's National Qualifications Framework,guided by the concept of lifelong learning,starting with the construction of level descriptors.