The QDR is a back-office tool that allows national authorities (and delegated organisations) to provide access to information on qualifications, learning opportunities, and accreditation data across Europe.
Frequently Asked Questions
QDR
What is the Qualification Dataset Register (QDR)?
Where can QDR data be accessed?
Data published in the QDR is used by the Europass portal’s Find a course service (https://europa.eu/europass/eportfolio/screen/course) to allow access to information on qualifications and learning opportunities of publishing EU Member States. The dataset is also available as machine-readable open data via the European Data Portal at https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/european-learning-data. It can be downloaded or queried (e.g. via SPARQL endpoint) for integration into applications and services. Please note that not every EU Member State publishes data, and that the portal and downloadable data reflect only what is available in QDR. Furthermore, coverage of learning opportunities and qualifications may differ between countries, and the content of each dataset may vary depending on the country or data provider.
What types of data can be published in the QDR?
The QDR supports datasets on:
Qualifications
Learning opportunities
Accreditation
There are no restrictions on education level, type, or field.
Who can publish data in the QDR?
Only authorised national authorities and their delegated organisations can publish datasets in the QDR.
What is the role of the publisher?
The publisher is the organisation responsible for making data available in the QDR and ensuring its accuracy and maintenance.
Is the publisher the same as the data source or provider?
Not necessarily:
Publisher → the organisation that (re)publishes data in QDR
Data source → the organisation that created and/or maintains the authoritative version of the information from which the published data is derived
Provider → the organisation delivering the educational content
What is required to publish data in the QDR?
Countries must agree to the QDR publishing agreement and ensure that data complies with the European Learning Model (ELM) and linked open data principles.
What resources are needed to publish data?
Requirements depend on the maturity of existing systems. In many cases, QDR publishing builds on existing national databases, reducing effort and cost
What support is available for publishers?
Data publishers are encouraged to test their data and integrations in the acceptance environment to ensure compliance and identify potential issues at an early stage.
The Commission provides continuous feedback and support through the EMPL-ELM-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu mailbox for any questions related to publishing learning opportunities and qualifications in the QDR. This support includes guidance, validation tools (to assist data publishers before sharing learning opportunity and qualification data publicly), and training materials.
What is the difference between a qualification and a learning opportunity?
Learning opportunity → an opportunity to learn (e.g. course, programme) to achieve a given set of learning outcomes
Qualification → a special type of Learning Achievement Specification, that can be described
– in addition to providing general details such as learning outcomes, fields of education, etc.
– by additional attributes of an awarded qualification, such as NQF or EQF level, and accreditation information
In ELM, learning opportunities and qualifications can be, and often are, linked with each other with the learning opportunity being specified by a qualification. Adding this link, therefore an extra layer of information, can enhance the learning opportunity metadata with Specification properties such as fields of education and specific learning outcomes.
What is a learning achievement specification?
It defines what a learner is expected to know, understand, or be able to do. Qualifications are a specialised form of such specifications.
What is the Accreditation Database?
A separate component of QDR that stores programme and institutional accreditation data, which can be referenced in digital credentials. An awarding body’s accreditation status is verified based on this data. For further information about Accredited credentials, please see the credential type section in this link: https://europass.europa.eu/es/how-issue-european-digital-credentials-learning#9374
What does “accreditation” mean in QDR?
In the context of the European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC), accreditation refers specifically to licensing - the formal permission for an institution to operate or for a programme to be delivered, granted by a competent public authority or its delegate within a Member State. Any qualification that is part of an NQF, including if resulting from nonformal learning activities, is considered to be covered by this definition. This differs from quality assurance, which recognises quality but has no legal force and is often issued by private bodies. Licensing is defined nationally and may involve different authorities depending on qualification levels or regions, taking forms such as legal designation, exclusive competence for public providers, or time-limited licences. In this context, “accreditation” and “licensing” are used interchangeably.
Can a qualification or learning opportunity have multiple ISCED-F fields?
Yes, a qualification can be associated with one or more ISCED-F fields.
Why does ELM use a single “organisation” class?
Because organisations share common properties (e.g. name, location), even if they have different roles such as publisher, awarding body, or provider.
