Estonia is in the big transition process involving all sectors: policy, education, job market and third sector. The developments of the first decade following the restoration of independence have received considerable support from international cooperation: Estonia has joined the Bologna and Sorbonne conventions establishing a European Higher Education Area, joined the Lisbon Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications Concerning Higher Education in the European Region and adopted the Recognition of Foreign Professional Qualifications Act.
There are big changes and reforms taking place in Estonian educational policy in last years. Together with reforms there was diversification of educational institutions, curricula become more flexible, number of drop-outs is significant, increase in the number of adult learners, international and local mobility and establishment of the requirements for professional qualifications.
After the reform of higher education according to the principles of the Bologna Declaration in 2001, Estonian universities recognised the need for accreditation of prior formal learning. Being the second reform during the last ten years, the Bologna process introduced several new qualifications that differed from the previous ones both in purpose as well as length of study.
