MQA’s seal required for higher education and training qualifications obtained abroad

Maldives Qualifications Authority (MQA) has stated that certificates of higher education and training qualifications obtained from foreign countries must contain the seal of the authority confirming the validation and recognition of the certificate.

In an announcement on Tuesday, MQA said that Article 7 of the Maldives Higher Education deems the authority responsible for assuring the quality of post-secondary qualifications awarded in the testimony of education and training.

Therewith, they emphasized that higher education and training qualifications obtained from foreign countries must be validated and recognized by the authority. The authority said that hereafter, only certificates of higher education and training qualifications obtained from foreign countries that have been validated and recognized by the authority will be accepted by government bodies in granting employment.

In their announcement – MQA also underscored being made aware of the publication of information regarding some qualifications through various means without confirmation from the authority of its recognition.

They noted that such qualifications included ones that have been publicly listed by MQA as inadmissible for different reasons in line with the regulations on recognizing and validating qualifications.

Hence, MQA has urged government bodies and individuals pursuing higher education and training qualifications to pay special attention to this.

Speaking to Sun regarding the announcement – MQA said that the regulations detailed in the announcement with respect to recognizing and validating qualifications are the same as the previous regulations. They added that confusion over the wording led to the amendment for further clarification.

MQA’s validation is only required for qualifications obtained from foreign countries. Qualifications obtained locally do not require validation.