How should learning outcomes be written?
Learning outcomes should:
Start with “The learner is able to…” (or equivalent)
Follow: Subject → Verb → Object → Context
Be clear, measurable, and linked to real-world tasks
The example below illustrates how a single learning outcome would be displayed following the Guidelines on short descriptions of learning outcomes.
Qualification: Clinical psychologist
The clinical psychologist (EQF/NQF 7) develops and applies the theories, methods and techniques of scientific clinical psychology in the health promotion, screening, psychological diagnostics and evaluation of health problems, as well as in the prevention, guidance and treatment of persons with care or support needs. By doing so, health care users are supported from the start both by working on their development as well as optimising their functional independence and wellbeing. Holding the visa of clinical psychologist as determined in the Law on Mental Health Professions is a prerequisite to performing the profession.
The clinical psychologist is able to:
draw up a psychological evaluation;
apply interventions to relieve suffering and to promote health and wellbeing of individuals, groups and organisations;
generate research and findings that contribute to the professional knowledge and/or evaluate the efficiency of diverse professional activities;
integrate research and clinical expertise in coordination with care users and their context;
apply scientific insights and methods;
act according to the code of ethics;
develop and maintain a professional working relationship with the care user;
practice the profession in a professional and societally responsible way;
develop and maintain own expertise;
reflect, carry out self-evaluation and self-care;
interact with professionals from multiple disciplines.
To see more examples, please refer to this link: https://europass.europa.eu/en/guidelines-short-descriptions-learning-outcomes#9281.
What if my data does not match the ELM schema?
Publishers must map their data to the ELM schema by:
Aligning concepts to classes
Example: An education provider offers a course called English as a Foreign Language.
In the LOQ application, this course is represented as an instance of elm:LearningOpportunity.
This is a clear conceptual match:
Source concept (course): English as a Foreign Language
ELM class: elm:LearningOpportunity
Therefore, the source concept (course) should be mapped to the elm:LearningOpportunity class.
Mapping attributes to properties
Example: An education provider offers a course named English as a Foreign Language that lasts six months. In the LOQ application, this information can be mapped to the elm:duration property of elm:LearningOpportunity.
This is a clear attribute match:
Source attribute: Course duration
ELM property: elm:duration
Therefore, the course duration should be represented using the elm:duration property.
General rule: Each source concept and source attribute should be mapped individually to the most appropriate ELM class or property. Where a direct match exists, the corresponding ELM class (for example, elm:LearningOpportunity) or ELM property (for example, elm:duration, elm:providedBy, or elm:applicationDeadline) should be used.
What if some data is missing?
Non-mandatory fields can be omitted. With questions about required fields, publishers should contact the support team at EMPL-ELM-SUPPORT@ec.europa.eu.
How can additional or unsupported information be included?
Use the “additionalNote” property or propose extensions to the model via the European Learning Model Futurium Group.
How is data quality ensured?
Only authorised publishers, i.e. Member State representatives, and their delegated entities, can upload data
A validation tool checks compliance with ELM
Testing in pre-production environments is recommended
How can publishers improve trust in their data?
Data publishers can improve trust in their data by:
Providing organisation details in business registers
Ensuring web visibility
Using digital signatures for their website
How does QDR support interoperability?
Through linked open data principles, using unique and persistent identifiers and connections to external datasets (e.g. ESCO, geospatial data).
Is QDR data available for reuse?
Yes. Data is published as open data at https://data.europa.eu/data/datasets/european-learning-data under licences that allow reuse by individuals, organisations, and third parties. The data can be downloaded either per country, or per type of dataset. The datasets are available in TTL or JSON-LD format, and a SPARQL endpoint is also available to query parts of the datasets. The endpoint also facilitates the linking of the data to other systems or datasets and can ease eventual integration efforts.
Can QDR data be used for commercial purposes?
Yes. Commercial reuse is allowed under the applicable open licences.
What does it mean that QDR is open-source?
The QDR data model and tools are available under an open-source licence on code.europa.eu, allowing reuse and adaptation by public administrations and developers.