Establishment of national qualifications authority (NQA) and National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for the United Arab Emirate (UAE).

1. NQA Presentation
The Context
“Investment in its people as the ‘wealth of the nation’
has been a primary focus of the UAE Government
since the inception of the state.1”
1 United
Arab Emirates Year Book 2007, Social Development – www.uaeinteract.com/population
1

2. Critical role developing human capital plays in
improving national competitiveness
Human capital is an essential component of economic growth and development. ...
The economic case for investing in education has been long established. Widely
accessible quality education has been a characteristic—indeed a precondition—of
the phenomenal growth of the tiger economies of Asia.
…
As the role of the industrial and services sectors expands, as economies open up,
and as production technologies become more advanced, education and skills
development must become increasingly flexible and responsive to changing labor
market needs. The complex demands of a global competitive economy require
more advanced skills and the ability of the workforce to adjust to shifts in not only
domestic demand, but also in the global economy and labor market.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) in its ‘Education and Skills: Strategies for accelerated development in Asia and the Pacific,
June 2008’ page 2.
2

3. Encouraging lifelong learning is
critical to success
“The emergence of the global knowledge economy has put a premium on
learning throughout the world. Ideas and know-how as sources of
economic growth and development, along with the application of new
technologies, have important implications for how people learn and apply
knowledge throughout their lives.
Lifelong learning is becoming a necessity in many countries. It is more
than just education and training beyond formal schooling. A lifelong
learning framework encompasses learning throughout the lifecycle, from
early childhood to retirement, and in different learning environments,
formal, nonformal, and informal. Opportunities for learning throughout
one’s lifetime are becoming increasingly critical for countries to be
competitive in the global knowledge economy.”
‘Lifelong Learning in the Global Knowledge Economy: Challenges for Developing Countries’, World Bank
Report, 2003
3

4. WHY IS CHANGE NECESSARY?
The key drivers
• Increasing globalization of economies
• Rapid technological advances
• Changing population demographic profile
• Increased mobility of labour
• UAE strategic industrial development agenda
• UAE Emiratization plans
• National skills shortages
4

5. UAE Leadership has recognised the
implications of globalisation
Responded by developing a range of strategic
agendas – e.g.
2005 – National Action Program
2007 – 3 year UAE Government’s national strategy
Dubai Strategic Plan 2015
Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030
 Common themes:
 Economic development
 Social and human resources development
5

6. The challenge
To develop UAE’s
Human and Social capital, by:
Seeking to create a highly qualified workforce
that is suitably educated, skilled, competent,
adaptable and valued
6

7. Linking labour market with
skills formation
“The growing number of graduates of basic education entering the labor market without
marketable skills is creating social and political pressure to expand access to training. The
demand for skills is increasing, sometimes exponentially, due to a combination of technological,
structural, and organizational changes.
…
Systems for skills development in the region are ill prepared to meet these challenges. The
essential requirement for successful skills formation is close alignment of training systems with
the needs of the labor market. However, training systems in the region tend to operate in
isolation of labor market demand and with little or no employer participation.
…
The purpose of skills training is to impart knowledge and competencies. In most cases, however,
the ingredients for quality—occupational standards, qualified instructors (and assessors),
necessary equipment, and quality assurance mechanisms—are lacking. …
‘Education and Skills: Strategies for accelerated development in Asia and the Pacific, June 2008’ Executive Summary’ Asian Development Bank
Key findings:
the importance of industry leadership/stakeholder (employer and community) involvement to influence
the quality and direction of education and training outcomes and deployment of qualified assessors
7

8. How? – by developing a world class
1. Progressive and responsive education and training system
2. National qualifications system to support it, that includes the following
infrastructure:
 a Qualifications Framework that is internationally aligned,
 industry occupational skills standards and aligned qualifications,
 education and training provider licensing criteria,
 Quality Assurance (QA) systems,
 associated supporting arrangements, e.g. qualifications register and information system
3. Emiratisation participation model that increases Emirati interest and engagement
in non-traditional private sector labour markets by:
 Introducing innovative top-up adjustments for those entering employment in the private
sector in contrast to public sector employment; i.e. increasing its attractiveness without
loss of earnings or social status
 Addressing other related labour market distortions and structural issues
8

