ITALY
NATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR RECOGNITION
Report 2003-06 & Previsions 2007
As soon as the Lisbon Recognition Convention
(LRC) was ratified by the Italian Parliament in 2002, CIMEA, the Italian
Enic-Naric, drew up an action plan to promote the implementation of its
principles and the adoption of appropriate recognition procedures in Italy. The
plan, approved by the relevant Italian Ministry, has been recently revised
taking into account the guidelines elaborated by the Enic Bureau, the NARIC
Advisory Board and the Bureau of the Lisbon Recognition Convention Committe,
approved by the Bologna Follow up Group (Vienna, 7th April 2006) and submitted
to the Enic and Naric networks at their 13th Joint Meeting (Tallinn, 4-6- June
2006).
Here below the decisions and actions already
taken in Italy are reported, as well as the actions planned for the near
future.
1.
LEGISLATION
1.1 LISBON RECOGNITION CONVENTION
* 2002 - The Lisbon Recognition Convention (LRC) was ratified by Law No. 148 of 11th July 2002. Since Art.s 4 and 5 of the quoted law made reference to two further legal provisions to be taken, the ratification instrument could not be deposited with the two relevant Secretariats.
* 2004 - The Ministerial Decree No. 214 of 26th April 2004 was published; in conformity to Art. 4 of Law 148/2002, it regulates the recognition of the qualifications awarded by foreign HEIs based in the Italian territory.
* 2006 -
Art.s 12 and 13 of Law No. 29 of 25th January 2006 have provided the legal
regulations for cases of academic recognition falling within the competence of
public administrations other than universities (see Art. 5 of Law 148/2002).
* 2007 - the
President of the Republic is expected to sign and deposit all the ratification
instruments.
1.2 REVIEW OF NATIONAL LEGISLATION RELEVANT TO
RECOGNITION
A) PRIMARY & SECONDARY
EDUCATION
The national legislation on the academic
recognition of foreign primary and secondary qualifications was reviewed; it
has been recently integrated by Art. 13 of Law 29/2006.
B) HIGHER EDUCATION –
UNIVERSITY SECTOR
Law
148/2002 states what follows:
-
academic recognition is mainly a responsibility of individual Italian
universities (Art. 2);
-
universities have to apply the Lisbon Recognition Convention, and to complete their recognition
procedures within 90 days from the reception of a duly documented application
(Art. 3);
-
Art. 332 of the Royal Decree 1592/1933 (the old legal provision on academic
recognition) is revoked (Art. 9);
- recognition of qualifications
awarded by TNE HEIs based in Italy shall be regulated by a separte legal
provision (Art. 4);
-
academic
recognition for certain specific purposes (e.g. selection for allocation of
scholarships/fellowships, assignment of some tasks within public entities,
etc.) is the responsibility of some State administrations; rules must be
provided for in a separate legal instrument (Art. 5).
In
Italy the repealing of the old legislation on academic recognition has caused
the automatic extension of the LRC to H.Ed. qualifications from all countries in the world.
C) HIGHER EDUCATION –
NON-UNIVERSITY SECTOR
* 2007 - It has been planned to extend the
LRC also to AFAM institutions, i.e. those Italian HEIs of the non-university
sector that now rank at university level thanks to the implementation of the
1999 H.Ed. reform in conformity to the Bologna Declaration (fine arts
academies, higher schools of design, national dance academy, national drama
academy, music conservatories, recognised musical institutes). Consequently, also foreign academic
qualifications in visual and applied arts, dance, design, drama, music will
soon be eligible for recognition through the LRC.
2.
RECOGNITION PRACTICE
2.1 CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES
§ REVIEW OUTCOMES
A) RECOGNITION
PURPOSES
The two main academic recognition
purposes Italian universities have to deal with are the following:
* Finalised
recognition for admission to further studies.
* Recognition by
equivalence procedures /equipollenza
resulting in the awarding of an Italian degree, as per the applicant’s request.
