Western Balkans Platform on Education and Training, Brussels, 25th- 27th June 2018

Brussels – Ministers in charge of education from the Western Balkan economies endorsed a set of key principles on automatic recognition of academic qualifications in the region at the 7th Ministerial meeting of the Western Balkans Platforms on Education and Training & Research and Innovation, organised by the European Commission (EC), in Brussels. These principles build upon the work of the Joint Regional Cooperation Council (RCC)  and Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE) Working Group on Recognition of Academic Qualifications (WG RAQ).

Speaking at the ministerial panel devoted to automatic recognition of academic qualifications, RCC Secretary General Goran Svilanovic reminded that the Western Balkans’ Prime Ministers set an ambitious agenda for the region in Multi-Annual Action Plan for Regional Economic Area (MAP REA) agreed in Trieste last summer by committing to creation and the implementation of a model of automatic recognition of academic qualifications in the Western Balkans by 2020; creation of a joint information system to facilitate recognition of academic qualifications by 2019; and strengthening the cooperation between ENIC/NARIC offices and Quality Assurance Agencies in the Western Balkans.

The Conference gathered high-level representatives of the European Commission and the Western Balkans, including Commissioners for Research and Innovation and Education, Culture, Youth and sports, and the Ministers, along with relevant experts and representatives of international and regional organisations working in this field