- Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills
The recognition of education qualifications across borders will be the focus of discussions this week as Australia and UNESCO co-host a meeting of senior education officials from the Asia-Pacific region.
Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills Karen Andrews MP said positive qualifications recognition “supports educational systems and partnerships and is the cornerstone to successful global job mobility and employability”.
Delegates from 36 countries will attend the 14th session of the UNESCO Regional Committee on the Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education, working towards fairer recognition of higher education qualifications across the region.
Minister Andrews said every year, hundreds of thousands of students from around the world chose to undertake study and research in Australia.
“They want to know that when they’re finished, they can rely on the qualifications we award them being recognised at home. Because their biggest return on their investment is being able to use their Australian education around the world.
“International students and international education are hugely important to Australia. We work hard to inculcate our academic strengths in what we teach. We involve some of our region’s best and brightest researchers, academics and scholars.
“We are proud of our standing in major international indices and rankings. The release this week of the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University placed six Australian universities in the top 100, up from four in 2015. Australia was at a country level ranked third behind the United States and the United Kingdom.
“Australia’s National Strategy for International Education 2025, which the Government released earlier this year, has as one of its goals supporting graduates through qualifications recognition.
“Australia has actively led UNESCO’s qualifications recognition agenda in the Asia Pacific region for the past decade,” Minister Andrews said.