Using taxonomies and ontologies to define occupation and education-driven European qualifications

Abstract:

The mobility of students and workers is a relevant topic in the Vocational Education and Training field. However, despite the introduction of several European instruments, like the European Qualification Framework and the European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training, there are still several barriers to the recognition of qualifications acquired abroad. The above limitation could be overcame by the creation of a European common profile that could be used by each education and training Authority as a reference for the corresponding national qualifications. In this paper, a methodology exploiting an ontology and a taxonomy-based approach to identify a common profile within the European trade sector is presented. The proposed methodology allows the users to compare the requirements of the labor world and the outcomes of the education and training routes with the aim of finding a common denominator. Existing qualifications could then be added with elements belonging to the common profile, in order to make them transparently recognized in a true transnational perspective.

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