The European Commission has also recommended that states create national databases to achieve this benefit. Registers that list qualifications can make a valuable contribution towards greater transparency, comparability and visibility of qualifications offered. They make it easier to compare qualifications and offer more guidance regarding existing qualifications.

Austria’s NQF-Register, which is administered by the OeAD | National Coordination Point for the NQF in Austria (NCP), consists of two parts. The first part is a public, generally accessible section that provides information on the EQF/NQF and the learning outcome focus. This public section was prepared with a target-group focus and provides all relevant information on these topics. The second part contains a standardised Austrian style sheet for mapping requests, which is made available online by the OeAD | National Coordination Point for the NQF in Austria (NCP).

Once mapping requests have been reviewed in detail (in terms of form and content) and the mapping process is completed, organisations requesting a mapping can find their qualification and its level in the NQF Register. The register also contains explanations and descriptions of mapped qualifications in German and English, as well as basic information such as the title of the qualification, learning outcomes, NQF level, etc. Another aim of the register is to link the data in this national database to a European database and make it available to end users in a timely manner.

The NQF-Register therefore supports the general objective of making all qualifications mapped to the NQF in Austria and Europe comparable and transparent.