Qualifications Frameworks in the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA) are frameworks describing the higher education qualifications of countries participating in the Bologna Process.

National Qualifications Framework A national qualifications framework is a formal system describing qualifications. 47 countries participating in the Bologna Process are committed to producing a national qualifications framework. Other countries not part of this process also hav ...

s (NQFs) provide a mapping between higher education qualifications and an overarching framework, allowing the cross-comparison of qualifications from different countries. The overarching framework was adopted in May 2005 at a meeting of education ministers of the 48 participating countries. It consists of three cycles, approximately equivalent to

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

and research doctorates (PhD-equivalent) degrees in the Anglophone world (note that US first professional degrees such as MD and JD are not PhD-equivalent, even though they are titled "doctorates"). A "short cycle" is also recognised within the first cycle, equivalent to British

foundation degree A foundation degree is a combined academic and vocational qualification in higher education in the United Kingdom, equivalent to two-thirds of an honours bachelor's degree, introduced by the Department for Education and Employment in 2000. Fou ...

s (US

associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. Th ...

s).

QF-EHEA in Spain

The NQF in Spain is the '' Marco Español de Cualificaciones para la Educación Superior'' (MECES) (Spanish Framework for Higher Education Qualification). This replaced the earlier system of ''diplomado'', ''licenciado'' and ''doctor'' from 2005, with a transitional period lasting until 2013. The mapping to the EHEA framework is:

QF-EHEA in the United Kingdom

The NQFs linked to the QF-EHEA are the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications (FHEQ) for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and the Framework for Qualifications of Higher Education Institutions in Scotland (FQHEIS). The FQHEIS was certified as being aligned with the QF-EHEA in 2006 and the FHEQ in 2008. The levels on the two national frameworks, and their mapping to the QF-EHEA, are as follows:

QF-EHEA in the Republic of Ireland

The NFQ for Ireland is the

National Framework of Qualifications The National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) is a system used to describe levels of educational qualifications in Ireland. Responsibility for maintaining and developing the framework lies with Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI). Launched ...

(NFQ), which spans the full range of educational qualifications available. It was verified as compatible with the EHEA Framework in 2006. The NQF has the following mapping to the EHEA Framework:

References

Qualifications {{Europe-edu-stub