Parliament representatives welcomed on Friday the amendments to the Law on the Croatian Qualifications Framework, which equalizes professional and university studies at the same, seventh level of the qualifications framework, thus correcting the injustice towards professional studies in relation to university studies.
“The Croatian Qualifications Framework is the most important tool, the most important instrument for aligning the needs of the labor market and thus future needs and the world of education. It is the most important tool for aligning qualifications obtained in Croatia with those obtained in the European area,” emphasized the Minister of Science and Education, Blaženka Divjak.
>>> Divjak: Professional studies are not worth less than university studies, discrimination must be stopped
She added that the amendments and supplements were primarily made to clearly differentiate qualifications according to the different types of study and educational programs through which they are acquired, which also implies the possibility that certain qualifications differ by type and are associated with the same level of the Croatian Qualifications Framework.
“Today is a great day for 50,000 students of professional studies and 150,000 all who have completed professional studies,” said Željko Jovanović (SDP).
It is a law that says “no” to a small interest group led by the vice-rector and rector of the University of Zagreb, who decided to degrade professional studies out of their narrow particular interests, Jovanović said.
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His party colleague Joško Klisović called for non-discriminatory treatment of students of university and professional studies in doctoral study enrollments because, he emphasizes, a Croatian student who completes a professional master’s degree can enroll in a doctoral program in Slovenia, for example, but cannot enroll in Croatia. Likewise, a Slovenian who completes a professional master’s degree should be able to enroll in Croatia. “EU directives prohibit this type of discrimination,” Klisović emphasized.
Employment of State Officials
“You talk about qualifications, and in the last three years, 5,000 new state officials have been employed. The only qualification they need to have at this moment is a party membership card of HDZ or HNS,” said Krešo Beljak (HSS).
As an example, he mentioned Boris Blažeković, who, as he said, was appointed as the Consul General in New York with a secondary vocational education. “The only qualification, therefore, that is needed to work in Croatia, in state services, is a party membership card,” he repeated.
Ivana Lovrinović (PH) is interested in whether it is possible to align the Croatian Qualifications Framework with that of the EU in a situation where the curricular reform is pending.
Minister Divjak replied that the reform is not stalled and that in the fall, in three to five percent of schools, primary and secondary, experimental implementation will begin. “Nothing is stalled, and we are starting from the next school year with experimental implementation in the first and fifth grades of primary schools,” she emphasized.
>>> Today in Croatia: Parliamentary debate on equalizing university and professional studies
Reflecting on the remarks that the quality of professional and university studies is not the same, Stjepan Ćuraj (HNS) believes that it is the market that must assess whether it wants a person with a university or professional degree. “Everyone has their advantages and their, I won’t say disadvantages, but we all know what is profession and what is science. And I think the market should be the one to prefer here,” he said.
The issue of study quality was also raised by Vesna Pusić (GLAS), who believes that in a country with 4 million inhabitants, it is impossible to generate a large number of quality studies and that quality must therefore be insisted upon.
Tomislav Sokol (HDZ) emphasized that it is certainly necessary to raise the criteria to prevent diploma inflation, which, he said, unfortunately started with the Bologna process. However, he added, these problems are not solved by this law but by other regulations.
The Parliament session continues on Tuesday.
