Education, Children and Young People Committee
Ratification of the UNESCO Global Convention on Qualifications
Letter from the Minister for Higher education, Further Education, Youth Employment and Training
Dear Convener
I am writing to make you aware of the UK Government’s ratification of the UNESCO Global Convention of Qualifications concerning Higher Education.
The Convention was officially adopted in 2019 during the UNESCO General conference in Paris (November 2019), however its ratification was delayed due to the pandemic
The UK Government was required to inform the Devolved Administrations that the UK was going to ratify the Convention, which they did by email on 24 November 2020, sent for information purposes pursuant to para D1.4, (Scotland), D2.4 (Wales) and D3.4 (NI) of the Concordat on International Relations annexed to the Devolution MoU. In this email the UK Government advised that they did not require specific actions to be undertaken by the Devolved Administrations before the deadline of 21 May 2021. As education is a devolved matter, it is for the Scottish Government to observe and implement the provisions of the Convention.
The Convention was reviewed by the Scottish Government and it was found that there were no legal issues to raise ahead of the formal ratification of the Convention by the UK Government. Scotland already complies with what the Convention requires and that ratification would not create any new obligations for Scotland.
There is no Scottish legislation regarding recognition of foreign degrees and the principles of the Convention align with our domestic policies. The Convention states that recognition of degrees is done by a ‘formal acknowledgement by a competent recognition authority’; in Scotland this is carried out by the Quality Assurance Agency
The Convention does not bind countries to specific actions. It is for member states to implement their own rules on recognition, which must be fair and transparent; the Scottish Government is of the view that our domestic policies comply with this requirement.
International agreements such as ratification of conventions is a matter for the UK Government, while the implementation of international obligations on matters within devolved competence falls to Scottish Ministers. As mentioned above, there are no legal issues to be raised regarding the ratification of the UNESCO Global Convention of Qualifications concerning Higher Education and the Scottish Government is content to go ahead with the implementation of its international obligations pertaining to the ratification of the Convention.
Yours sincerely
Jamie Hepburn