B) RECOGNITION
CRITERIA
The general criteria recently
adopted by several universities are common to all recognition purposes, while
specific criteria may depend on the purpose for which recognition is sought.
The very basic criteria generally agreed upon are related to:
* the legal status of
the awarding institution (its definition is a prerequisite to proceed in the
evaluation); the awarding HEI must form "official" part of the system
of reference, which means that it should be either a State institution, or a
non-State but State-recognised one, or accredited, depending on the rules of
the education system concerned;
* the cycle/level and
nature (academic/professional) of the foreign qualification within the system
of reference;
* the academic rights
that the foreign qualification grants in the awarding country.
D) DOCUMENTATION
Fair recognition is possible on the
basis of adequate information to be provided by applicants themselves and/or
collected from additional sources. Italian HEIs generally ask applicants to
produce the so-called Dichiarazione di
Valore-DV issued by the competent Italian diplomatic authorities in the
country of the education system of reference [[1]]; some ask for
legalised documents (Aja Apostille), some accept certified photocopies without
Apostille, quite a number ask for sworn translations of official documents
written in any language other than Italian. EU nationals whose study documents
have already been deposited at an Italian public administration may autocertify
their qualifications.
D) PROCEDURES
& FINAL DECISION
a) Finalised recognition
It consists in a global evaluation
of the foreign qualification concerned in terms of level and nature to decide
whether it is COMPARABLE or not to the Italian degree
required for that specific purpose (e.g. admission to a research doctorate
programme).
Recognition procedure may give the
following results:
- the foreign qualification is found to be COMPARABLE to the Italian one: recognition is granted to the end
of admission to the chosen degree course;
- the foreign qualification is evaluated as NOT COMPARABLE to the Italian one; then
°° recognition is refused;
°° a conditional recognition is proposed; i.e. very few
universities allow provisional admission to the chosen degree course; at the
same time they ask the candidate for some sort of compensation measure (debito formativo); if the candidate
satisfies the educational debt in the prescribed time, recognition is
confirmed; if not, admission is withdrawn.
* Some universities have
observed that, given to the ongoing reforms in the H.Ed. systems of several
European countries, and to scarcity of consistent reliable information from
some non-European systems, to identify a clear comparison is sometimes
impossibile; their final decision is questionable, and therefore exposed to the
risk of contestation.
b) Recognition by equivalence
In addition to defining its
comparability, academic authorities engage themselves in a detailed analysis of
the foreign qualification (curricular structure, workload or course length,
content of single subjects, etc.) so as to find out to what extent it is EQUIVALENT to the Italian degree chosen by the applicant.
Universities ask for integrations whenever they find substantial differences;
in fact, since Italian curricula are designed and approved in conformity to
clearly defined national and institutional regulations, it becomes necessary to
make the foreign qualification comply with those national requirements that
guarantee the legal validity of the chosen Italian one. Therefore the Italian
degree is generally awarded after the passing of some subject exams, the number
of which depends on the degree of similarity between the foreign and the
Italian qualifications concerned; the defence of a dissertation may also be
necessary.
* Some universities have
remarked that, when analysing a foreign qualification in details, it frequently
occurs to find substantial differences, especially if it was awarded by an
education system rooted in very different cultural traditions.
* Recognition by
equivalence is still necessary to the holders of non-EU academic qualifications
who want to enter a regulated profession, or the civil service [[2]].
§
Actions taken in 2003-06
Both Law 148/2002 and Ministerial Decree
509/1999 entrusted Italian universities with a greater autonomy in the
evaluation of foreign qualifications; as a consequence, universities needed
some training on the implications of institutional autonomy in relation to
academic recognition, as well as on the principles and criteria of the two
above legal provisions innovating the old legislation in the field.
