In EU countries, the development of educational programmes is guided by international classifications such as ISCO and ISCED.

ISCED

ISCED (International Standard Classification of Education) is an international classification used to develop educational programmes and related qualifications by education levels and fields. It is a tool used to collect, analyse, and aggregate internationally comparable education statistics.

ISCED is one of the international economic and social institutions of the UN.

ISCED was developed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in the mid-1970s and has been updated several times, including in 2011 and 2013.

ISCO

The International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) is an international classification managed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to categorise professions into groups according to the tasks and duties performed at work. ISCO is intended for use in compiling statistics as well as in client services, such as recruiting workers through employment agencies, managing the migration of workers between countries, and developing vocational training programmes.

The first version of ISCO, known as ISCO-58, was adopted in 1957 at the Ninth International Conference of Labour Statisticians. Subsequent versions were ISCO-68 (Eleventh International Conference of Labour Statisticians in 1966), ISCO-88 (Fourteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians in 1987), and the more recent ISCO-08, adopted in December 2007.

Sources: UNESCO, ILO, European Commission

https://uis.unesco.org/
https://ilostat.ilo.org/
https://ec.europa.eu/