Zentralstelle für ausländisches Bildungswesen (ZAB)
New ZAB platform digitalises the assessment of higher education certificates.
Initial solution: The recognition in Germany of a foreign higher education certificate is a requirement for many academic professions, or it can be helpful. Until now, this had to be applied for in writing and documents had to be sent off.
Solution approach: The statement of comparability for foreign higher education qualifications was digitalised within 12 months. After applying and uploading the necessary documents, the assessment is completed and a PDF issued with the digital seal.
The Central Office for Foreign Education’s (ZAB) online platform for the statement of comparability for foreign higher education qualifications has been offering this service since 15 February 2024. The entire process is now digital and can be completed without switching media. This service was developed by the ZAB in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
The platform provides a user friendly and multilingual interface. Users enter all the necessary information into a dynamic application form, upload their documents and pay the fees directly via PayPal, credit card or bank transfer. The digitalised online service should speed up and simplify processes which previously took months to complete.
The lessons learned to date from this project offer valuable insights for future digitalisation initiatives. In particular, taking a holistic view and engaging all those involved has proved successful. The new platform also impressed the eGovernment competition jury and came first in the category of “Particular social relevance” in September 2024.
Advice: Please check whether you actually need the statement of comparability. Evidence of the comparability of a foreign higher education qualification with a German qualification can also be provided via the anabin database.
A guide to using the anabin database is available here.
AI-supported curriculum translation on the BQ portal
Initial solution: The translation of foreign curricula to support the of professional qualifications in Germany is essential. The traditional method of using sworn translators is time-consuming and expensive. The BQ portal carefully considers innovative alternatives and runs tests using an AI translation tool.
Solution approach: Test runs were completed using DeepL, the Cologne-based AI translation tool. Initial results show that common languages, such as English and Spanish, can already be machine translated with a low rate of errors. This is particularly effective for continuous texts.
Accuracy is lower for lists in bullet point form, in particular in tables, and also for complex, specialist descriptions. Differing terminology used in the source English from different impacts on the quality of the translation. For languages which are less common, such as Turkish and Russian, quality assurance (post-editing) carried out by translators is recommended. Established AI translation tools are not yet able to provide satisfactory results for some languages, such as Arabic. The influence of the file format on the quality of the translation should also be noted because different file formats produce different translation suggestions. For example, the translations suggested from AI-based translation using DeepL differ depending on whether the source text originates from a PDF or a Word document. The rapid advancement of AI-based translation technology is impressive. The approach chosen by the BQ portal seeks to encourage acceptance of AI translations and in this way to bring about time and cost savings in the recognition procedure.
Initial solution: There is a shortage of medical staff in Germany. The federal state of Bavaria is looking to innovative solutions to address the rising demand for doctors. On 1 January 2024, a pilot project was launched focused on the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Solution approach: The project envisages the checking of documents submitted as one potential use of artificial intelligence. For example, it could verify the plausibility of diplomas which have been uploaded.
The aim is that this approach will help to speed up procedures. The pilot project is planned through to the end of 2025 and is being supported by the Bavarian Ministry for Health with a budget of around €320,000. It is being implemented in collaboration with the Digital Administration Competence Centre at the University of Applied Sciences in Hof and the government of Upper Bavaria.
German: Anerkennung
Also: Anerkennung der Berufsqualifikation, Gleichwertigkeitsfeststellung, Gleichwertigkeit
In this case recognition means that a foreign professional qualification is legally equivalent to a German professional qualification. This means that the foreign professional qualification is recognised in Germany. The equivalence is valid for a specific German reference occupation.
A foreign professional qualification is only partially equivalent to the German reference occupation. The reason for this is that there are substantial differences between the foreign professional qualification and the German professional qualification.
In this case, there are two options in order to still achieve full recognition:
A foreign professional qualification is not equivalent to the German reference occupation. The reason for this is that the differences between the foreign professional qualification and the German reference occupation are too great.
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