* 2003 - On
Miur’s request, in January 2003 Cimea organised a national course devised to
provide academics and administrative staffs at all universities with the
necessary basic training on the new legislation. The LRC principles were
illustrated along with the Recommendation on Criteria and Procedures for the
Assessment of Foreign Qualifications and Periods of Study, and Art. 6 of the DM
509/1999. Possible recognition cases were discussed and general criteria
suggested. As a result, participant universities decided to set up two working
groups, coordinated by Bologna and Padua universities, with the purpose of
elaborating proposals for common guidelines to be adopted by individual
universities when drawing up their institutional regulations on academic
recognition.
* 2003-04 - The two working groups met several times,
requesting Cimea’s participation and contributions. In the end:
- the group coordinated by Bologna
State University produced guidelines for the recognition of foreign H.Ed.
qualifications taking into account the above quoted Recommendation;
- the group coordinated by Padua
State University revised the ministerial Note on the admission to Italian
universities of candidates holding foreign school leaving diplomas.
* 2005 -
Miur and Cimea thought it convenient to make also the Italian non-university
sector aware of the LRC and related Recommendation. Therefore, Cimea organised
four training courses open to directors and teachers of all Afam institutions.
* 2006 - Against
request of individual universities, Cimea has organised a few local training
courses on specific recognition cases and problems.
§
Actions envisaged for 2007
A) FURTHER TRAINING
Cimea has
planned to give more training courses on academic recognition at individual
institutions in order to stimulate:
- those
universities that have adopted a few common guidelines (see working groups) to
implement the newly defined criteria and procedures in their daily recognition
praxis;
- those
universities that still stick to old procedures to consider the guidelines as a
useful reference tool for a prompt drawing up of their recognition provisions
to be implemented at a fast pace.
Training
courses will focus on:
-
definining the section of single foreign curricula to be analysed in case of
recognition by equivalence;
-
discussion on cases of substantial differences (if already available, taking
into account the outcomes of the ad hoc
working group established by the Enic-Naric network in 2005);
-
discussion on questionable comparability cases, proposals of possible decisions
and related motivations;
-
recommending the regular use of several information sources on foreign
education systems, HEIs and their qualifications in addition/alternative to
Italian diplomatic authorities abroad;
-
recommending the semplification of documentation (e.g. accept documents in such
languages as English, French, Latin, Spanish, etc.; accept certified
fotocopies; limit the request for the Aja Apostille only to doubtful cases,
etc.).
B) MONITORING
CRUI, the
national body responsible for coordinating university institutional autonomy,
has been invited to monitor, by means of adeguate initiatives:
- the
drawing up of institutional regulations with special reference to academic
recognition and the application of the LRC;
- single
university practices in academic recognition matters.
2.2 JOINT DEGREES
A)
ESTABLISHMENT
Joint and double/multiple degrees are very popular in Italy chiefly due to the two following facts that have considerably contributed to create a favourable attitude towards their setting up and recognition:
a) in the period 1999-2006 the Ministry of University and Research has launched three subsequent plans to promote the internationalisation of the H.Ed. system; among other provisions, the plans included the co-financing of university projects aimed at setting up integrated curricula for the award of joint or double/multiple qualifications;
b) the implementation of the Erasmus Mundus Programme has considerably stimulated Italian HEIs to further develop their international cooperation agreements with special reference to integrated curricula and double/multiple and joint degrees.
B)
RECOGNITION
Our national legislation allows Italian HEIs to award joint degrees, in the hope that they may be eligible for recognition worldwide or, at least in the EHEA. Consequently, Italian HEIs are open to apply the LRC and the Recommendation on the Recognition of Joint Degrees to joint degrees awarded by foreign HEIs.
* ITALIAN JOINT DEGREES
When one or more Italian universities are involved in designing, setting up an integrated degree course, and awarding the related joint degree, there is no need for legal recognition in Italy. In fact the national legislation delegates the procedures for the award of joint qualifications to the general academic regulations of individual universities (DM 509/1999, Article 11, paragraph 7, subparagraph o) which however have to clearly state the Italian degree typology to which the joint qualification concerned pertains.
