The Australia Awards South Asia & Mongolia program is seeking technical proposals from Registered Training Organisations in Australia, or Australian tertiary institutions as defined in the Higher Education Support Act, 2003 Table A, B and C, to design and deliver a Short Course on Operationalising an Integrated National Qualifications Framework Short Course (Nepal).
Australia Awards – South Asia & Mongolia (the Program) is seeking a cost-effective training program for up to 20 participants. This Short Course will be delivered via blended delivery over four months, commencing in January 2027 and completing no later than April 2027.
The proposed Short Course aims to expose participants to Australia’s experience in implementing a national qualifications framework, to build on lessons learnt and explore approaches which may be applicable to Nepal’s context.
Australia has over three decades of experience in implementing the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), integrating qualifications across school education, vocational education and training (VET), and higher education. Australia's experience in quality assurance, qualifications recognition, RPL, credit transfer, governance, digital qualifications systems, and stakeholder engagement provides valuable lessons for Nepal.
The selected Provider will design and deliver a Short Course that combines Australian policy experience, institutional practice, applied learning, and opportunities for engagement with relevant Australian organisations and individual subject matter experts. The course will strengthen Nepal's capacity to operationalise its own NQF by exposing participants to Australian policy settings, institutional arrangements, implementation approaches, and practical tools that can be adapted to Nepal's context.
The course will emphasise practical implementation rather than theoretical discussion and will culminate in institutional action planning.
Specifically, the proposed Short Course will focus on the following areas, identified by development partners as areas from which Nepal may learn from international experience. These include:
Practical implementation of credit transfer, learner mobility, and articulation pathways between institutions and sectors.
Australia’s approach to contextualising support structures, course content, RPL and delivery to improve Indigenous participation and completion in tertiary education.
Examine how qualifications frameworks can promote equitable access, recognition and progression opportunities for women, people with disabilities and historically marginalised groups through inclusive policy design, recognition of prior learning and accessible qualifications systems. Governance models suited to Nepal's federal context, with clear roles for national and sub-national actors.
Development of digital qualification ecosystems, including learner records, micro-credentials, and inter-operable certification systems.
Mechanisms for quality assurance and recognition of qualifications delivered through diverse modalities and providers.
Industry engagement mechanisms that strengthen labour market responsiveness.
In addition, participants will engage with Australian technical subject matter-experts on practical approaches to achieving recognition and portability of qualifications internationally.
