In 2010, the ILO together with European Training Foundation (ETF) presented research on ‘The implementation and impact of National Qualifications Framework: Report of a study in 16 countries’ documenting countries that were early adopters of NQFs, such as Australia, Scotland, New Zealand, England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as countries that had recently started implementation of National Qualifications Framework (NQFs), such as South Africa, Mexico, Chile, Malaysia, Mauritius, Botswana, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Lithuania, Tunisia, Bangladesh and Russia.

In the intervening years as the number of countries implementing NQFs has grown exponentially, the debate has increasingly centered on topics like labour market impact and outcomes of NQFs, including employer experience in using qualification frameworks when making hiring decisions.

This follow-up ILO research is therefore intended to better understand labour market aspects of NQF implementation and to provide sound empirical evidence of how employers recruit, fill vacancies and understand how qualification frameworks are tools for them and for employing people. In doing so we have been careful to chose countries that reflect various stages of implementation including Ireland, France, Belize, Jamaica, Sri Lanka and Tunisia.

The results clearly show that whilst the challenges associated with NQF implementation are myriad, benefits do accrue, especially over the long term. As such, for all the promised benefits of NQFs to be realised, a very long timeframe needs to be taken into account.