* FOREIGN JOINT DEGREES
Joint qualifications awarded by foreign HEIs may be recognised in Italy, provided the following conditions are met in each case:
°° the partner institutions are “recognised” by the respective H.Ed. systems;
°° the design, setting up, and management of the integrated course are regulated in a specific interuniversity agreement including a clause which determines the validity/recognition of the joint qualification within the respective H. Ed. systems of all partner HEIs, or at least of those awarding the joint qualification concerned to a specific person;
°° the Italian H.Ed. system offers a degree comparable in level and nature;
°° limitedly to Doctorates, the joint degree must have been awarded after a minimum of 3 years.
2.3 OVERVIEW OF INSTITUTIONAL PRACTICE
As
already hinted at page 4 (see MONITORING),
CRUI seems the right national body to assume monitoring functions in the field
of academic recognition, keep informed the Ministry of University and Research
as well as other stakeholders, suggest measures for improvement.
Cimea has
suggested as convenient and advisable that in 2007 Crui organises a national
meeting on institutional recognition practices within the framework of the
Bologna Process.
2.4 VALIDATION OF
PRIOR LEARNING
A) LEGISLATION
* 1999 - DM
509/99 marked the first step in the direction of prior learning validation
within university degree programmes. The quoted decree, while defining the
reform of the whole university system in conformity to the Bologna Declaration,
also provided for the adoption of a national credit system compatible with the
Ects, and for the possibility to validate prior learning through
credit-transfer. As stated under Art. 5, paragraph 7, universities may
recognise documented professional knowledge and skills, as well as knowledge
and skills acquired in post-secondary professionally-oriented educational
activities, by translating them into university credits according to pre-determined
criteria (see the following webpage for the text of the decree: http://www.miur.it/0006Menu_C/0012Docume/0098Normat/2088Regola.htm and go to Art. 5, paragraph 7). It
means that individual universities, according to their institutional autonomy,
have to determine the criteria for such operations in their own university
teaching regulations (RDA = Regolamento
Didattico di Ateneo).
* 2004 - The
above possibility was confirmed by DM 270/04, which under Art. 5, paragraph 7,
makes use of exactly the same wording as in DM 509/99 (file:///CORSO%20UniPD/Doc%20x%20Corso%20PD/Allegati%20(Un.PD)/All.1_DM%20270.html).
B) REVIEW
* 2000-2006 - Contacts
of Cimea with individual universities aimed to learn institutional trends, and
to promote initiatives, as well as cooperation within the Italian and the
international content.
* 2006 - A
national meeting was organised at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
in Milan on the joint initiative of Cimea, the Bologna promoters, Eaie and
Eucen; its chief purpose was to analyse the different procedures so far adopted
in this respect by individual Italian universities, and to compare them to the
models of other European countries such as England, France, and Scotland.
C) EXPERIENCES
* 2000-2006 - No
national guidelines nor any procedures locally decided by individual
institutions were produced for the validation of prior learning with a view to
access to H.Ed. Instead, as concerns the
validation of informal /non-formal learning within their degree courses,
Italian universities have so far adopted two main modalities:
a) case by case evaluation and
assessment; e.g. universities have accepted:
- certificates and diplomas of
competence in foreign languages in substitution of subject exams in foreign
languages;
- the European Computer Driving
License (ECDL) to allocate credits in substitution of exams in computer
practice;
- certificates concerning
professional activities in substitution of practical training periods which are
a compulsory curricular requirement of certain degree courses;
- credits from post-secondary
non-university technical courses (Ifts) so as to grant a reduction in length of
related Laurea degree programmes;
b) drawing up of agreements with
professional associations; a professional organisation may set up education
and training activities for a whole professional category; each agreement (Convenzione) between a university and a
professional association is devised to define the conditions for the allocation
of university credits to those professionals who have attended courses and
passed the related exams organised by the association concerned for their
requalification and/or progress in the respective careers.