9. Supply driven training market
Economy
Existing workforce entry arrangements
Input focused:
• Direct government policy
• Panels
• Technical experts
• Provider’s independence
to choose and develop
range of course offerings
• Curriculum designers
• Enterprises’ expertise
• Educational experts
Workforce
9

10. Demand driven training market
Economy
A world class progressive
responsive education and training system
QF
10
9
8
7
6
Compendium of
Occupational Skills
Standards and Awards
(COSSAs)
5
4
3
2
Workforce
1
10

11. CREATING a knowledgeable, skilled, competent
and qualified workforce
Economy
LETPs develop and deliver Competency
Development Programs (CDPs) against
COSSAs for the relevant award Inc. RPL
LETP selects endorsed
award(s) for delivery
once licensed
Licensed
Education
& training
providers
(LETP)
LETPs conduct
assessment and/or
learning
and issue award(s)
Community, health and social services
Business, administration and financial services
Tourism and hospitality, retail, leisure, and
personal care
5
Arts, culture and entertainment
6
Education, learning and social development
7
Building and construction, estates and assets
8
Utilities and infrastructure
9
Energy resources
10
COSSA - comprised of awards and occupational skills standards,
endorsed and placed on Qualifications Register
Government services and public administration
4
Capture all workforce jobs
1
3
Workforce
SACS manage COSSAs Nationally endorsed Occupational
Skills Standards aligned to QF levels
2
Skills Advisory
Coordination
Services (SACS)
bodies
Ind.
Manufacturing
11
Logistics and transport
12
Agriculture, livestock and fishery
11

12. Existing Sector arrangements
Higher Education
Quality assurance (QA) standards/quality criteria in place
QA?
Education and training providers must meet Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific
Research (MoHESR) Commission for Academic Accreditation’s (CAA) Licensure and
Accreditation standards
General Education
QA?
Quality assurance (QA) standards/quality criteria in place
Requirements for General Education School Certificates are set by education bodies
approved under legislation by the Ministry of Education (MoE)
Vocational education and training (VET)
Ad-hoc quality assurance (QA) standards/quality criteria in place
Some education and training providers must meet Ministry of Higher Education
and Scientific Research (MOHESR) Commission for Academic Accreditation’s
(CAA) Licensure and Accreditation standards, others may meet MoE requirements
QA??
Others may be operating under an array of differing arrangements
Need for national quality structures and processes to implement the
Qualifications Framework?
12

13. Authority's Operational Structure and Functions
MOHESR
NQA Board
MoE
* Technical
Advisory
Council (TAC)
Others
DIRECTOR GENERAL
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
CORPORATE
SERVICES
COMMUNICATIONS
AND
PUBLICATIONS
Corporate Services
Directorate
*
PLANNING AND
DEVELOPMENT
QUALITY AND
PERFORMANCE
QUALIFICATIONS
REGISTER & INFO
SYSTEM (QRIS)
Quality and Performance
Directorate
TAC = current Transition Steering Committee be retained for some time, as the technical advisory council of the Board to assist it in its transitional
phases.
ACCREDITATION &
AWARDS
COMMISSIONS
QUALIFICATIONS
FRAMEWORK
Accreditation &
Awards Commissions
Directorate
Qualifications
Framework
Department
COMMs – Commissions
13

14. Accreditation and Awards
Commissions Coordination
National
Qualifications
Authority (NQA)
CORPORATE
SERVICES
COMMUNICATION
S AND
PUBLICATIONS
PLANNING AND
DEVELOPMENT
QUALITY AND
PERFORMANCE
QUALIFICATIONS
REGISTER & INFO
SYSTEM (QRIS)
ACCREDITATION &
AWARDS
COMMISSIONS
QUALIFICATIONS
FRAMEWORK
Delegated responsibility
New establishment
New entity
Delegated responsibility
Commission of Academic
Accreditation
(CAA)
Vocational Education and
Training Accreditation
Commission (VETAC)
General Education
Commission
(GEC)
Existing body
14

