The Qualifica Program is an adult qualification program that aims to improve the education and training levels of adults, contributing to improving the qualification levels of the population and improving the employability of individuals. The Qualifica Program is based on a qualification strategy that integrates educational and training responses and various instruments that promote the effective qualification of adults and involves a wide network of operators.

Reasons why the project / program is considered a “good practice”

Because it has as its goals: ensure that 50% of the working population completes secondary education; achieve a 15% participation rate of adults in lifelong learning activities, expanded to 25% by 2025; contribute so that we have 40% higher education graduates in the 30- 34 age group; and expand the network of Qualifica Centers (ensuring 300 by the end of 2017).

Managing authority / organisation

National Agency for Qualification and Professional Development (ANQEP, I.P.)

Main target group

Adults disadvantaged due to lack of education and skills

Source of funding

European

Stakeholders involved

ults over 18 (exceptionally it can be a solution for young people who are neither studying, nor working, nor in training); Professionals in the field of Adult Education; Employers; Education and Training Entities

Contribution of the practice in improving / promoting the social inclusion of the beneficiaries

The Portuguese population continues to show a significant qualification deficit that affects the country’s development. According to Eurostat data (2016), more than half of the population between 25 and 64 years old has a qualification level equal to or below basic education (9th year of schooling). The Qualifica Program aims to bring Portugal closer to the convergence targets for lifelong learning with the average of the European Union countries, giving a new impulse to mobilize the adult population in the search for qualifications.

Elements of the project / program that could be easily transferred to other contexts

They may be transferred to other contexts, as long as they are in the area of adult education.

Other potential target groups to which the project / program could be extended

Minority groups.

Practical evaluation carried out

Yes, it has been in practice since 2016

Description of the methods of implementation and any recommendations

The Qualifica Program is an adult qualification program that aims to improve the education and training levels of adults, contributing to improving the qualification levels of the population and improving the employability of individuals. The Qualifica Program is based on a qualification strategy that integrates educational and training responses and various instruments that promote the effective qualification of adults and involves a wide network of operators./ It was created with the aim of reducing the significant qualification deficit that conditions the country’s development and to bring Portugal closer to the convergence targets for lifelong learning with the average of the European Union countries, giving a new impulse to the mobilization of the adult population in the search for qualifications./ It also emerges as a measure for the revitalization of adult education and training, as a central pillar of the qualifications system, ensuring the continuity of lifelong learning policies and the permanent improvement of the quality of learning processes and outcomes. In order to relaunch this priority, the Portuguese Government created the Qualifica Program, which is an integrated strategy for adult training and qualification. One of the differentiating points of the Qualifica Program is the focus on training pathways that lead to an effective qualification, as opposed to one-off training, with little added value from the point of view of qualification and improving the employability of adults./ This program seeks to achieve, essentially, the following objectives: increase the qualification levels and improve the employability of the active, providing them with skills adjusted to the needs of the labor market; significantly reduce illiteracy rates, literal and functional, also fighting semi-literacy and illiteracy; enhance the system, promoting greater investment of young adults in education and training paths; correct the country’s structural backwardness in schooling towards greater convergence with the European reality; adapt the supply and training network to the needs of the labor market and the national and regional development models.

Project / program website or other online reference resources

LINK