AI is among issues topping qualifications recognition agenda

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assess qualifications, the value of skills, automatic recognition, and the need for increased cooperation are at the top of the 2025 recognition agenda and are shaping discussions and reflections at the international level.

These challenges were discussed at the 32nd ENIC-NARIC meeting, held in May 2025 in Tirana, Albania. The ENIC-NARIC centres are part of two networks of national information centres for the recognition of qualifications which work together and involve 56 countries across the European region.

Around 150 recognition professionals from 43 countries shared perspectives and reflections on emerging issues linked to recognition of qualifications. The occasion was framed in the context of a more than 40-year history of consolidated cooperation.

The use of AI to assess qualifications

In what ways can AI improve human jobs? How can evolving digital tools and the use of AI be integrated into recognition processes? These are some of the questions that are being discussed by recognition professionals, who are careful not to downplay the essential role of human oversight in recognition procedures.

ENIC-NARIC centres are redesigning their internal workflows and carrying out experimentations on the possible application of AI in recognition procedures with a view to drive innovation while at the same time supporting a consistent and ethical digital transformation in the field. Examples of this work include the development of chatbots to provide information on recognition procedures and to automate responses to applicants’ queries about these.

CIMEA, the Italian ENIC-NARIC centre, produced a detailed analysis of the potential impact of AI on their work, titled Artificial Intelligence and Recognition of Qualifications: Opportunities and risks from an ENIC-NARIC perspective, published in November 2023.

The presidents of the UNESCO regional conventions have shared joint principles of artificial intelligence and the recognition of qualifications, highlighting the importance of human-centred evaluation, robust processes and data governance, research and innovation, AI literacy and training, networking and cooperation as key factors to further integrate AI into the recognition of qualifications.

However, as with other fields of AI application, AI’s impact on human rights remains a sensitive issue.

As stated in the EU AI Act, the “AI systems used in education or vocational training, in particular for determining access or admission, for assigning individuals to educational and vocational training institutions or programmes at all levels, for evaluating learning outcomes of persons, for assessing the appropriate level of education for an individual and materially influencing the level of education and training that individuals will receive or will be able to access or for monitoring and detecting prohibited behaviour of students during tests should be classified as high-risk AI systems, since they may determine the educational and professional course of a person’s life and therefore may affect that person’s ability to secure a livelihood” (emphasis added).

The Council of Europe, through its Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, and UNESCO, through its evolving reflections, are joining the European Union in taking a clear position, calling for a human-centred approach.

Recognising skills

The issue of skills is crucial for building a more competitive economy and inclusive society in the context of the demographic challenges European societies are facing. A rapidly changing labour market in Europe is creating a demand for upskilling and reskilling. The same is happening in other regions of the world where the demographic curve is the opposite, leading to a high demand for competencies, training and teachers.

These trends are reflected in the education sector. European education systems and transnational education programmes, providing innovative education solutions for maintaining high levels of competitiveness, have been increasingly attractive.

The link between education, skills and the labour market was highlighted by the communication from the European Commission on the Union of Skills.

It aims to support the development of quality, inclusive and adaptable education, training and skills systems to increase the EU’s competitiveness. This new proposal also supports existing efforts for building the European Education Area, promoting European Universities alliances and implementing automatic recognition.

The challenge of upskilling and reskilling to enhance competitiveness and attractiveness is coupled with the need to invest in the recognition of the qualifications of refugees (and also where documentation is lacking or incomplete) so that undocumented competencies are still available to the labour market and society.

The Council of Europe is currently drafting a Committee of Ministers Recommendation on the qualifications and linguistic competences of refugees in Europe, which complements the Council of Europe’s work on the recognition of refugees’ qualifications.

The most important initiative in this area is the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees (EQPR), which will celebrate 10 years of activity next year: it currently includes 24 participating countries, and to date over 1,000 EQPRs have been issued.

Automatic recognition

Several initiatives are currently in place to promote recognition within the European region, supporting the full implementation of the automatic recognition of qualifications, facilitating mobility and making the value of qualifications transparent.

These initiatives range from the EU Council Recommendation on promoting automatic mutual recognition of qualifications and learning periods abroad to the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Working Group on Automatic Recognition that is tasked with the drafting of a pan-European legal framework.

Moreover, there are several projects that have been co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme (including AR25 and AdReN and MAReN).

In a context of evolving tools and policies, quality must be a fundamental underpinning principle in order to enhance the implementation of the Lisbon Recognition Convention. The peer review concept relating to standards and guidelines which aims to improve the recognition procedures of the ENIC-NARIC centres – now 10 years old – shows the importance of standards and quality assurance to promote a continuous improvement in key recognition areas.

Working to facilitate recognition procedures and enhance international mobility, stakeholders across Europe are committed to fostering cooperation with other regional conventions, especially with UNESCO’s Global Recognition Convention. UNESCO’s second session of the Intergovernmental Conference of State Parties in Paris in June will present a key opportunity to reaffirm collaboration.

The latest data about applications for the recognition of qualifications received by the ENIC-NARIC networks show that European countries continue to play a crucial role in the recognition of qualifications, while the non-European countries from which the most recognition requests have been received (India, the US, Iran, Pakistan and China) have remained the same over the last 10 years.

The data also indicate an increased demand for trusted information which has been supported through the recent establishment of APNNIC and CINALC, networks of national information centres in the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions.

Villano Qiriazi is head of the Education Department at the Council of Europe; and Chiara Finocchietti is president of the ENIC Network. The 2026 annual joint meeting of the ENIC-NARIC networks is expected to be held in Greece, the most recent contracting party to the Lisbon Recognition Convention.

This article is a commentary. Commentary articles are the opinion of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of University World News.