Project descriptions (ZRK3, ZSK6)
Maintaining and developing the Integrated Qualifications Register as a tool supporting lifelong learning (IQR3), FERS.01.08-IP.05-0003/23
The aim of the project is to increase the usefulness and recognition of the Integrated Qualifications Register (IQR) as a tool supporting lifelong learning for people of different ages and improving the operation of the Integrated Qualifications System (IQS). The activities planned under the project directly continue selected activities carried out by IBE under Operational Programme Knowledge Education Development projects concerning the IQR and respond to identified needs related to the development of the register. The IQR requires continuous work to adapt it to dynamic technological changes, changes in its immediate and broader information environment, changes within the IQS itself (including planned amendments to the IQS Act), and, above all, the changing requirements of different user groups.
Outcomes
The activities planned under the project are intended to achieve the following outcomes:
- ensuring that data in the IQR remain up to date, including by modifying tools that supply the IQR with current data from other sources (interconnectors)
- modernising the IQS portal and continuously adapting the information resources made available through it to the diverse needs of users
- fully implementing and developing tools that make it easier for institutional users to perform their tasks under the IQS Act (e.g. a tool for submitting and processing applications for the inclusion of qualifications and for granting authorisation to certify them, and a tool supporting the description of qualifications and the assignment of PQF levels)
- further developing and providing tools that make it easier for individual users to use data collected in the IQR and plan their educational and career development (the IQR chatbot, compasses), including the development of data resources that can be linked to register data and techniques and tools enabling such data to be linked and processed (e.g. trained artificial intelligence models), in particular to identify relationships between qualifications, occupations, job roles and skills
- developing solutions enabling data exchange between the IQR and the Development Services Database (BUR), as well as the praca.gov.pl portal, and identifying opportunities to build similar links with other databases of a similar nature
- modifying tools enabling qualification data to be transferred from the IQR to Europass via the QDR platform and engaging in international cooperation related to the development of ESCO
- ensuring the interoperability of solutions/tools forming part of the IQR digital ecosystem
- systematic monitoring of the IQS using software linked to the IQR that enables automated processing of qualification data
- increasing recognition of the IQR.
Project tasks
The following tasks are carried out in order to achieve the above outcomes:
- Ensuring public access to high-quality data on qualifications and related entities recorded in the IQR and developing the functionality of the register
- Increasing the recognition and usefulness of the IQS portal and the IQR and monitoring the IQS using the register’s infrastructure and data
- Improving the IQR IT system and digital tools linked to the register that support IQS stakeholders
- Developing tools and data resources related to qualifications, skills and classifications using selected artificial intelligence techniques
Target groups
The project’s target groups were selected on the basis of the FERS project type specified in the Annual Action Plan (RPD), as well as previous experience in maintaining and developing the Integrated Qualifications Register (IQR) as a tool supporting lifelong learning, including research carried out under the IQR2 project. The project target group includes institutional IQR users:
- the Minister-Coordinator of the IQS and relevant ministers responsible for individual branches of government administration
- awarding bodies, validation institutions and external quality assurance bodies (EQA bodies)
- institutions applying for the inclusion of qualifications in the IQS and for authorisation to certify qualifications included in the IQS
- training companies, in particular those registered in the Development Services Database (BUR)
- schools and educational institutions
- labour market institutions (district and regional labour offices)
- employers’ organisations, sectoral associations and professional self-governing bodies
- Sector Skills Councils and the Programme Council
- recruitment companies
- associations and foundations working in the areas of lifelong learning and skills development
- institutions forming the higher education system: higher education institutions, State Higher Vocational Schools, the Polish Academy of Sciences and its research institutes, and research institutes
- the Interministerial Team for Lifelong Learning and the IQS
- Regional Coordination Teams
- Managing Authorities for Regional Programmes
- education and labour market departments in local government units
as well as individual users – people of different ages who are interested in obtaining qualifications functioning within the IQS, planning their learning, education or development pathways, or looking for information on lifelong learning and opportunities to validate skills:
- school students and school leavers, as well as their parents/legal guardians
- teaching staff (including teachers, lecturers and instructors)
- students and graduates of higher education institutions
- adults planning their development
- jobseekers
- careers advisers, coaches, job coaches and career office staff
- employers, including HR staff
The total value of the Project is PLN 25,000,000, including PLN 20,630,000 in European Funds contribution.
