Recognise Study Abroad

The highly positive impact of learning mobility on youth has been proven, recognised and supported via concrete measures and programmes that demonstrate Europe’s willingness to place learning mobility high on the educational and youth agendas.

Despite this, in many Member States, mobility of pupils and of families with school-age children is hindered in practice by a poorly enabling legal framework. This means that often students need to attend one or more additional year(s) of school, once back in their home country.

EEE-YFU and EFIL initiated this campaign in 2016, in partnership with the European Parliament Youth Intergroup 2014-2019, and the support of EPA, EUROCLIO, KeyCoNet and OBESSU.

The objective of the #RecogniseStudyAbroad campaign is to raise awareness among policy-makers and educational stakeholders about the lack of recognition of long-term school mobility, and create changes by promoting concrete policy-solutions.

Since 2016, big steps have been made towards recognition of study periods abroad. This issue got high in the agenda of EU Institutions which included it as a main obstacle to overcome to establish the European Education Area by 2025. Within this framework, on 26 November 2018 the Council of the EU has adopted the Recommendation on promoting automatic mutual recognition of higher education and upper secondary education and training qualifications and the outcomes of learning periods abroad.

Thanks to this campaign, the great support of its champions - MEP Negrescu and MEP Pavel - and of the CULT Committee, the Preparatory Action on Recognise Study Abroad has been approved by the European Parliament, funded by the European Commission and implemented by the Consortium EFIL-EIESP-CESIE through the "Expert Network on Recognition of outcomes of learning periods abroad in general secondary school" for the period 2020-2021.

The final outputs developed can be accessed on the European Commission’s European School Education Platform.

The outcomes are the result of the precious contribution of an ad-hoc network led by EFIL consisting of 25 expert stakeholders from 15 EU countries, who worked in the period 2020-2021 to support the European Commission in helping Member states to advance automatic recognition.

You can now consult and access the new tools which target specifically policymakers involved in regulating individual pupil mobility and its recognition:

an analysis of EU Member States’ national policies on recognition procedures
a proposed framework for recognition designed by all involved partners and stakeholders

At the same page you can also find resources targeting school education professionals, pupils and their parents:

a training model to support schools and teachers in assessing transversal competences developed by pupils during their learning mobility
information packs for each country including information for pupils going abroad and for pupils hosted there

Advancing in the recognition of learning periods abroad is crucial to walk towards the European Education Area by 2025! We look forward to supporting any government and educational institution wishing to engage with automatic recognition.

Join the Training for Teacher Trainers!

In line with our efforts of promoting automatic recognition of learning periods abroad, EFIL is also offering a Training for Teacher Trainers in Krakov in July aimed at providing a group of trainers with the tools to empower teachers in their own countries to recognise outcomes of learning periods abroad. We strongly believe that developing teachers’ skills in defining and assessing the competencies gained by pupils during their time abroad is crucial for enabling and promoting pupil mobility.

Join now and become part of our international team of teacher trainers working to promote pupil mobility and its recognition!

The training is part of the Erasmus+ Empowering Teachers for Automatic Recognition (ETAR) project, an international cross-sectoral partnership of universities, school networks, teacher associations and non-profit pupil exchange organisations aimed at implementing the European Council’s recommendation on automatic recognition adopted in 2018.

When I was 15 one of the reason my parents were about to call my exchange year off, was because it wasn’t certain at first if I would have to repeat the same class in Austria again. I have to say, even me myself would’ve called the year off. Of course, an exchange experience is something no school or academic record can teach you: but not getting behind with your education is super important too.

Sarah

There were two possibilities for me: do the one-year-long exchange and redouble the school year, or do only one semester and not redouble (continue with my class). I decided to do only a semester. I now regret not going for one year, but I was afraid of “loosing” my normal school path. Many people decide not to go at all, so not to have problems with their schools.

Sonja

I learned maturity and independence. I learned how to adapt easily in most situations. For me, it is important that what I have learned, also at school, is recognised!

Olivia

I have to go to the same grade again coming back home. For me this was not a problem, because I was and I am really motivated to do the exchange, but I have a few friends who chose not to do an exchange because of this: they did not want to re-do the year and go in a class without their friends anymore. So, if the exchange was recognized, many more students would do this wonderful experience.

Ella

Doing this exchange has helped me to be more mature, grown-up, and independent. I would like this year of study to be recognize as I feel I did not waste a year abroad! I learned skills that my friends in school gain more hardly, and this was possible only by being in an exchange abroad.

Omar

When I decided to do my exchange year, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay in a class with my best-friends when returning to my host country, because I would have to re-do the school year. Nevertheless, I chose to do that anyways and I do not regret my choice. I know a lot of students who are interested in going on an exchange year but eventually do not do that because they would have to redouble the year.

Sophia

One year of my life? One life in one year? It's not even possible to put a whole year, a whole little life in words There are not enough words or pictures to describe it. It is just me and you. Only we can understand what it is like to experience something so hard but so beautiful at the same time. That is what being an exchange student is like.

Gertrud

My exchange year was for me the biggest push forwards in terms of personal but also school development! My school was brave enough to let me re-integrate into my former class and what should I say: Instead of pushing me back my experiences helped me a lot and I did really good in school. It hurts me to see that not recognizing the year abroad hinders many young people today from going abroad. #RecogniseStudyAbroad is worth it!

Simone

Why should a year spent normally at home be more worth than a year spent on discovering your identity by gaining intercultural experiences? An exchange year isn’t lost time – it’s an unbelievably enlarging time! Even though I redouble my academic year, I have learned more about myself, about my home, as well as my host countries culture than I could ever have in my entire high school time.

Mara

Going on exchange was one of the best decisions I've ever made. You live in a completely new culture which raises intercultural awareness. Nowadays everyone should have intercultural skills. During the exchange you also learn so much about yourself and when I came back to Switzerland I returned with such desire to learn about everything.

Guillaume

I have to say, I was not completely sure if I wanted to do an exchange year or not simply due to the fact that I would have to prolong my studies. It felt somehow like wasted time since I had studied really hard the entire year and gotten pretty good grades. When I applied for an Erasmus programme years later, it was very clear to me from the beginning of my application that it is possible to transfer credits from the university abroad to my home university which meant that I can still graduate in time. Why this shouldn’t happen in high schools?