Qualifications

Students see qualifications as the holy grail, the proof that they have succeeded in their training. But what are they? What are they worth? These are legitimate questions that come up quite often.

Let’s start by the name. How is it called? You can hear different names and it may seem a little ambiguous to you:

• Degree

• Diploma

• Certificate

People tend to mix them up. Let’s say that the most prestigious term here is “degree”, followed by “diploma”, followed by “certificate” (the one that holds less value). There is no real legislation around diplomas and certificates (anyone can deliver their own), however to be able to deliver degrees you need to go through an accreditation process that we’ll cover in a future chapter.

Types of Qualifications

There are different “types” of qualifications that you need to be aware of. Let’s have a look at them!

Vocational Qualifications

Issued by: formal education providers

These qualifications are at a level below that assessed at the end of secondary school, such as the baccalaureate in France, A-levels in the UK or High School Diploma in the USA. They are a formal proof of a set of skills, although they're considered below the level that students in standard education achieve at around 18 years old.

For example, in France, CAP and BEP are sub-baccalaureate certificates. You don’t need the baccalaureate to get them.

Degrees

Issued by: formal education providers (and very few edtech startups)

Degrees are the most famous form of qualifications. We can view them as “postbaccalaureate certificates”, as they are a formal proof of a skillset above the baccalaureate level. There are different types of degrees at different levels (bachelor, master…) that we’ll cover just in a moment.

Professional Qualifications

Issued by: industry-recognized companies

These qualifications can hold a lot of value in the business world. They are a proof of a very specific skillset. Usually, these qualifications are managed by companies like Microsoft (Microsoft certified), Cisco (CCNA), ETSGlobal (TOEIC)… They charge a fee for the exam, that is usually a big quiz that has to be completed in a test center.

Micro-credentials

Issued by: formal education providers and some edtech startups

What’s interesting is that micro-credentials can be stackable to a degree (it’s not always the case though). This means that if you achieve for example 3-4 micro-credentials, it can be equivalent to validating a full degree.

They are a more recent type of qualification. Actually, it’s not a full qualification but a portion of a qualification. Micro-credentials have gained in popularity recently as they allow students to validate a smaller skillset more quickly than with a more complete qualification.

Digital Badges

Issued by: anyone

They’re not really a qualification but more of a recognition. You can view them as “micro-micro-credentials”. They are easier to issue (anyone can give you a badge basically), which means their value is lower than the other types of qualifications.

Badges validate a small amount of learning effort. They are usually delivered after completing a course followed by an online quiz. There is no big exam.

Some people have tried to make it an interoperable open standard with open badges.

🇺🇳 Country by Country

🇫🇷 France

France has different types of recognized qualifications:

• “Diplôme national”: it is handled directly by the French state, including the exam. In France, the state has a monopoly on these types of qualifications. You can’t create your own. There are 3 types of national diploma:

  • “Diplôme de grade” (or “Diplôme universitaire”) : supposed to be the most “prestigious” type of diploma (although prestige is a concept in itself 😛). A “diplôme de grade” can be “licence”, “master”, or “PhD” for instance. It can only be granted by public universities in France, and to some “grandes écoles”, in the name of the Ministry of Education.

  • “Diplôme d’Etat”: these diplomas are required to work in several regulated jobs, especially in health, social and sport. Examples: “Diplôme d’État de sage-femme, Diplôme d’État de ski - moniteur national de ski alpin”

  • “Diplôme professionnel”: required for other types of job, including manual jobs. Examples: “BEP, CAP, MC3, Baccalauréat Professionnel, Brevet Professionnel”

• “Certification professionnelle” (aka RNCP title): it focuses on skills acquisition and prepares for a job. It can be delivered by any training provider, although there is a rigorous validation process by “France Compétences”. The only national governance body for vocational training and apprenticeship, France Compétences is a national public institution of an administrative nature. When validated, the “Certification professionnelle” is then added to the RNCP: “Répertoire national des certifications professionnelles”, which is the public French qualification database. ➡️ Most of OpenClassrooms diplomas in France correspond to this type of qualifications.

• “Titre professionnel”: it is delivered by the French Ministry of Labor. It proves that someone has the required skills for a specific job. It is similar to “Certification professionnelle”, but training centers can only prepare candidates for these. The evaluation will be on-site by an approved exam center. ”Titres professionnels” appear in the RNCP database as well. Examples: “Chaudronnier, Responsable d'établissement touristique”…

• “Certification enregistrée au Répertoire spécifique” (aka RS): it is a smaller kind of qualification that can be required for some jobs. It validates only one skill or a set of skills. You can view it as “skills addons” for the bigger RNCP titles, when people need to specialize in specific areas. Examples: “Technique d'Expertise d'Assurance, Le management collaboratif par les objectifs”

Below are 2 slides that will help you understand this in greater detail for those who want to go even further. 🤓

First, for qualifications created by a specific school (highlighted in blue in the previous graph):

Now, for qualifications created by the French state (highlighted in red in the previous graph):

Qualification levels

Qualifications are organized with different levels to represent the complexity of the skillset students are learning. These levels are often expressed as years after the baccalaureate (eg. Bac +2, Bac +5 in France). If the level is below the baccalaureate, then it’s a sub-baccalaureate certificate.

In the past, it was rather exceptional to get a degree after the baccalaureate. Nowadays, it’s a frequent requirement for many jobs to have a post-baccalaureate degree, and more and more often a Master’s degree (5 years after baccalaureate).

The main post-baccalaureate degrees you need to know are:

1. Associate's degree (typically 2 years of study)

2. Bachelor’s degree (3 or 4 years of study depending on the country)

3. Master’s degree (5 years of study)

4. Ph.D (8 years of study). This one consists in a lot of research and creating new knowledge. In a sense, it helps to extend humanity’s knowledge.

The table below is a summary of the different qualification levels:

(sources: Quelle est la nomenclature des diplômes par niveau ? and Vadémécum France Compétences)

Renting a qualification

The concept of an official qualification isn’t protected in most countries. Anyone can deliver a qualification like “Best dad diploma”. 👨‍👧

However, to get a state-level recognition for their qualifications, schools need to go through an accreditation process that can take from months to years. And in some cases, it’s just impossible to get state-level recognition. For instance, in France, the French state has a monopoly over some types of qualifications, as we saw above.

This is why you need to understand the difference between the preparatory body and the certification body:

• Preparatory body: it’s the organization responsible for training the student. It prepares the student for the exam.

• Certification body: it’s the organization who owns the recognized qualification. They ultimately decide who gets the qualification and who doesn't. This organization went through the accreditation process to be able to deliver these recognized qualifications.

A school can both prepare and certify. However, sometimes a school will only prepare and send their students for the final exam elsewhere (at another school, the certification body).

Certification bodies hold value through their recognized qualifications. They can choose to keep it for them, but some schools actually rent their qualifications to other schools! Of course, they still keep ownership, meaning that they will scrupulously check the students level before delivering the qualification (they don’t want their qualification to lose value over time!).

Double Degrees

Some universities can partner together to issue double degrees. 👥

Imagine 2 universities that want to add more value to their training offer. They will be working together to establish equivalencies between their degrees. Once this is done, they will agree that they are effectively preparing for the same skillset in the end.

In practice, students might need to spend time at both institutions, but this is still a net win for them, because they would be completing both of them in less time than it would have taken to earn them separately.

How does it work in practice? By going to University A, they will get a qualification from University A but also a qualification from University B. And vice-versa: students from University B will get a qualification from University B but also from University A.