Qualifications can Cross Boundaries: updated version now available

Following the annual meeting of the Five Countries Qualifications Framework Group earlier in 2023, qualifications authorities in the UK and Ireland have updated the Qualifications Can Cross Boundaries guide. 

This guide covers general school qualifications as well as tertiary qualifications for vocational and further education and training and for higher education. It features input from Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education UK (QAA), the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Partnership, Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (Northern Ireland), Ofqual (England), and the Credit and Qualifications Framework for Wales (Welsh Government).

Our joint publication, Qualifications Can Cross Boundaries offers a short guide to the broad comparable levels of Irish and UK qualifications and how these qualifications are organised. It provides an at-a-glance look at different qualifications frameworks across Ireland and the UK. The guide, helps learners, educators, employers, and governments understand how qualifications in our different jurisdictions compare with each other.

The guide can also be used by providers of UK awards in Ireland. Providers who offer a UK award must clearly indicate that the award is a UK award and the name of the awarding body, and that its primary level is associated with the relevant UK framework. It is appropriate to indicate that the relevant level on the UK framework is broadly comparable to the relevant NFQ level and a link should be provided to the Qualifications Can Cross Boundaries Guide.

It is important to note that the guide only provides a broad reference to the comparable academic level of qualifications and does not provide the information relevant to the mobility of qualifications for regulated professions.