Compliance of IQF towards AQRF: Challenges and Opportunities of The Referencing to Regional Qualification Framework

Abstract

Recently, TVET (Technical and Vocational Education and Training) has attracted more attention because of its important role to the regional and global economic development. To enter the global market, as well as ASEAN Economic Community 2015, standardization and harmonization in TVET sector become crucial issue to overcome. Some efforts have been taken by government level and regional TVET agencies to formulate standardization of TVET sector. This paper addresses current status of National Qualification frameworks (NQFs) in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and efforts, challenges and opportunities to the referencing to the regional qualification framework. At present, some ASEAN countries already have their NQF. Since 2012, Indonesia has the Indonesian Qualifications Framework (IQF). The stages of the IQF's implementation are currently being designed and partially applied. The IQF consists of nine levels characterized by both learning outcomes and job-specific competencies. In other sides, The ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF), a common reference framework, will function as a translation device to enable comparisons of qualifications across participating ASEAN countries. The AQRF will support and enhance each country's national qualifications framework or qualifications system while providing a mechanism to facilitate comparison and transparency. Therefore, it is good challenges and opportunities for referencing process from NQFs towards AQRF.