The EU's interest in qualifications and in the national infrastructure that supports qualifications has focused on transparency. The complexity of national qualifications systems and the different ways of recognising learning mean that work on transparency is necessary if European unity is to mean something more than the sum of the national systems. A clearer understanding of the qualifications of the citizens of other countries can ease barriers to cross-border mobility for both students and workers.

The first step in developing this understanding and creating transparency was to publish large catalogues of qualifications for each country with explanatory text and references. The need for a simpler international classification of qualifications eventually led through a series of steps to the reference levels of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) (European Parliament, 2008) and the Qualifications Framework for the Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA). Other tools, such as the Europass Portfolio and frameworks for quality assurance (European Commission, 2008), have been useful in communicating and developing trust regarding different national approaches to qualifications.

For many centuries trade organisations (guilds or professional associations) have exercised some control over the right to practise a trade and have defined hierarchies of skills within the trade (e.g. assistant, apprentice, qualified worker, master craftsperson). These hierarchies were the forerunners of sectoral and national qualifications frameworks (see Chapter 2). The universities also set down common patterns of recognising progress within higher academic learning, thus defining another hierarchy of qualifications.