The First Session of the Intergovernmental Conference of States Parties to the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education, organised by UNESCO, was held in Paris on 4-5 July 2023. On behalf of Romania, Ms Gianina Chirazi, Director of the National Centre for the Recognition and Equivalence of Qualifications (CNRED) - ENIC/NARIC National Centre and representatives of the Permanent Delegation of Romania to UNESCO participated.
The role of the Intergovernmental Conference is to promote the application of the Convention, as well as to oversee its implementation through the adoption of recommendations, declarations, models of good practice or any relevant subsidiary text at the global or interregional level; the Conference may also adopt operational guidelines for States Parties, in consultation with the Committees of the Regional Recognition Conventions.
The main items on the Agenda concerned the election of the Conference Bureau which will function until the next ordinary session of the Conference (ordinary sessions take place every two years), the adoption of the Rules of Procedure of the Conference and the establishment of the timetable for the adoption of the Interim Work Programme 2023-2025. In its work, the Conference is supported by the Conference Secretariat, provided by the Director-General of UNESCO, which prepares the Conference documentation, draws up the agenda for the meetings and supervises the implementation of its decisions.
From now on, following the election of the Bureau of the Conference and the adoption of the Rules of Procedure at this First Session of the Intergovernmental Conference, it will be possible to start the implementation of the Convention by the States Parties under the coordination of the Conference structures and UNESCO representatives.
At national level, CNRED is, according to the Convention, the "national implementation structure", benefiting from the support of the other specialised departments and bodies of the Ministry of Education, in cooperation with higher education institutions in Romania.
Romania was among the first 5 countries in the world to ratify the Convention through Law 164/2021, Romania accepted the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education, adopted in Paris on 25 November 2019; the Convention entered into force on 5 March 2023 (on 15 May this year, 22 signatory states had ratified the Convention).
For more information on the Global Convention, go to https://www.unesco.org/en/higher-education/global-convention
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