NationStates Jolt Archive

Recognize Education Credentials

Category: Education and Creativity
Area of Effect: Educational
Proposed by: Jonquiere-Tadoussac

The United Nations:

RECOGNIZING most member states possess education programs with differing methods of instruction,

NOTING these methods of instruction generally produce equivalent standards of education across states,

REGRETTING many member states do not recognize educational standards of other nations, even where equivalent to their own,

FURTHER REGRETTING many immigrants are forced to work jobs for which they are grossly overqualified as a result of this lack of recognition,

SEEKING to coordinate education standards throughout its member nations,

DEFINING for the purpose of this resolution “credential” as any degree, diploma, certificate or other indication of the completion of an official education program.

1. ESTABLISHES the United Nations Organization for the Coordination of Education Credentials (UNOCEC), mandated to:
a) investigate the educational programs of member states registered with UNOCEC;
b) develop standards as to the credential requirements of certain professions;
c) create a list of equivalent credentials for each registered state;
d) assist registered states in improving their education programs so that hey may meet a higher level of credentials;

2. ENCOURAGES UN member states to register with UNOCEC and have its educational system evaluated;

3. MANDATES all UN member states registered with UNOCEC must recognize the credentials of any individual that received equivalent credentials in other states registered with UNOCEC;

4. RECOMMENDS all UN members states registered with UNOCEC implement upgrading programs for those individuals whose credentials are not equal with the similar education offered in that state;

5. ALLOWS any UN member state registered with UNOCEC to rescind this status at any time, forfeiting all corollaries of membership;

6.URGES member states to recognize any equivalent credentials received in a foreign country, even where one or both states involved are not a part of UNOCEC.

Hopefully this is something related to education on which enough people will agree...

FURTHER REGRETTING many immigrants are forced to work ...

I would use migrant workers. There is no special reason for the UN to use immigrants over emmigrants.

b) develop standards as to the credential requirements of certain professions;

EDIT (forgot this part): There is no reference in the rest of the resolution as to whether these standards are binding or not.

2. ENCOURAGES UN member states to register with UNOCEC and have its educational system evaluated;

I see no problem in making this mandatory (even if the later clauses are optional). In other words, even if a nation does not wish to recognise credentials of other nations, knowledge of their eductional system would still benefit other nations.

3. MANDATES all UN member states registered with UNOCEC must recognize the credentials of any individual that received equivalent credentials in other states registered with UNOCEC;

Equivalent to what? While nations should have the same requirement for national citizens and immigrants, it is reasonable to allow different nations to require different standards.

4. RECOMMENDS all UN members states registered with UNOCEC implement upgrading programs for those individuals whose credentials are not equal with the similar education offered in that state;

Messy. I don't understand which individuals you are talking about. Should we train all immigrants to be doctors?


My take on this:
Commission evaluates ALL courses in member nations.
Commission creates an equivalence table.
Commission advises on the minimum standards for each profession.
Reserves national rights to set higher training standards.
Nations are encouraged (for their own benefit, as you could state in the preamble) to grant equivalence to foreign trained individuals according to said table.
Some qualifications which depend on profound knowledge of national circumstances (law degrees or accountancy accreditations come to mind) are exempted.

Anyway, I like this. :)

EDIT #2: You should check the legislation listed here (http://www.chea.org/International/multi-lateral.html) for useful RL ideas. Bologna might be too encompassing for the UN, but Lisbon should be roughly on the spot for what you want. (I don't know the non-EU treaties that well.)

And here's the part where I step in to clarify everything I said badly in the resolution.


EDIT (forgot this part): There is no reference in the rest of the resolution as to whether these standards are binding or not.
The standards are to be used for determining what credentials are equivalent. In that way, I guess they would be binding, but they aren't something that a nation needs to look at in itself.

I see no problem in making this mandatory (even if the later clauses are optional). In other words, even if a nation does not wish to recognise credentials of other nations, knowledge of their eductional system would still benefit other nations.
I need to word this section better (I already knew that coming in). What I mean is more that nations should join so that they enter the pool of approved credentials. I didn't just mean that they would only have their programs evaluated, although I see how it comes off that way.

Equivalent to what? While nations should have the same requirement for national citizens and immigrants, it is reasonable to allow different nations to require different standards.Equivalent in that UNOCEC has declared the credentials of a foreign migrant to be the same as those of their new home country.

Messy. I don't understand which individuals you are talking about. Should we train all immigrants to be doctors?Point taken. What it is supposed to mean is that someone who had trained as a doctor in one country, then goes to another country where their credentials are not equal, could have an upgrading program available to raise their qualifications to the same level as if they had been educated in their new home country from the start.

