This international research project, conducted by the Skills and Employability Department of the ILO with the European Training Foundation (ETF), examined the implementation of National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs), and their use and impact, in 16 countries from around the world. When the project was launched, in January 2009, more than 100 countries were at some stage of introducing an NQF, but there was little systematic evidence on their implementation and impact. This was one of the first systematic attempts to collect such evidence for a range of countries at different stages of development. Its overarching questions were:

» To what extent are NQFs a way of achieving the various desired policy objectives associated with them, and what other directions might countries take?

» What models of NQFs or roles for qualifications, and which implementation strategies and approaches, are most appropriate in which contexts, in order to achieve the various desired objectives associated with NQFs?

Stephanie Allais was Research Associate working full-time on the project, and David Raffe was adviser to the project. Professor Michael Young (of the University of London), Christine Evans-Klock (of the ILO Skills and Employability Department and Borhene Chakroun (of the ETF) were the other members of the project team, along with researchers in different countries who contributed the 14 country reports.

October 2009 - December 2009 (The draft final report was presented to a seminar in May 2010)

David Raffe
Stephanie Allais