The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) analyses the implementation of the Law to improve the assessment and recognition of foreign professional qualifications. The results of the first phase of analyses have been published in the Report on the Recognition Act of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This report was approved by the German Federal Cabinet on April 2nd, 2014.
An expert conference of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) "Two years Recognition Act - results and forecast" took place in Berlin on April 28th, 2014. On the occasion of this conference the Parliamentary State Secretary at the BMBF, Stefan Müller, presented the first Report on the Recognition Act. Experts of policy, economy, competent bodies and information and advisory institutions had the opportunity to discuss the Recognition Act, its implementation and impact as well as future challenges.
On behalf of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the BIBB has been carrying out the Recognition Monitoring project since the end of 2012. The goal of the project is to gain transparency with regard to the implementation of the Act and the accompanying processes and to contribute to quality assurance. Not only the administrative enforcement actions but also the processes before and after the actual recognition procedure are examined. These include information and counselling, refresher training, acceptance of notifications on the labour market. The BIBB will release annual reports with information about the results of the analyses.
Until the end of 2014, the project will focus on the following tasks:
- The BIBB will support the implementation of the Federal statistics on the recognition procedure produced under the responsibility of the Federal Statistical Office and the State statistical offices. It will evaluate the data gathered, incorporate them into its vocational education and training reporting and provide advice to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research with regard to possible needs for adjustment of the statistics. The BIBB will carry out field research related to the Recognition Act. The goal is to query the various participants on their different views of the recognition processes and to bundle the results into an overall view. The following viewpoints will be taken into account: people seeking recognition, competent bodies, information and advisory institutions, further education providers, companies, labour market.
- Conceptual and organisational preparations for the evaluation of the Act, which will be carried out at a later date by an external institution after a tendering procedure, will be provided.