b-solutions for the recognition of #ProfessionalQualifications

Andy Dritty, M.Sc, Regional Minister of the Province of Limburg comments on the successful path of the Province towards the elaboration of factsheets and roadmaps containing information on the recognition of qualification for highly demanded professions:

"As a border region, the Province of Limburg experiences on a daily basis the dynamics of close cooperation and, at the same time, of persisting differences between the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The roadmaps & factsheets provide a way to navigate such differences by ensuring that recognition procedures for a selection of highly demanded and regulated professions are made more transparent, thereby ultimately benefiting cross-border mobility. The documents provide information going beyond twhat is readily available online and provide tailor-made information on recognition procedures in the Dutch border region with Belgium and Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony). b-solutions therefore helped us to further cooperation, coordination and realise solutions to existing differences and to improve our regional policy. A core aspect in the development of the roadmaps & factsheets was for our external advisor - ITEM (Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross border cooperation and Mobility - University of Maastricht) - to initiate contacts with new partners in the three Member States concerned and to interview competent authorities responsible for the professions selected (physiotherapists, secondary school teachers and second level nurses). Initiating contact with new partners is the first necessary step to further cooperation and coordination. In the context of the project, we have already seen a direct and positive impact on this. Apart from contributing to the process of establishing the roadmaps & factsheets, contacts with competent authorities led to valuable insights on procedures, cooperation, and information provision on recognition. These insights were documented in a report and can serve as a basis for future information exchange between relevant stakeholders. The b-solutions initiative provides for a solid basis for action in tackling cross-border obstacles and we hope other organisations will feel encouraged to participate in the next calls. We see how participating in this project has a direct and positive impact on cooperation between border regions."