15. Why should industry
be involved in VET?
Industry needs
Gap
Available skills pool
Wants employees who can
demonstrate that they are
competent in the workplace for
the occupation they are engaged
in and can adapt to new and
emerging technologies and work
methods (continuous learning)
?
1. “Work ready” enabling
programs/courses delivered by
education and training providers
2. Experienced
3. Not trained
How can we
determine what is
required by industry?
15

16. Occupational skills standards
are to be the new focal point for industry and currency for the VET sector
are developed involving industry and VET stakeholders
are packaged to form qualifications/awards
are aligned to the qualifications framework within the UAE
are the primary specification used by education and training providers
that are quality assured and licensed as LETPs for designing and providing
their assessment and learning arrangements, such as programs/courses
for the relevant qualification(s)/award(s)
are the basis for which qualifications/awards are issued to individuals,
successfully deemed competent
are used for international benchmarking and comparison
16

17. UAEQF Notional qualifications
*Notional ‘Generic’ principal qualifications
Level
Higher Education /
Academic
10
TBA
Doctoral Degree
9
TBA
Master’s Degree
8
TBA (Voc)
Post Graduate Diploma **
7
TBA (Voc)
Bachelor’s Degree
6
Higher Diploma (Voc)
Higher Diploma (HE)
5
Diploma (Voc)
Associate Degree / Diploma
(HE)
4
Certificate 4
Secondary School
Certificate
3
Certificate 3
TBA
2
Certificate 2
1
Certificate 1
General Education
Recognition of Prior
Experience and Learning
Vocational /
Technical
Life Long
Learning
17

18. VETAC Establishment Components
National
Qualifications
Authority (NQA)
ACCREDITATION &
AWARDS COMMs
COORDINATION
Vocational Education and
Training Accreditation
Commission (VETAC)
12 Skills Advisory Coordination
Services (SACS) bodies
Licensed E & T
Providers (LETPs)
New establishments
E & T = Education and Training
18

19. The industry sectors
1
A
Government services and public administration
2
B
Community, health and social services
3
C
Business, administration and financial services
4
D
Tourism, hospitality, retail and leisure services including personal care services
5
E
Arts, culture and entertainment
6
F
Education, learning and social development
7
G
Building and construction, estates and assets development and management
8
H
Utilities and infrastructure
9
I
Energy resources – oil, natural gas, petrochemical, chemical and mining/ quarrying
10
J
Manufacturing
11
K
Logistics and transport
12
L
Agriculture, livestock and fishery
19

20. Licensure, Audit and Delivery Pathway
Education
and training
providers
(ETP)
Application audit - fit and proper organisation for licensure
Institutional
Pathway (IP)
Competency
Pathway (CP)
Prior
Achievement
Pathway
(PAP)
COSSAs
Endorsed
Skills
Standards
COSSA
endorsed
Award
Course/
Program
Accreditation
Skills Development
Program Approval
Classroom
based
Work
based
Assessment
decision to issue
Award
Assessment decision to
issue Award
Registration of
Foreign Awards
(RoFA)
Awards
Occupational
Awards
Awards
20

21. Summary plan for a
national VET system
Industry
Qualified
individuals
Businesses,
Governments,
Community
A quality process for developing, endorsing and
issuing awards based on occupational skills
standards that have involved industry leadership.
Mechanisms included are:
Industry
Led
Advisory
Bodies
COSSAs
Education
& training
providers
(LETPs)
1. Industry leadership – stakeholder engagement
2. Industry advisory bodies – SACS – stakeholder
involvement
3. Occupational Skills Standards for Awards (COSSA) using
12 industry sectors to cover UAE workforce
4. Licensed education and training providers (LETPs) with
scope to deliver learning and/or assessment services against
endorsed Occupational Skills Standards and Awards
5. Quality assurance system to ensure LETPs deliver and
produce quality outcomes
21

