18 Of the six countries reviewed all had different mechanisms for the establishment of their responsible
agency: • some have established a legal basis of their responsible agency through legislation focusing on
either the responsible agency role or on the NQF, for example, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa.
• others have not established a legal basis of their responsible agency through legislation, but established an independent entity such as the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
SCQF Partnership Board • others are embedded an executive arm within a government department, for example, Hong
Kong and currently the Australian situation. Table-6 below summarizes the legal status of the responsible agency in each of the six countries.
Country Name
Legal basis of agency
Australia past AQF Council or AQF Board
Committee of ministerial council Australia current
Based within a Ministry Within a ministry
Hong Kong Qualifications Framework Secretariat
Executive arm within the Education Bureau Ireland
Quality and Qualifications Ireland State agency
New Zealand New Zealand Qualifications Authority
Crown entity Scotland
SCQF Partnership Board Board is a company limited by guarantee
South Africa South African Qualifications Authority
Juristic person – an entity given a legal personality by the law
Table-6: Legal basis of the national agency In all but Australia and Hong Kong, the current responsible agency has a legal basis and a level of
independence from that of the government. This legal independence has two advantages – it provides for a political mandate for its role in the maintenance, implementation and promotion of the NQF and
also provides for a level of autonomy from the direct influence and competing demands of government ministries and potential for changes in policies.
3.1.4 Scope of responsibilities
Castejon, Chakroun, Coles, Deij and McBride’s [2011] research into European Union countries note that the remit of new qualifications agencies can be generalized into various functions, including:
• provide policy advice as to the implementation of NQFs and the qualifications system; • ensure links with other national and international qualifications frameworks;
• cooperate with similar bodies in other countries; • carry out dissemination, such as conferences, research, consultancy and publication activities;
and • arrange for recognition of skills and qualifications for student and manpower mobility.
Each of the six countries’ agencies has a range of roles and responsibilities, which may have changed over time. The documented
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roles and responsibilities of the six countries’ responsible agencies excluding quality assurance responsibilities
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were analyzed. A summary of these roles and responsibilities is included in Table-7.
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Responsible agencies tend to have a broader range of activities than which is explicitly documented.
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Excluding such roles as approving qualifications and maintaining a qualifications register; and approving and monitoring providers, maintaining a provider register and monitoring provision
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Australia Board
Australia Council
New Zealand Hong
Kong
Ireland Scotland
South Africa
Maintenance of Framework
Monitor support implementation
Monitor cross sectoral interface, linkages,
pathways
Promote QA in each sector
Maintain register of responsible bodies
Website Promotion Provide advice
Liaise with QA bodies Approve credit rating
standards development or
professional bodies
Seek feedback, collect data
Promote interagency collaboration
International monitoring liaison
International alignment
Coordinate sub frameworks
Assess foreign qualifications
Table-7: Summary of roles and responsibilities Research across the six countries in terms of roles and responsibilities indicates quality assurance
responsibilities applied by the agencies of Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand and the common communicative and coordination roles related to its NQF include:
monitoring the NQF in terms of applicability, currency and implementation; dissemination and promotion of the NQF, including the role of information center;
dissemination and promotion of quality assurance, through liaison andor an overarching quality assurance role, and providing assistance as well as capacity building; and
liaison with international bodies and promotion of each country’s NQF and qualifications, including alignment activities.
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3.1.5 Membership of the Board
