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Appendix to item 28.3
Report for the 24th General Assembly
FIG Working Week in Seoul, 6-11 May 2001
TASK FORCE ON MUTUAL RECOGNITION OF QUALIFICATIONS
General
Over the last year the Task Force has been focused on developing a suitable
approach to Mutual Recognition tailored for the surveying profession. The
strategy has been to develop a model suitable to the European region. The
outcome of these efforts should then form the basis for developing a world wide
model. A European model was developed for presentation at the joint FIG/CLGE
seminar in Delft, The Netherlands, 3rd November 2000. The seminar attracted some
50 participants representing the educational sector and surveying community on
the European region. The outcome of the seminar is reported on in the March
issue of the FIG Bulletin and the final report of seminar, will be disseminated
by the end of April 2001.
In parallel the Task Force has been working on developing a more global model
and the structure for the final report to be adopted at the GA during the FIG
Congress in Washington in April 2001. The Task Force is grateful to Dr. Frances
Plimmer, UK, who has acted as secretary to the workshop and produced some very
valuable papers and input. In conclusion, the profile of Task Force is coming
well together, and we are looking forward to discuss the key issues and the
structure for the final report during the sessions at the General Assembly in
Soul. The profile and the key material of the Task Force can be found on the
home page on the FIG web site.
Terms of Reference
Recognising the international market pressures and the regulations towards
liberation of trade driven by the WTO, FIG should review the area of mutual
recognition of qualifications within the world-wide surveying community and
develop a framework for introduction of standards of global professional
competence in this area. In pursuing this aim the task force will:
- Undertake regional studies to investigate existing agreements of mutual
recognition and reciprocity.
- Develop guidelines for assurance of competence for entering the surveying
profession, e.g. educational requirements and requirements for professional
practice.
- Develop guidelines for the establishment of agreements of mutual
recognition and reciprocity, including standards for quality assurance in
surveying education and standards for adaptation criteria with regard to
professional practice.
- Develop a concept and a framework for implementation of threshold
standards of global professional competence in surveying.
The task force will develop a framework for reviewing the benefits and
barriers against introducing standards for global professional competence. This
should be seen as only a first step in this direction, to reflect FIG´s aim to
drive these developments instead of being driven by them.
The output of the Task Force should be a report on global professional
competence to be adopted by the General Assembly in Washington 2002. The report
will be published in the FIG publication series for the benefit of member
associations and in support of the on-going interaction between FIG and other
NGOs such as the WTO and UNESCO.
Members of the task force are: Stig Enemark, Denmark (chair); Frances Plimmer,
UK (secretary); Tom Kennie, UK (Vice-President of FIG); John Parker, Australia;
Pedro Cavero, Spain; Davis Coleman, Canada; Heinz Reuther, South Africa; Vaclav
Slaboch, Czech Republic; Teo Chee Hai, Malaysia.
Main Activities
- Co-operation with the WTO headquarters in Geneva. This includes exchange
of information and relevant material regarding production of guidelines for
mutual recognition in the service sector. The Task Force Chair maintains a
regular and direct contact with the WTO officials.
- A research project has been carried out by Dr. Frances Plimmer to
investigate the nature of Mutual Recognition in the European Region. The
research was funded by CLGE and undertaken in co-operation with the FIG task
force on Mutual Recognition. The objectives of this research were to develop
a methodology to assess professional competence for the different areas of
surveying and to develop threshold standards of professional competence for
the different areas of surveying. The preliminary results were discussed at
the joint FIG/CLGE seminar held in Delft, The Netherlands, 3rd November
2000. The final results will be presented in final report from the seminar
to be published by the end of April 2001
- The outcome from this joint FIG/CLGE seminar should form the basis the
development of a world-wide model. This is developed in parallel and the key
issues will be developed in the paper on Mutual Recognition to be presented
in Seoul. These issues as well as a draft for the structure of the final
Task Force report will be discussed at a working session in Seoul.
- Development of the aim and the profile of the task force report. The
report will be based on the papers produced by the Task Force. These papers
are available at Task Force home page at the FIG web site. Furthermore, the
report should include a number of case studies from around the world to
present the problems as well as best practice in the area of Mutual
Recognition. And finally, it should also include a FIG policy statement that
will be developed for adoption by the Bureau.
Globalisation of services is not a threat. It should be seen as an
opportunity and as a demand for FIG to develop new means and tools to meet the
challenges of the future. The principle has been established and we have the
change to develop a framework which suits us. We should take it.
Prof. Stig Enemark
Chair of FIG Task Force on Mutual Recognition of Qualifications
Email: enemark@land.aau.dk
23 February 2001
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