Qualifications Recognition: Does Praxis Make Perfect?

• In Event: 61.022 - A Perspective From Ireland Toward Justice: Culture, Language, and Heritage in Education Research and Praxis

Abstract

The global demand for higher education has increased exponentially. How institutions recognise foreign qualifications is subject to greater demands for transparency, fairness and accountability. The Lisbon Recognition Convention provides a legal and ethical framework to guide recognition practice. Evidence suggests that decision-making is highly individualised and relies on tacit knowledge, experience, informal networks and habitus. A tension between the push toward centralised structures and standardised approaches to practice on the one hand and the autonomy of academics and institutions on the other raises important questions of social justice, and equity. These issues are explored in the context of access in Irish higher education.

Authors

• Niamh Lenehan, Maynooth University

• John PO'Connor, University College Dublin

• Beata Sokolowska, Trinity College Dublin