As one of the first among the 22 Council of Europe member states cooperating on the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees (EQPR), Italy has launched a development of a national co-ordination mechanism for recognising refugee qualifications, an important step towards promoting integration and reducing barriers for refugees who have skills and experience that can benefit the society.
This mechanism would involve the establishment of processes for assessing and validating the qualifications of refugees in cases of absent or partial documentation, through mainstreaming the EQPR methodology within administrative sectors and academia.
Key objectives are improved capacity of the public administration bodies to process applications for recognising refugees’ qualifications, even in cases where academic documentation is scarce or lacking, and increased opportunities for refugees with qualifications in regulated professions.
In this respect, the Italian Ministry of University and Research hosted a series of meetings organised within the framework of the joint European Union and Council of Europe project “Supporting an efficient national mechanism of recognition of refugees’ qualifications”, on 22 March in Rome. The aim of the meetings was to involve and co-ordinate national stakeholders in the field of recognition of refugees’ qualifications.
The Italian Ministry of University and Research together with European Commission, Council of Europe and CIMEA (the Italian Information Centre for Academic Mobility and Equivalence) met representatives of the Department for European Policies of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education and Merit, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, and the Ministry of Health to inform them about the project and to agree on their further involvement.
Further meetings were held with the same aim with representatives of the Italian’s Rectors Conference (CRUI), the Conference of Rectors of Music Academy, the Conservatory of Taranto, the University “La Sapienza” of Rome, the National Coordination for the Evaluation of Refugees’ Qualifications (CNVQR), the General Confederation of Labour (CGIL) and Confindustria.
This project is co-funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the Council of Europe in co-operation with the European Commission Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support.