D) NATIONAL DECISION
* 2006 -
After monitoring the experiences carried out so far, Miur has decided it
appropriate to indicate the following two limits: Italian universities may
validate informal /non-formal learning by allocating:
- a maximum of 60 credits within a Laurea degree course (1st cycle degree
of the Bologna process);
- and a maximum of 40 credits within
a Laurea Specialistica degree course
(2nd cycle degree of the Bologna process).
2.5 TRANSPARENCY TOOLS FOR RECOGNITION
A) EUROPEAN CREDIT TRANSFER
AND ACCUMULATION SYSTEM (ECTS)
Since the
1999 H..Ed. reform, Italy has adopted a national credit system for the
structuring of degree courses both in the university and in the Afam sector.
Here are the related legal provisions:
- Art. 5
of the Ministerial Decree 509/1999 and of the Ministerial Decree 270/2004, both
referring to university credits (CFU = Crediti
Formativi Universitari);
- Art. 6
of the Presidential Decree No. 212 of 8th July 2005, which describes the credit
system adopted by Afam institutions (CFA = Crediti
Formativi Accademici) (see http://www.normeinrete.it/cgibin/StampaFrameURN?URL=http://www.italgiure.giustizia.it/nir/lexs/2005/lexs_412503.html).
Despite
the two different acronyms (CFU and CFA), the Italian credit system is the same
in both H.Ed. sectors; modelled on the ECTS, it has the following main
characteristics:
- it is a
student-centred system measuring the student’s workload;
- 1
credit corresponds to 25-30 hours of student workload, including time for
personal study;
- 1
academic year corresponds to 60 credits;
- credits
are earned by students only by passing the exams of single subject courses.
The
above mentioned decrees also determine the global number of credits to be
earned for the awarding of the main degrees within the three H. Ed. cycles. In
conformity to the national legislation, all degree courses currently in offer
at Italian HEIs (universities and Afam institutions) are structured in Ects,
with the only exception of research doctorate programmes; whether to design
them in credits or not is a matter left to the autonomous decision of individual HEIs.
B) DIPLOMA SUPPLEMENT (DS)
* 2002-03 - a national committee, made up of directors responsible for the
administrative and technical offices of Italian universities, developed a
project aimed at implementing the DS throughout the country; it included:
-
the creation of a website giving general explanations and legal details (the
site is presently being updated; see http://www.crui.it/Internazionalizzazione/link/?ID=989;
and http://www.crui.it/crui/DS/default.htm);
-
an official translation into English of the relevant university terminology;
-
the drawing up of a brief standardised description of the new university
system, in English and Italian, as well as of its scheme and diagram (see http://www.cimea.it/portal/template/viewTemplate?templateId=99e3avsba15_layout_jgiogcyve1.psml).
* 2004 -
As a further step, Art. 6 of Ministerial Decree No. 9 of 30th April 2004
decided for the adoption of a national DS model. The Italian DS corresponds to
the EU/CoE/Unesco
Diploma Supplement format (for the text of the decree and the
attached DS model go to Miur webpage http://www.miur.it/0006Menu_C/0012Docume/0015Atti_M/4126Anagra_cf2.htm).
Universities were requested to issue the DS in conjunction with the transfer of
all their students’data into the national database called students’ register
service (Anagrafe degli Studenti); they
were therefore expected to start issueing the DS in 2005.
* 2005 -
The transferring of students’ data was more complex and time-consuming than
expected; only very few universities were able to issue a DS in the prescribed
time.
* 2006 - Universities have been urged by
Miur to complete all technical operations related to the national student
database.and the issueing of the DS.
* 2007 - Universities have to issue a
Diploma Supplement, along with the respective degree, to each student
completing all legal requirements towards a Laurea
or a Laurea Specialistica/Magistrale.
