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 EQGC International Conference was held in Fukuoka

Activities

Organized by the Research Centre for Tertiary Education and Qualifications of Kyushu University, the 2019 EQGC International Conference was held in Fukuoka on the 12th and 13th of December 2019.

The conference on Learning Outcomes and Quality Endorsement of Vocational Education showcased the Centre's project to develop matrices of benchmarked learning outcomes for each field in vocational education. Three international speakers from Australia and Germany were also invited to explained about qualifications frameworks in their respective countries and in the ASEAN region.

The following are some key takeaways from the conference:

- The Australian government is currently working on amending its national qualifications framework (AQF). Focusing on qualification design rather than its level, the new framework aims to align the description of the qualifications with their actual intent.

- Designing a qualifications framework is simple. The difficulty is in shifting the attention of the stakeholders toward learning outcomes. Consulting stakeholders is paramount to the successful implementation of a qualification framework.

- Some universities in Japan have developed module-type program which award 60-120 credit-hours in formal education at the tertiary education level. However, few working adults in the country are keen about life-long learning.

- Some lecturers of vocational colleges in Japan found it difficult to understand the concept of "levels" in learning outcomes. However, many of them were able to grasp the concept once it was explained in the context of Shu-ha-ri, a traditional Japanese concept of mastery.