Launch of "Prototyping Transfer" project
First meeting of project steering group in Bonn
If applicants are unable to produce written evidence in the process of having their foreign professional qualifications recognised, they can have their competences assessed by way of a so-called qualification analysis. The "Prototyping Transfer" project aims at intensifying the communication and implementation of this process across Germany. The joint project is being locally implemented by a syndicate of currently six chambers. Representatives from these chambers, from the BMBF as the commissioning authority and the BIBB as the co-ordinating authority met on Thursday, 12 March 2015, in Bonn for the first project steering committee meeting.
The joint project is being implemented by currently six partners:
- Hamburg Chamber of Crafts
- Chamber of Crafts Mannheim – Rhein-Neckar-Odenwald
- IHK FOSA (Foreign Skills Approval) Chamber of Industry and Commerce
- Chamber of Industry and Commerce Cologne
- Munich Chamber of Industry and Commerce
- Westdeutscher Handwerkskammertag (WHKT – West German Chambers of Crafts and Skilled Trades’ Council)
During their meeting, the project partners exchanged experiences and needs regarding the "sonstige Verfahren" (other procedures) as per Article 14 BQFG (German Recognition Act) and Article 50 b Section 4 HwO (German Crafts and Trades Regulation Code) for the assessment of equivalence in the event of missing proofs and certificates. For example, in order to provide the competent authorities with a faster overview regarding the available options of qualification analysis, the project partners established the need for the development of short versions of the recommendations that had been created and tried and tested in the course of the preceding project. They also agreed on the allocation of regional responsibilities regarding the provision of advice and support to other chambers; these regional responsibilities will soon be announced on the project website. During their meeting the project partners also discussed the question of how to publicise the new instrument of qualification analysis amongst the various target groups, in particular, at competent authorities and contact centres for information provision. The project steering committee agreed on a logo and a visual design guideline for the project for the purpose of uniform public relations activities.
The project will continue until the end of 2017. It is based on the previous joint project "Prototyping", which ran from August 2011 to January 2014 and was co-ordinated by the Westdeutscher Handwerkskammertag (WHKT) and supported by research provided by the Forschungsinstitut für Berufsbildung im Handwerk an der Universität zu Köln (FBH – Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training in the Crafts at the University of Cologne).