The Italian DS is to be issued:
°°
in a bilingual version (English and Italian);
°°
free of charge;
°°
automatically, on the awarding of a 1st or 2nd cycle degree of the Bologna
reform.
C) OTHER TRANSPARENCY TOOLS
As concerns other tools to promote
transparency, a national plan exists within Europass-Italia.
2.6 BORDERLESS/TRANSNATIONAL EDUCATION
A) TNE HEIs IN ITALY
Taking into account the sentence concerning the
case Valentina NERI-ESE (European School of Economics) issued by the European Court of Justice on
13November 2003 (proceeding C-153/02; http://www.curia.eu.int/jurisp/cgibin/gettext.pl?lang=it&num=79968886C19020153&doc=T&ouvert=T&seance=ARRET&where=()), as well as Art. 4 of
Law 148/02, Art. VI.5 of the LRC, and in conformity to the Code
of Good Practice in the Provision of TNE, Italy has approved specific
regulations on TNE HEIs based within its national
borders.
The Ministerial Decree No. 214 of 26th
April 2004 determines that the recognition of H.Ed.
qualifications awarded by HEIs pertaining to the above mentioned
category is possible only on condition that the single HEI concerned has
previously be accredited by the Italian Ministry of University and Research
(Miur). Once checked the ministerial accreditation, the Italian university
concerned may start the recognition procedure by applying the LRC and the
criteria of the quoted Code of Good Practice.
So far
none of the TNE HEIs based in Italy which applied for accreditation has yet
completed the process.
A) TNE HEIs OUTSIDE ITALY
In case
of TNE qualifications awarded outside Italy, universities have adopted as a
basic criterion for eligibility to recognition that the awarding HEI be
recognised/accredited both by the H.Ed. system of reference and that of the
host country. Only under certain circumstances Italian universities are willing
to recognise a TNE degree awarded by a HEI which enjoys the proper legal status
of the H.Ed. system of just one of the two countries concerned.
3.
INFORMATION PROVISION
Cimea, the Italian Enic-Naric, has established
and mantains its own web pages, linked to the Enic-Naric website (go to http://www.cimea.it/portal/template/viewTemplate?templateId=99e3avsba15_layout_ya9jxbsba91.psml, in the Italian version, and to http://www.cimea.it/portal/template/viewTemplate?templateId=zhy7fdsba16_layout_kn4pxssba99.psml in the English one).
3.1 PROVISION OF INFORMATION ON RECOGNITION
A)
Information on the new system of academic recognition was published in early
January 2006 on Cimea website at page http://www.cimea.it/portal/template/viewTemplate?templateId=zhy7fdsba16_layout_abkumgea31.psml
B) The full
updating of the English version of Cimea web pages on recognition is envisaged
within 2007; the sections concerning admission to university degree courses of
the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycle are already available online both in English and
Spanish, at http://www.study-in-italy.it/studying/admission-index.html, and at http://www.estudiar-en-italia.it/studying/admission-index.html, respectively.
C) In 2005
Cimea edited a guide to the recognition of Italian qualifications abroad. Among
other pieces of information, the booklet also quotes the LRC along with the
Enic and Naric networks (http://www.cimea.it/portal/page/categoryItem?contentId=20527) and includes contributions from
three Narics (Austria, France and Spain., Published by the national resource
centre for guidance and distributed free of charge in Italy, the guide may be
downloaded from http://www.centrorisorse.org/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=613; however, Cimea intends to hand it
out during some next international meetings.
3.1 PROVISION OF INFORMATION ON EDUCATION
A) ITALIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
Information from primary to higher education
(university and non-university) is available in English at:
- http://194.78.211.243/Eurybase/Application/frameset.asp?country=IT&language=EN;
and at
- http://www.unesco.org/iau/onlinedatabases/systems_data/it.rtf;
B) ITALIAN UNIVERSITY SYSTEM
Information is available at:
- http://www.study-in-italy.it (2004; English)
- http://www.studyinitaly.cn (2005; Chinese),
- http://www.estudiar-en-italia.it (2006; Spanish)
The three websites were created in
different years, but have been all updated to June 2006.
