Recognition and the Promise of Mobility: The UNESCO Global Convention

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May/June 2026

By Esther Benjamin and Stig Arne Skjerven 

Since its founding in 1945, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has been dedicated to advancing "peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through education, science, and culture," (UNESCO, n.d.-a). In a world shattered by the second world war, UNESCO sought to broaden perspectives, believing that "the defenses of peace must be constructed" (UNESCO, n.d.-b) in the minds of individuals.

More than 80 years later, this vision feels more urgent than ever. We live in a moment of unprecedented mobility: over 300 million people live outside their country of origin (The United Nations, n.d.), more than 123 million are forcibly displaced (UNHCR 2025), and nearly 7 million are studying internationally (UNESCO 2025). We are also in a moment of massive disruption and transformation, with technological, climate, and geopolitical shifts poised to reshape our world.

Today, credential recognition—the verification and evaluation of a person’s past education—could not be more essential. This recognition not only facilitates international education but migration, employment, and licensing as well.

A person’s hard-earned academic credentials should not be minimized or erased once they cross an international border. By breaking down barriers between ability and opportunity, recognition unlocks individual, local, national, and global potential.

The Evolving Landscape of Global Mobility

Student mobility has grown dramatically throughout the past three decades, from roughly 1 million internationally mobile students in 1990 to nearly 7 million today (The United Nations, n.d.; UNESCO 2025). There are a wider range of options for students in additional geographies. And there is also a fundamental shift in how higher education connects to global talent development taking place. According to a recent article on the talent ecosystem, labor mobility has shifted from a largely unidirectional model to one of circulation across multiple countries and regions (Potts 2025). Ultimately, factors like demographic changes, economic integration, and emerging market growth have transformed the global landscape.

Inevitably, student and talent mobility have not always followed a smooth path. Geopolitical tensions, visa restrictions, pandemic disruptions, safety and security concerns, and rising costs create significant barriers. Institutions operate in perpetual uncertainty while trying to maintain their international commitments (Dimechkie 2021). Alongside voluntary movements, forced displacement has created urgent new recognition challenges. As International Educator's November 2023 "The Cost of Conflict" issue documents, conflict and persecution have disrupted education for millions, making credential recognition essential to rebuilding lives and supporting integration.

Recognition for Mobility, Equity, and Opportunity

Recognition frameworks make mobility function. Without systems to validate learning across borders, the number of international students could not have grown from 1 million to 7 million. Recognition allows people to carry their education forward. It gives institutions the confidence to collaborate and helps societies benefit from global talent.

The numbers bear this out. The UNESCO Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education (Global Convention), which entered into effect in March 2023, along with UNESCO higher education regional conventions, now cover roughly 72 percent of globally mobile students (UNESCO 2019a; UNESCO 2019b). That's around 5 million learners studying in places with international recognition frameworks.

Recognition is also an equity issue. As Social Justice and International Education emphasizes, fair recognition reduces bias by focusing on what learners know and can do rather than where they studied (Berger 2020). Recognition frameworks create agreed-upon principles that limit subjective judgments based on institutional reputation or geography.

Additionally, recognition affects what happens after graduation. In Canada, for example, the evaluation of international academic credentials is built into immigration selection and overseen by fairness commissioners who ensure the assessment aligns with the principles of the 1997 Lisbon Recognition Convention. Educational attainment and verified credentials play a central role in determining eligibility under skilled migration pathways. This upfront recognition process can support more informed planning and reduce uncertainty at the point of migration. While systemic challenges remain, the integration of academic credential recognition into immigration policy provides a strong foundation. And with continued coordination across sectors, this model can be further strengthened to create more seamless pathways from education to migration to professional integration.

The UNESCO Global Convention: A Framework for the Future

The UNESCO Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education builds on earlier recognition frameworks by establishing a worldwide point of reference. Adopted in November 2019 and entered into force in 2023, it provides universal principles for fair, transparent, and nondiscriminatory credential recognition. Earlier regional conventions laid important groundwork, and the Global Convention, currently with 40 signatory countries, marks a new stage. It establishes recognition as a global public good.

Adopted in June 2025, the Global Convention's Operational Guidelines translate these principles into practice. They spell out what universities and authorities should do while leaving room for different higher education systems to work in their own ways. The guidelines stress transparency (e.g., public criteria, clear procedures, timely decisions) and outcome-based assessment that examines what learners know rather than instills formal measures like credit hours. They also tackle current challenges directly: online and blended learning, transnational education (TNE), and recognition for refugees and displaced persons.

Article VII addresses recognition for refugees and displaced persons specifically. It requires signatory countries to make recognition possible even when people cannot provide complete documentation. This responds to issues facing forcibly displaced people worldwide. Many have substantial education and experience, though conflict or displacement have disrupted their learning trajectories. Recognition preserves educational continuity, prevents prior learning from disappearing, and improves access to skills-commensurate employment.

Several innovative tools support this work. The UNESCO Qualifications Passport, the European Qualifications Passport for Refugees by the Council of Europe, and in North America, the World Education Services Gateway Program all use structured interviews, competency-based assessments, and alternative verification methods when traditional documents are not available. These practical approaches will inform a Recommendation on Recognition of Refugees' and Displaced Persons' Qualifications that signatory countries plan to adopt in June 2027.

Transnational Education and New Recognition Challenges

TNE—programs delivered across borders through branch campuses, joint degrees, and partnerships—has grown substantially. It offers clear advantages: better access, lower costs, and talent retention for local economies. Students who cannot travel internationally can still access international qualifications. However, TNE also creates complications for recognition. For example, when a United Kingdom degree gets delivered in Malaysia, which quality assurance system applies? How should study earned over four years in two countries and two institutions granting two degrees be evaluated? These questions have become pressing as TNE enrollments have grown larger than traditional study abroad numbers in some regions.

