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United Nations honors the BQ-Portal – the information portal for foreign professional qualifications, an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, with the United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) on June 26th, 2024.

Twelve months after the BQ information portal for foreign professional qualifications first went online, the Federal Minister of Economics and Technology, Dr. Philipp Rösler, looked back on a successful year and stressed that additional support should be provided to companies wanting to have foreign qualifications recognised.

A delegation with representatives of the Swedish Council for Higher Education visited the BQ-Portal on 1 February in order to get acquainted with the professional recognition in Germany. Since 2017 it is possible in Sweden to have your foreign professional credentials recognized. In Germany this legal right was introduced already in 2012. The Swedish Council for Higher Education is responsible for carrying out recognition procedures in Sweden and already uses the information available in the BQ-Portal in daily work. At the meeting, the Swedish guests learned how to find the information in the BQ-Portal, and found out, how the BQ-Team carries out research on foreign VET systems and professional profiles.

You want to foster integration of refugees? Or: You have already received a job application from a refugee and do not know how to evaluate his or her qualification and to determine whether the qualification is appropriate for the employment you are offering. Have a closer look at our compact country overviews, which are now available in English. They will give you a valuable insight into the country of origin of refugees in question and its education system. Our country overviews are available for following countries: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Eritrea.

Since February 2018 the project „Recognition in Germany“ is also on Facebook. Apart from information on recognition of professional qualifications their Facebook webpage offers in particular a platform for dialogue and exchange.

In Germany thanks to the three central information portals for recognition of foreign professional qualifications, “BQ-Portal”, “Recognition in Germany” and “anabin”, there is a wide range of information on the recognition process. From now on, the new project “ProRecognition” aims to offer also in other countries comprehensive information on the possibilities of having foreign qualifications recognised in Germany.

From now on, Alliance for initial and further training has its own website. The partners in the Alliance have a shared interest in improving and strengthening the dual system. The business community, the trade unions, the Federation and the Länder want to work together in the Alliance for Initial and Further Training and ensure that vocational training remains fit for the future and promote it amongst young people and their parents, in schools and higher education institutions, and in society in general.