4. STRUCTURES
4.1 NATIONAL INFORMATION CENTRE
A) JURIDICAL STATUS
The competent Italian Ministry
(Miur) has entrusted the role of national information centre with Cimea, a
section of the Fondazione Rui. The Fondazione is a private entity legally
recognised as a non-profit body by Presidential Decree No. 932 of 16th
September 1959.
The information that is requested by
Art. VIII.2 of the Lisbon Convention has been made available on Cimea website (http://www.cimea.it/portal/page/categoryItem?contentId=15433); all documents may be downloaded).
B) LEGAL COMPETENCE
Cimea has no decision-making powers;
its main tasks consist in:
- providing information on
recognition legislation and procedures (academic, professional de jure,
professional de facto);
- providing information on the
Italian education system, with special reference to higher education;
- providing advice on recognition
matters and/or specific recognition cases; Cimea’s advice is reserved for MIUR,
foreign and Italian HEIs, foreign and Italian public administrations,
international organisations, public and private companies, foreign and Italian
employers, etc.
- editing information materials on
recognition and on the Italian H. Ed. education system (guides, booklets,
leaflets, websites, etc.).
C) STAFF & BUDGET
Cimea, whose staff consists of two
full-time and two part-time persons, operates on the basis of an agreement with
MIUR, from which it receives an annual budget of about Euros 230,000.00.
D) STATISTICS
In the first semester of 2006 Cimea
answered 7,774 inquiries. 59% of clients
were single citizens, 41% representatives of such public or private bodies as
HEIs, ministries, public administrations, employers, both foreign and
Italian. As to nationality, 44%
applicants were Italian citizens, 43% European nationals from both EU and
non-EU countries, 13% from overseas (1% from Africa, 2% from Asia, 1%
Australia, 3% North America, 5% Latin America). Information and advice were
provided either by phone (41%) or e-mail (55%), fax and surface mail (2%),
interviews (2%).
E) NETWORKING &
COOPERATION
At national level Cimea cooperates with the
Italian ministries in charge with de jure professional recognition, with professional
councils, and such organisations as chambers of commerce, trade unions, etc.,
regional authorities competent for education and training, Crui, HEIs, other
public authorities in charge with finalised academic recognition.
As to international networking and
cooperation, Cimea is a member of the Enic, Naric and Meric networks. It also
cooperates with AEC, EAIE, EURES, FEDORA, ECSTA, FEANI, as well as with foreign
organisations like Education International, NAFSA, NIAF, and WES in the USA,
BBT (CH), DAAD (DE), the British Council (UK), foreign Embassies and
Consulates, etc.
4.1 COOPERATION BETWEEN RECOGNITION/QUALITY
ASSURANCE BODIES
Since CNVSU, the Italian QA agency, is
entrustued with the accreditation of Italian HEIs and their degree courses, the
Cimea relies on its cooperation to receive regularly updated information on
that matter. Cnvsu also provides Cimea with relevant details on non-recognised
and bogus institutions in Italy.
In its turn Cimea, thanks to its cooperation
with the Enic-Naric network, provides Cnvsu with information on the legal
status of foreign HEIs, both those located abroad and those operating in Italy.
Since 2000 Cimea and CNVSU have actively
cooperated in a few specific projects; e.g.:
- to establish and maintain the
national database recording all degree courses in offer at Italian universities
(http://offf.miur.it);
- to draw up and regularly update
the Italian chapter within the Eurostudent project within the Framework of the
Bologna Declaration (survey on H.Ed. students’ study and life conditions in
Europe);
- to exchange information on the
respective fields of competence with partner bodies in Europe.
Rome, 30 November 2006