At the June 2025 UNESCO Intergovernmental Conference, signatory countries agreed to develop TNE guidelines for adoption in 2027. For institutional leaders, this means examining TNE partnerships now rather than waiting. Fruitful TNE arrangements require explicit agreements about quality assurance responsibilities, documentation standards, and recognition pathways. Clear partnership terms protect students and institutional reputation while ensuring outcomes will be recognized.

What Institutional Leaders Need to Know

As mobility pathways diversify and international partnerships multiply, recognition works best when woven into broader academic and international strategies. Recognition is good governance and serves as an institutional trust function requiring leadership attention.

Concretely, institutional leaders should ensure recognition principles and procedures are clear, published, and easy to find. Prospective students and partners should understand how credentials will be evaluated before applying. Transparency reduces unpleasant surprises and helps people make informed decisions.

Recognition decisions should happen in reasonable time frames and follow fair, non-discriminatory processes. This requires trained evaluators, realistic timelines, and documented decision-making. Decisions should include clear reasoning, especially when recognition is denied or granted partially. Appeals mechanisms should exist with appropriate independence.

When developing partnerships, especially transnational ones, recognition needs to be part of the initial conversation. Key questions include:

• Is the partner appropriately accredited by relevant authorities in their home country?
• Do they operate transparently, with easily accessible information on how they meet quality assurance standards?
• Are recognition arrangements spelled out clearly in the partnership agreement?
• What documentation will students receive after completing their studies?
• How will quality be monitored over time?

Institutions also need to prepare for refugees and displaced students. As Global Studies Literature Review 2025: Revisiting Place in International Education explores, “place” in international education now includes displacement (Whatley 2025). Designated staff trained in alternative assessment methods and provisional admission pathways help institutions serve these students well.

Conclusion: Recognition and the Promise of Mobility

When recognition works well, it connects learning to possibility. People carry their education across borders and continents. Institutions collaborate with real confidence. Societies benefit from global talent while maintaining equity and reciprocity between countries and regions, evaluating people on what they know rather than where they are from.

The UNESCO Global Convention and its Operational Guidelines provide a framework for this work, establishing universal principles while respecting diversity. And they address contemporary challenges including TNE, online learning, and recognition for refugees. The guidelines create infrastructure for international cooperation at a moment when such cooperation feels increasingly fragile yet necessary.

More than 80 years after UNESCO's founding, building bridges between nations through education and mutual understanding matters as much as it ever has. When we support mobility through fair and transparent recognition, we build more than stronger workforces—we build more resilient, more inclusive, and ultimately more peaceful international communities.

The work ahead to maintain, expand, and evolve recognition frameworks requires vision, resources, and sustained commitment. The promise of educational equity and global understanding makes recognition some of the most important work happening in higher education today.

References

Berger, LaNitra, ed. 2020. Social Justice and International Education: Research, Practice, and Perspectives. Washington, D.C.: NAFSA: Association of International Educators. https://www.nafsa.org/bookstore/social-justice-and-international-education. 

Council of Europe. n.d. “European Qualifications Passport for Refugees.” Council of Europe (website). Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.coe.int/en/web/education/recognition-of-refugees-qualifications.

Dimechkie, Hala. 2021. “Pursuing Internationalization in Times of Persistent Crisis.” Trends & Insights, September 1, 2021. https://www.nafsa.org/professional-resources/research-and-trends/trends-insights/pursuing-internationalization-in-times-of-persistent-crisis.

Potts, Davina. 2025. “Redefining the Talent Ecosystem: Who Goes and Who Stays?” Trends & Insights, August 11, 2025. https://www.nafsa.org/professional-resources/research-and-trends/trends-insights/redefining-talent-ecosystem-who-goes-and-who-stays.

The United Nations. n.d. “Global Issues: International Migration.” The United Nations (website). Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.un.org/en/global-issues/migration.

Toner, Mark. 2023. “Conflict and Change.” International Educator, November 8, 2023. https://www.nafsa.org/ie-magazine/issue/32/11/november-2023-cost-conflict.

UNESCO. 2019a. “Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education.” UNESCO (website). Updated November 25, 2019. https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/global-convention-recognition-qualifications-concerning-higher-education.

UNESCO. 2019b. “Higher Education Regional Conventions.” UNESCO (website). Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.unesco.org/en/higher-education/conventions?hub=70286.

UNESCO. 2025. “Record Number of Higher Education Students Highlights Global Need for Recognition of Qualifications.” UNESCO (website). Updated June 24, 2025. https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/record-number-higher-education-students-highlights-global-need-recognition-qualifications.

UNESCO. n.d.-a. “Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.” UNESCO (website). Updated January 6, 2026. https://www.unesco.org/en/legal-affairs/constitution.

UNESCO. n.d.-b. “UNESCO Qualifications Passport.” UNESCO (website). Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.unesco.org/en/emergencies/qualifications-passport.

UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). 2025. Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2024. Geneva, Switzerland: UNHCR. https://www.unhcr.org/global-trends-report-2024.

World Education Services. n.d. “About the WES Gateway Program.” WES (website). Accessed March 19, 2026. https://www.wes.org/social-impact/programming/wes-gateway-program/.

Esther Benjamin is the CEO and executive director of World Education Services, a global social enterprise dedicated to the success of immigrants, refugees, and international students. She is also a visiting fellow with the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. She previously held global leadership roles in nonprofit organizations as well as the public and private sectors.

Stig Arne Skjerven is the chair of the Global Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education. He has previously held the roles of director of Norway’s ENIC-NARIC Center, chair of the ENIC Network, director of Academic Affairs at Norwegian HEI, and has been Norway’s Deputy Permanent Representative to UNESCO.