22. Benefits
• Employers
• Education and training providers
• Learners/individuals
• UAE economy
22

23. VETAC Work
23

24. VETAC ESTABLISHMENT
AND FUNCTIONS
Undertake:
Establishment of VETAC including a Task Force, that includes development, establishment and maintenance of
related systems and processes including:
 Transitional arrangements to new commission
 Vocational Education and Training quality standards and awards framework, encompassing development and approval of
national occupational (skills) standards - inclusive of Assessor standards, awards (qualifications), and industry liaison
requirements
 Processes and criteria for establishing and recognising Skills Advisory Coordination Services (SACS) organisations, and their
substantive role
 VETAC Quality Assurance arrangements including processes and procedures, national licensing and compliance guidelines in
terms of:
 How Licensure and Accreditation arrangements and respective scopes of responsibilities will be implemented that include quality
assurance guidelines to:
enhance consistency in Licensure and Accreditation outcomes - operational
license education and training providers, technical teachers/trainers/instructors/assessors
accredit courses/programs
enhance compliance and auditing of licensed education and training providers
 How consistency in Licensure and Accreditation arrangements will be assured and continuously enhanced – strategic/policy
 Industry and Workforce Policy and recognition agendas, as well as information gathering and reporting, in terms of:
 National strategic skills shortages and/or future requirements
 Industry networks – relationships and liaison, and use of SACs in identification of, and reporting on, industry skills issues
•
Development of National Skills Strategy
Establishment and provision of secretariat services to the VETAC - Task Force (TF)
24

25. Notional quantum of
standards and qualifications
ISCO-08 lists 437 occupations at unit group level. Assume 20% of these occupations represented the
post level-seven of the Qualifications Framework. Not included in the analysis.
 That is, 350 occupations requiring occupational standards development, or
about 30 occupations at unit group level per sector
It is envisaged that some 60 unique unit-standards need to be developed per occupational unit-group.
 That is, 350 x 60 = 21,000 unit-standards
Possible unit-standards that could be used more than once (harvested from other qualifications) is
considered to be in the order of 20% (that is, 20% of an occupational unit-group’s unit-standards may be
used by other occupations as core or electives).
That is, 16,800 unique unit-standards or about 1,400 per sector
The possible number of unique qualifications required to cover the unique occupational unit-groups is
considered to be about three (3) qualifications (it is based on an individual achieving an initial
qualification and two more advanced ones in same occupational unit-group; e.g. 3 electrician levels)
 That is, 90 qualifications per sector to be developed
25

26. Aligning VET qualifications with
the labour market
VETAC
COSSA
Endorsement with industry
On-line database Register
12 SACS produced
Industry
Compendiums of
occupational skills
standards and awards
(COSSA)
12 SACS
Course accreditation
or Program approval
Course or Program
design and development
Assessment and/or
Learning conducted
Prior learning
Qualification
or
Award issued
LETP
Industry - workforce
Occupational skills standards and structure of the new VET Sector system
LETP – Licensed education and training provider
26

27. Who determines competency and
issues qualification?
VETAC and Emirate-Agencies
Compendium of occupational
skills standards and awards
Identifying needs
Planning
Learning strategies
Assessment
Conducted by a
qualified assessor
Vocational program - extrapolated
from within COSSA
Evidence towards
performance
Apply VETAC guidelines
for LETP licensing and QA
mechanisms
LETP
Judgement about
competence
is made
Qualification
issued
27

28. Vocational Education & Training
System
It is changing to a:
national system –
occupational skills standards comprised of unit standards
performance based - not time served
Choice driven - not provider driven
Client Chooses the Qualification - (product)
Client Chooses the licensed education and training provider
(LETP)
28