National Qualifications Framework essential for quality education — experts

AMMAN — A National Qualifications Framework (NQF) clearly identifying the knowledge, skills and competence requirements for higher education students is a key to the improvement of the quality of education, experts said on Wednesday.

At the launch event of a project that seeks to develop a Jordanian NQF, experts agreed that endorsing a unified framework complied in a participatory approach among all universities and stakeholders will boost universities’ competitiveness in international rankings and will enhance their outreach.

Deputising for HRH Princess Sumaya, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Adel Tweisi highlighted the importance of developing a Jordanian NQF, a step he said should have been taken a long time ago.

At the event held at the Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) he added that Jordan’s NQF will work alongside with the National Strategy for Human Resources Development, which plans on developing elementary education, higher education, technical education and vocational training sectors, with the purpose of achieving a qualitative leap in human resources.

He explained that the framework will focus on improving the each educational phase’s output to function as a quality-driven base for the next phase. The last phase will be concluded in the labour market. 

Mashhour Refaie, PSUT president, said the project establishes for a comprehensive national dialogue on developing and reforming the higher education sector and the performance of universities. 

The project, which is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, seeks to support the structural reform of the higher education system and set up the basis for a comprehensive NQF model that identifies the generic expectations of all levels of higher education, according to organisers.

PSUT Vice President Abdullah Zoubi, said the Jordanian NQF will address the higher education, including diploma, bachelor’s, master’s and PhD levels, while international frameworks include earlier school and pre-school levels.

The formal system is based on describing qualifications that students must acquire at the given stages, adding that evaluation will be on learning outcomes of education programmes, whether academic, technical or vocational.

He added that the framework is to apply to all students in all fields, noting that preparations have started for this project a year and a half ago, and the project has collected feedback on the first draft NQF.

Zeinab Mazouz from Spain’s University of Barcelona, a project partner, said the NQF entails a strong involvement of partner universities and stakeholder to enhance the performance of the higher education sector.

For his part, Erasmus+ Jordan Office Director Ahmad Abu Al Haija said Jordan has benefited from several programmes of the European Union, citing a possibility for further improvement in achieving impact on the structural level and quality enhancement.

 Head of Qualifications and Skills Policy at Quality and Qualifications Ireland John O’Connor reviewed his country’s experience as a pioneer in higher education qualification.

He stressed that supportive legislations, as well as consultation and engagement of all stakeholders as an essential matter for developing effective NQFs, adding that 150 countries have developed or are developing NQFs.