EuropeanFunds #EuropeanFunds
It is possible to report to the Managing Authority or Intermediate Body any suspected non-compliance of the Project or the Beneficiary’s activities with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted in New York on 13 December 2006 (Journal of Laws of 2012, item 1169, as amended), hereinafter referred to as the “CRPD”. Information, reports or complaints concerning suspected non-compliance of FERS projects with the provisions of the CRPD may be submitted by natural persons (project participants or their authorised representatives), institutions involved in the implementation of European Union funds, and civil society organisations (associations, foundations), using the following methods (in each of the cases below, the notification is deemed to have been submitted in writing):
1) by traditional post – in the form of a letter sent to the ministry at the following address: Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, 2/4 Wspólna Street, 00-926 Warsaw, or Ministry of Education and Science, 25 J. Ch. Szucha Avenue, 00-580 Warsaw,
2) via the ePUAP inbox of the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy or the Ministry of Education and Science.
Supporting the further development of the Integrated Qualifications System in Poland (IQS 6) – FERS.01.08-IP.05-0001/23
Project objectives:
The main objective of the project is to increase the effectiveness of the Integrated Qualifications System and improve it as one of the instruments of state policy supporting lifelong learning at national, regional and local level. As a continuation of earlier projects concerning the implementation and development of the IQS in Poland, the project will focus not only on increasing, over the coming years, the number of qualifications outside formal education included in the IQS, but also on improving processes related to the inclusion, functioning, validation, awarding and quality assurance of qualifications. This will enable citizens to make effective use of opportunities related to the certification of these qualifications and make it easier for them to navigate a dynamically changing labour market.
Outcomes:
The project is expected to achieve the following outcomes:
development of new solutions for organising external quality assurance of the awarding of qualifications, their pilot implementation and full implementation (objectives: accelerating the inclusion in the IQS of qualifications outside the school education and higher education systems and optimising costs);
development of new solutions for including qualifications in the IQS in order to optimise this process for different groups of qualifications (market, sectoral, regulated and “postgraduate” qualifications), piloting and implementing the solutions, including support for relevant ministries;
increasing awareness among IQS stakeholders (employers, awarding bodies) of mechanisms for financing validation from public funds, including Regional Operational Programmes, the Labour Fund, the National Training Fund and the Development Services Database;
making it easier for citizens to consciously plan their learning, accumulate achievements and obtain new qualifications by promoting the Skills Audit Method and the My Portfolio application;
promoting the IQS within sectoral communities, including among businesses and sectoral organisations, employers’ organisations, Sector Skills Centres and public employment services, in order to increase recognition of the IQS;
assessing the effectiveness of selected elements of the system, including newly introduced ones, and developing recommendations concerning possible further modifications.
Project tasks:
The following tasks are carried out in order to achieve the above outcomes:
1) Supporting entities carrying out tasks within the IQS
2) Supporting sectoral communities
3) Supporting the development of the range of qualifications functioning within the IQS, including qualifications in non-formal education
4) Implementing and improving IT solutions and tools that facilitate learning and the validation of skills, and facilitating access to knowledge about new validation opportunities, including the certification of skills acquired through non-formal education and informal learning
5) Conducting research and analyses that support the improvement and design of new solutions important for the development of the IQS.
Target groups:
The recipients of the above activities are representatives of institutions and organisations carrying out tasks arising from the IQS Act, including relevant ministries responsible for individual branches of government administration, institutions subordinate to or supervised by them, awarding bodies, higher education institutions, research institutes, higher vocational schools and Sector Skills Centres. The recipients will also include representatives of entities (including non-governmental organisations, sectoral organisations, labour market institutions and educational organisations) interested in describing and including qualifications outside formal education and in acting as awarding bodies, as well as representatives of local government units at district and regional level responsible for education, adult learning policy or human capital development, sectoral organisations, Sector Skills Councils and the Programme Council, institutions responsible for quality assurance of the awarding of qualifications, and businesses, including HR staff. The project outcomes will also indirectly be used by learners, working adults and employers.
The target groups were selected on the basis of the FERS project type specified in the Annual Action Plan (RPD), as well as previous experience in implementing the IQS. The aim is to support the largest possible group of people and entities carrying out tasks arising from the IQS Act, as well as those currently or potentially using the solutions offered by the system. Based on the above analysis, the target group includes:
- the Minister-Coordinator of the IQS (MC IQS)
- relevant ministers responsible for individual branches of government administration, as well as institutions subordinate to and supervised by the relevant ministers that carry out tasks arising from the IQS Act
- representatives of local government units at district and regional level responsible for education, adult learning policy or human capital development
- awarding bodies, validation institutions, institutions applying for awarding body status and institutions interested in awarding qualifications outside formal education included in the IQS
- sectoral organisations and Sector Skills Centres
- Sector Skills Councils and the Programme Council
- institutions responsible for quality assurance of the awarding of qualifications
- businesses, including HR staff
- associations and foundations working in the areas of lifelong learning and skills development
- educational institutions and higher education institutions
- labour market institutions
- people carrying out career guidance tasks
- people of different ages interested in developing their skills
- representatives of training companies, in particular those registered in the Development Services Database
- representatives of Regional Coordination Teams
- representatives of Managing Authorities for Regional Programmes