Picture this: a student earns a diploma in South Africa, completes a certification in Germany, and applies for a job in the U.S. Along the way, their qualifications don’t quite translate. Different systems. Different standards. Confusing language. Together, this means missed opportunities, delays, and a tangled mess of paperwork for learners, employers, and educators alike.
This is a global problem. And Credential Engine wants to tackle it head-on through open data, transparency, and trust in the credential marketplace.
Why now?
Almost every country in the world has its own qualifications framework — a way to describe the learning outcomes and levels of credentials like degrees, diplomas, and certifications. These frameworks are essential to help learners progress through education and into jobs. To help employers understand what candidates bring to the job. And to help educators and evaluators assess the relative value of qualifications / credentials across national borders. If frameworks lack alignments, use different terminology and definitions, and are without a consistent way to compare or connect them, mobility and efficiencies are nigh on impossible to realize.
That makes it hard for people to move across systems and borders, whether that’s transferring credits, recognizing prior learning, or navigating international job markets. In a world where learning is increasingly mobile and career paths cross international boundaries more easily than ever before, this disconnect holds people back.
The solution starts with a shared language
To bridge this gap, we leverage the Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL) — an open data language that makes frameworks, qualifications/credentials, skills, learning outcomes, and quality indicators readable and comparable across systems. Think of CTDL like the underlying system that lets different platforms and tools talk to each other, so no matter where you earned your credential, the skills and competencies you learned can be lined up.
Using CTDL, countries can make their frameworks available as structured, open, linked, and interoperable data that is connected, transparent, and available to be used across systems. That means qualifications and credentials from different countries can be understood side by side, paving the way for smoother transitions for learners, jobseekers, employers, and institutions.
Let’s take action — together
We recently launched a global publishing pilot to help countries and organizations take this step. Together with partners like the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), the Groningen Declaration Network (GDN), and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO), we’re supporting international agencies to map their frameworks and credentials using CTDL.
This pilot offers:
- Hands-on guidance for structuring qualifications framework data
- A shared learning network across borders
- A chance to shape global best practices around transparency and trust in credentials
At the same time, we’ve also put together a Global Task Group focused on recognizing prior learning across systems. When people move between institutions and countries, they often carry valuable skills and experience that go unrecognized. This group is working to identify how credit for prior learning can be better described, shared, and understood using CTDL, so learners don’t lose progress or opportunity when their formal learning journey needs to change locations or take a pause.
What’s next and why it matters
Credential transparency doesn’t stop at borders. In fact, it’s more powerful when it crosses them.
By expanding CTDL’s reach globally, we help to build shared infrastructure that supports mobility, comparability, and opportunity, no matter where someone learns or works. For learners, that means less red tape and more recognition. For employers, it means a better way to evaluate and understand talent. For educators and governments, it’s a chance to align systems and support lifelong learning in a more connected world.
We’re excited about what’s next because it matters —and we’re just getting started.
Get involved
Join the Global Qualifications Frameworks Publishing Pilot or the Global Task Group on Prior Learning Recognition. Let’s make the credential marketplace work better for everyone, everywhere.
Visit our partners
- South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA)
- Groningen Declaration Network (GDN)
- American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO)