How to submit a qualification to the system

Your Sector

Market qualification can be included in the Integrated Qualification System at the request of entities conducting organised activities in the economy, labour market, education or training. This could be, for example, a commercial business, an organisation bringing together entrepreneurs from a given industry, an association of producers, or an association of training firms.

How to submit a market qualification for inclusion in the system

An interested party submits an electronic application containing a detailed description of the qualification through the portal of the Integrated Qualification Register. After verifying that the formal requirements have been fulfilled, the application is forwarded to the relevant minister for the given qualification. The minister has four months to consider the application. Pursuant to the Act, however, this period may be extended once for a further four months.

The relevant minister for the qualifications and the experts and specialists issuing opinions on the submitted qualification are required to work closely with the applicant at all stages of processing the application.

After receiving the application, the minister is responsible for:

Holding consultations with interested communities on the application
The relevant minister posts an announcement on the IQS portal on initiating consultations with the sectoral community and solicits opinions.
Securing the opinions of specialists
After the consultations, the relevant minister asks specialists for an opinion on the socio-economic need for including the proposed qualification in the IQS. On the basis of these opinions, the minister decides on the merits of processing the application further.
Assessing the application
The final assessment of the application is made by the relevant minister, who takes into account:
- the assessment of the learning outcomes required for the given qualification in relation to the tasks that a persons with such a qualification will undertake, as well as the assessment of the validation requirements,
- the usefulness of including the qualification in the IQS, understood as its responsiveness in meeting social needs, the demand in the labour market and the expectations of employers,
- the adaptation of the qualification’s requirements to objective circumstances and the ability to achieve the learning outcomes in a foreseeable amount of time,
- the similarity of the qualification to others already included in the IQS.
Assigning a Polish Qualifications Framework (PQF) level
The relevant minister appoints a team of experts who compare the learning outcomes required for the qualification with the PQF level descriptors and presents the minister with a binding recommendation on the assigned PQF level. The recommendation also includes a corrected description of the required learning outcomes, which was agreed to by the applicant. The relevant minister sends the recommendation of the experts to the IQS Stakeholders Council. If their opinion is positive, the minister assigns the determined PQF level to the qualification. Otherwise, the team of experts will again have to work out a recommendation for a level, which is sent to the Council. This recommendation is final.
Preparing the announcement on the inclusion of the qualification in the IQS
The announcement is published in Monitor Polski – the official gazette of the Republic of Poland. The market qualification is considered to be included in IQS as of the date of this announcement.

Note: The market qualification included in the IQS is deemed to have the status of a qualification functioning in IQS only when the minister selects the external quality assurance entity (EQAE) assigned to at least one awarding body (AB) authorised to award the qualification.

Diagram of the market qualification inclusion process