Legal Acts in English

This Law shall establish the National Qualifications Framework of the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter referred to as: NQFS) as the system for regulation of qualifications, its purpose, objectives and principles, types and levels of qualifications, methods of qualifications' acquiring, descriptions of knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes (hereinafter referred to as: the descriptors) for qualifications levels, bodies and organisations in charge of application and development of the NQFS, quality assurance in NQFS application and referencing to the European Qualifications Framework (hereinafter: EQF).

Terms expressed in this Law in grammatical male gender shall imply the natural male and female gender of the persons to which they pertain.

Individual terms in this Law shall have the following meanings:

1) Qualification - formal recognition of the competencies acquired. An individual shall acquire a qualification when the competent body determines that he has achieved the learning outcomes within a certain level of and in accordance with the set qualification standard, which shall be confirmed by a public document (a diploma or a certificate);

2) Competence - an integrated set of knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes, which are enabling an individual to efficiently act in compliance with the qualification standard;

3) Key competencies for lifelong learning - ability to use acquired knowledge, skills and attitudes, which are necessary for personal, social and professional development and further learning. These competencies are integrated in objectives and standards on all levels of education as new domains, which are relevant for continuous acquiring of competencies, for private and social life, profession and dealing with real world problems and demanding situations;

4) Learning outcomes - clear statements of what an individual is expected to know, understand and be able to show and/or do on completion of a learning process.  They enable verifiability of the development levels of competencies and/or achievement levels of knowledge, skills, attitudes and abilities;

5) Qualification standard - a document laid down in compliance with this Law, which includes a description of learning objectives and outcomes, as well as information on qualification based on which determining of qualification level, qualification classification and assessment are performed;

6) Occupational Standard - a document which includes the description of duties and tasks, as well as of competencies that an individual needs for efficient performing of jobs within a certain occupation, which is laid down in compliance with the regulations governing employment;

7) NQFS Registry (hereinafter referred to as: the Registry) - a NQFS Registry which comprises of sub-registries of national qualifications, a sub-registry of qualification standards and a sub-registry of publicly recognized organizers of adult education activities (hereinafter: PROA), with the employers with which the PROA realizes practical work and/or practical instruction;

8) European Qualifications Framework (hereinafter: the EQF) - a common European reference framework which is linking the national qualification systems and acting as a tool for comparison and/or easier understanding and interpretation of qualifications among different states and educational systems in Europe;

9) Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area (hereinafter: the EHEA) - framework for qualifications within the Bologna Process. It is defined by four principal cycles (the short cycle, the first, the second and the third cycle) which are described by means of the Dublin descriptors;

10) Formal education means organized learning processes realized based on plans and programs for instruction and learning for primary and secondary education and study programs for higher education;

11) Informal education means organized adult learning processes which are realized based on special programs, with the aim of acquiring knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes focused on work, personal and social development;

12) Informal learning is the process of independent acquiring of knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and abilities among adults, in the everyday life, working and social environment;

13) Lifelong learning - includes all forms of learning and implies participation in various forms of educational activities during the entire life, with the aim of continuous improvement of required personal, civil, social competences and competences required for work;

14) Recognition of prior learning - An adult educational activity which shall be realized through the assessment of knowledge, skills and competences acquired through education, life or professional experience and which shall enable further learning and increasing of competitiveness in the labour market. The term shall be equal with the term "validation of non-formal and informal learning", all in compliance with the European Recommendations for validation of non-formal and informal learning.

The objectives of NQFS shall be:

1) ensuring understanding, ease of viewing and transparency of qualifications, as well as their mutual connectedness;

2) development of qualification standards based on the needs of the labour market and the society as a whole;

3) ensuring orientation of the entire education towards the learning outcomes whereby the competences defined in the standard of qualification in question are built;

4) improvement of access, flexibility of paths and progression in the system of formal and non-formal education;

5) ensuring recognition and acknowledging of non-formal and informal learning;

6) affirmation of the significance of key, general and transversal competencies for learning during the entire life;

7) furthering of cooperation among relevant stakeholders and/or social partners;

8) ensuring a system of quality in the process of development and acquiring of qualifications;

9) ensuring comparability and recognisability of qualifications acquired in the Republic of Serbia with the qualifications acquired in other states.