Accreditation

Provide clear and accessible pathways to recognising qualifications. Refugees may not have all their certificates and transcripts with them, or be able to get them. Consider qualification equivalence, and processes for recognising prior experience and learning (RPEL). Provide benchmarking where they are in their career to assist employers, and skills-based assessments, not just mapping certificates.

“the respondents in our study were not distressed because Canadian employers did not accept their credentials immediately and without serious and prolonged scrutiny; rather, they were distressed because they did not know the path to take to overcome the credentialing problems that they faced.” (Grant & Nadin 2007, p.159)

ENIC-NARIC produced a guide on best practice to Recognise qualifications held by refugees – guide for credential evaluators. It is particularly aimed at education institutions and employers, but has information and links which may be useful for professional bodies looking to develop their processes.

A Toolkit for Recognition of Refugees’ Qualifications has been developed by NOKUT in collaboration with agencies across the EU. It is intended as a practical and easy-to-use inventory of tools and recommendations for credential evaluators and other professionals involved with evaluating the qualifications held by refugees.

“During our visit to Bristol, a number of refugees, including Amina and Mohammed who were both medical professionals, told us of their frustration at not having their previous qualifications recognised in the UK.” (All Party Parliamentary Group on refugees 2017,p.31)

Fee waivers

The cost of registration or accreditation can be prohibitive to many refugees, so fee waivers would remove this significant barrier. Even if there are schemes to refund payments, the initial outlay can be a problem.

Free membership would be ideal, with full access to the range of support. They are likely to become full members when working!

Early support

Skills are devalued and lost without practice. Even if individuals are not immediately ready for the UK workplace, being clear about precisely what is required, and how they can get there will prevent significant wastage. Provide appropriate support early, rather than when they have achieved other targets such as qualifications or language proficiency.