Qualification is officially recognised competence which involves certain rights and obligations.
Qualifications are divided as follows:
- formal education qualifications –
general education (basic and upper secondary education), vocational education, higher education; - professional qualifications, i.e. professions.
The part of a qualification subject to independent description and assessment is partial qualification. Partial qualifications are, for example, foreign language skills, a course in a subject, final paper, or partial profession. Partial qualifications are often obtained upon completing adult education courses.
Formal education qualifications |
Level |
Basic education certificate based on simplified curriculum; |
1 |
Basic education certificate; VET certificate level 2 (without basic education requirement) |
2 |
VET certificate level 3 |
3 |
Upper secondary general education certificate; VET certificate level 4 (upper secondary VET) |
4 |
VET certificate level 5 (based on upper secondary education certificate) |
5 |
Bachelor's degree, Professional higher education certificate |
6 |
Master's degree |
7 |
Doctoral degree |
8 |