If you want to validate your qualification for any employment or join politics, we provide this service.

Rationale:

The Bhutan Qualifications Framework (BQF) empowers the Bhutan Accreditation Council (BAC) to provide recognition service for qualifications for the purposes of mobility, employment, and continuing education. Therefore, BAC shall on request review and endorse qualifications awarded by competent authority (Para 12 & 17 of the BQF, 2012). Providing effective recognition services as one of the core functions of the BAC shall expedite the overall operationalization of the visions of the two policy documents BQF & Accreditation Principles. The guidelines not only ensure transparency, professionalism and objectivity in decision making process but also institute a duly documented system for recognition and/or validation of qualifications.

Principles related to assessing qualifications:

1. Holders of qualifications shall have adequate access to an assessment of their qualification in a timely manner.
2. Each party shall make appropriate arrangement for assessing qualifications.
3. Each party shall ensure that procedure and criteria used for recognition are followed strictly.
4. The responsibility of providing documents and information rests with the holders of the qualifications who shall do in good faith.
5. The application shall not be accepted if the holder of qualifications fails to submit all the required documents.
6. The parties shall instruct or encourage the TEIs to provide adequate and clear information on their national education systems and to issue qualifications statements for the purpose of assessing qualifications earned from the said institutions.
7. The decision on recognition shall be made based on the information available at the time of recognition.
8. The decision on recognition of qualifications shall be made within 14 working days calculated from the time when all of the necessary documents and information for the case has been provided.
9. If the recognition is declined, the reasons for not awarding recognition shall be stated clearly in the decline letter. Information concerning possible measures that the holder of the qualification need to take to obtain recognition at a later stage shall also be clearly stated.
10. In case of decline, the holders of the qualification shall be entitled to appeal through appropriate procedures within 10 days from the day the applicant received the information.

Information that should be provided to applicants

Information provided to applicants by QAAD upon receipt of the application should have at least the following elements:

• Checklist of required documentation, including translated documents if the language is other than Dzongkha and English. The translation shall be done by competent legal translators.
• Recognition process.
• Assessment criteria.
• Time needed to process the applications.
• Recognition fees charged.
• Conditions of the recognition, if awarded.
• Appeal procedures.

Procedure for recognizing qualifications

NOTES:

1. The BAC shall not accept electronic or faxed documents.

2. The BAC reserves the right to contact the institutions for verification purpose.

3. Certified copies must be:

· Copies of the original document (not copies of copies) marked with the words “certified as true copy of the original”, and

· Signed with the seal of the authorized person on each page.

4. Besides the notary office, the documents could be attested/certified/notarized by competent authority such as the Consulate Office and or embassy of the host countries and bodies similar to South Asian Scholarship Program (SASP) Office for Australia.

5. The applicant must submit a confirmation from the institution by a competent authority (e.g. Registry or student services) in official letterhead indicating the name of the student, student ID No., course, institution and year of completion or the ‘qualifications statement’.

6. In case of the existence of professional bodies like the Bhutan Medical and Health Council (BMHC), the application shall be forwarded to them for verification. Upon their verification the recommendation shall be forwarded to the Secretariat of the BAC to arrange for endorsement.

7. In case of decline, the applicant may opt to appeal to the chairperson of the BAC which will be forwarded to the Appeals Committee. The decision on the appeal shall be made within 14 working days from the date of the receipt of the appeal along with the additional requirements.

8. A qualification certifies a certain competence obtained at a certain time. Its value may diminish over time or may be entirely lost either because the holder of the qualification has not kept up the competency acquired or due to significant new knowledge gained in the field and the holder is not adequately acquainted with these developments. Therefore, the validity of the recognition is only 5 years.

9. It is not practical for the BAC to meet each time recognition service is sought. Therefore, the Secretariat shall do the due diligence as per the guidelines on behalf of the BAC. The Chairperson on their behalf shall issue the certificate of recognition to the applicant. The decision shall be endorsed by the BAC in the following meeting.

Assessment Criteria

The recognition procedure involves ascertaining whether:

1. The institution belongs to the higher education system of the host country.
2. The institution complies with the quality assurance system of host country.
3. The learning outcomes are comparable to that of the BQF.
4. The credit requirements are fulfilled.
5. The holder of the academic transcripts is legitimate.