The National Qualifications Framework is a facilitative tool that aims to promote the concept of lifelong learning as the means to enable individuals in their planning to achieve their educational ambitions and to contribute to the growth and prosperity of the United Arab Emirates.
Types of National Qualifications
The National Qualifications guidebook has identified three types of qualifications as follows:
Principal Qualifications: Comprehensive learning outcomes covering all required skills and knowledge achieved by the learner to be recognized for the relevant qualification in the specified level. This type of national qualification includes formal learning levels such as:
- At level 4- grade 12, secondary school certificate
- At level 5- diploma
- At level 7- bachelor degree
Secondary Qualifications: Learning outcomes that are included in the five strands of the qualifications framework levels, however it is not considered comprehensive of the required learning outcomes for the Principal Qualifications. Such as:
- Insufficient learning outcomes for the Principal Qualifications level
- A set of outcomes that can be used to form a constituent part of a principle qualification
*The five strands of learning outcomes reflect what is expected to be successfully achieved by a student in a qualification at each level of the framework: the below diagram demonstrates the five strands
| Level X | Strand 1 | Strand 2 | Strand 3 | Strand 4 | Strand 5 |
| Knowldge | Skills/Performance | Autonomy & responsibility | Role in context | Self-development | |
| |
Aspects of competence | ||||
Supporting Qualifications: Represents the smallest volume of learning outcomes that the learner can achieve to attain formal recognition. They may cover all or some of the five learning outcome strands at a given level.
Recognition of Prior Learning
It is a systematic assessment process that evaluates and recognizes previous learning, whereby an individual is exempted from studying subjects they have previously completed or training programs they have successfully taken part in.
For further information, click on https://www.nqa.gov.ae
