Qualifications frameworks — Bologna.science

In a nutshell

A qualifications framework is a map of degrees. Instead of listing course titles or years of study, it describes what a person holding a given qualification should know and be able to do – and arranges qualifications in levels.

Europe has one such map for higher education, and every country draws its own, more detailed map that fits inside it. That is how a degree from one system can be placed next to a degree from another.

Sources: [1]

In short

2005Ministers adopted the QF-EHEA in Bergen.

2018The framework was revised in Paris and gained the short cycle.

5areas of learning outcomes in the Dublin descriptors.

What the European framework is

The Framework of Qualifications for the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA) was adopted by ministers in Bergen in 2005 and last revised in Paris in 2018. It names the cycles, gives typical credit ranges for them and describes, in general terms, what a graduate of each cycle should be able to do.

Sources: [1] [2] [3]

The Dublin descriptors

Those general descriptions are known as the Dublin descriptors. They cover five areas of learning outcomes:

knowledge and understanding,
applying knowledge and understanding,
making judgements,
communication skills,
learning skills.

Read side by side, the descriptors show how expectations grow from one cycle to the next.

Sources: [1] [2]

What graduates can do, cycle by cycle

Ministers adopted the revised framework at their Paris conference on 24–25 May 2018. It gives, for each cycle, a short description of what graduates should know and be able to do, plus typical credit ranges. Each country decides whether and how to include short-cycle qualifications in its own framework. In short, and in our own words:

Short cycle (typically 90–120 credits). Graduates know a field at the level of advanced textbooks, building on secondary school; can use that knowledge at work; can find and use data to answer well-defined practical and abstract problems; can talk about what they know and do with colleagues, supervisors and clients; and are ready to study further with some independence.

First cycle (typically 180–240 credits). Graduates know their field at advanced-textbook level, with some contact with its research frontier; apply that knowledge in a professional way, building arguments and solving problems; gather and interpret data to form judgements that take social, scientific or ethical questions into account; explain ideas and solutions to specialists and non-specialists; and can go on studying with a high degree of autonomy.

Second cycle (typically 90–120 credits, at least 60 of them at second-cycle level). Graduates go beyond the first cycle, often in a research setting, with room for original ideas; use what they know in new or unfamiliar, often interdisciplinary, situations; handle complexity and reach judgements on incomplete information while weighing social and ethical responsibilities; present their conclusions and reasoning clearly to any audience; and can continue learning largely on their own.

Third cycle (no credit range). Graduates understand their field systematically and master its research methods; can design and carry out a substantial research project with scholarly integrity; have extended the frontier of knowledge through original research, part of it worthy of refereed publication; can critically analyse and synthesise new, complex ideas; communicate with peers, the wider academic community and society; and can be expected to promote technological, social or cultural advancement in academic and professional settings.

Sources: [2]

National frameworks

The European framework is deliberately broad. Countries build national frameworks that describe their own qualifications, show how they connect and support flexible routes, including recognition of prior learning. National frameworks stay within the outer limits of the QF-EHEA, which leaves room for national diversity.

Each country checks its framework against the European one in a process called self-certification. The reports are published on the EHEA website.

Sources: [1]

Not the same as the EQF

There is a second European framework with a similar name: the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) of the European Union. It has eight levels, covers all kinds of learning – not only higher education – and describes each level by knowledge, skills, and responsibility and autonomy. Its current version is a Council Recommendation of 22 May 2017.

The two frameworks are separate but designed to fit together. According to that recommendation, the four cycles of the QF-EHEA correspond to the top four EQF levels:

short cycle – EQF level 5,
first cycle – EQF level 6,
second cycle – EQF level 7,
third cycle – EQF level 8.

Sources: [5] [6]

What this means for you

Students and graduates: the level of your degree in the national framework – and its EQF level – is printed in the Diploma Supplement.
Employers and HR: the level tells you how demanding a qualification is, whatever it is called in its home country.

Sources: [10] [5]

In Poland

Poland's national framework is the Polish Qualifications Framework (PRK). The Act on the Integrated Qualifications System places the first-cycle diploma at PRK level 6, the second-cycle and long-cycle master's diplomas at level 7 and the doctoral diploma at level 8 (Article 8). The learning outcomes for these levels are described in a 2018 regulation.

How the PRK relates to the European Qualifications Framework is set out in Poland's referencing report, prepared by the Educational Research Institute (IBE); its updated version dates from 2015. PRK levels are designed to correspond to EQF levels with the same number.

Sources: [8] [7] [9]

Sources

Sources checked on 26 October 2026. Official documents are linked, not republished.

Qualifications frameworks without the jargon