My take on what I mean to do:
Commission evaluates ALL courses in registered member nations.
Commission creates an equivalence table.
Commission advises on the minimum standards for each profession.
Reserves national rights to set higher training standards.
Nations are required to grant equivalence to foreign trained individuals coming from other registered nations according to said table.

So the only optional things are joining (or leaving) UNOCEC in the first place, and offering upgrading programs. If you are a member, you must recognize the credentials that have been declared equivalent (or superior, I guess) to your own.

Some qualifications which depend on profound knowledge of national circumstances (law degrees or accountancy accreditations come to mind) are exempted.Something else I may need to address, although this can be something that would not be declared equivalent under the UNOCEC ratings. These would be perfect for upgrading programs :)

I understand what you mean to do: if a nation accepts to recognise credentials of foreign workers, other nations recognise its workers in return. Although I would make participation compulsory (after all, nations are not forced to issue work visas if they don't want foreigners to work), I can accept this scheme.

What I was suggesting is that, even if Fonzoland did not register for the UNOCEC, the comission should still examine our degrees and include them in the equivalence list. None of the other nations would be forced to grant equivalence to us, but at least they would have the information about our education system, and they would do whatever they prefer based on it.

So, the change I am suggesting (again): The UN
* Evaluates all degrees (participants or not).
* Creates an international education thingy, where every member has their degrees recognised by other members.
* Encourages nations to join the thingy.

This is slightly different from what you are proposing, but not much.

I like it. Some may complain it's "toothless" but I like it never the less. It sees a problem and addresses it. It is generally well written. I really do like it.

I like it. Useful tool in seeing if an immigrant's education/degree is up to the same standard as our nation's professionals. Doesn't meddle in educational methods so much as insuring the end result so I think it's NatSov friendly in that respect. Furthermore, nation's aren't obligated to register (though my nation surely will if this passes). You will have the support of Wyldtree on this proposal and I think many nations will be interested in joining. Bravo.

The government of St Edmund also approves.

When I saw the title, I admit I was slightly sceptical. But, upon reading it, it is a very good and worthwhile piece of legislation

I like this.

I would make membership in the UNOCEC mandatory and then make all actions within it voluntary. That way, even if Ceorana doesn't want to recognize standards of other nations, there would at least be information about the qualification levels of Ceoranan emigrants, even if most other nations don't want to recognize them because of Ceorana's refusal to. (Not like we would actually refuse membership in this thing.)

EDIT: whoops, I said the same thing as Fonzo. In that case, I agree with his comment to this effect.

Thanks for all the comments thus far. Second draft based on these:

Coordinate Education Credentials

Category: Education and Creativity
Area of Effect: Educational
Proposed by: Jonquiere-Tadoussac

The United Nations:

RECOGNIZING most member states possess education programs with differing methods of instruction,

NOTING these methods of instruction generally produce equivalent standards of education across states,

REGRETTING many member states do not recognise educational standards of other nations, even where equivalent to their own,

FURTHER REGRETTING many migrants are forced to work jobs for which they are grossly overqualified as a result of this lack of recognition,

SEEKING to coordinate education standards throughout its member nations,

DEFINING for the purpose of this resolution “credential” as any degree, diploma, certificate or other indication of the completion of an official education program.

1. ESTABLISHES the United Nations Organisation for the Coordination of Education Credentials (UNOCEC), mandated to:
a) investigate the educational programs of UN member states;
b) develop standards as to the credential requirements of certain professions;
c) create a list of equivalent credentials for each UN member state;
d) assist UN member states in improving their education programs so that they may meet a higher level of credentials;

2. MANDATES all UN member states registered with UNOCEC must recognise the credentials of any individual that received credentials recognised as equivalent under Article 1c) in other states registered with UNOCEC;

3. ENCOURAGES UN member states to register with UNOCEC and gain the corollaries of registration in Article 2;

4. RECOMMENDS all UN members states registered with UNOCEC implement upgrading programs for those migrants whose credentials are not equivalent with similar credentials required in that state;

5. ALLOWS any UN member state registered with UNOCEC to rescind this status at any time, forfeiting all corollaries of membership;

6.URGES member states to recognise any equivalent credentials received in a foreign country, even where one or both states involved are not a part of UNOCEC.

*bump*

Any comments would be helpful!

I was thinking of incorporating a clause of 'recognising other states' qualifications as equivalent when assessing candidates for job positions.' in my free movement rights draft.
You've saved me a lot of trouble!
;)

The Free Land of Ipods listeners 100% agrees:D