What the AQRF Means for Getting an ASEAN Degree Recognized in Another Member Country

What the AQRF Is

The ASEAN Qualifications Reference Framework (AQRF) is a common reference framework that lets ASEAN member countries compare their own national qualifications frameworks against a shared set of levels, according to the ASEAN Secretariat . It gives education authorities, employers and universities a common reference point to describe what a given qualification, secondary certificate, diploma or degree represents, regardless of which ASEAN country issued it.

The framework aims to support mobility of graduates for further study and work, and to build mutual trust in qualifications across the region. AQRF covers qualifications across all education and training sectors: university degrees, vocational certificates, and secondary school qualifications that students carry into further study or the workforce.

AQRF itself does not issue qualifications, run assessments, or replace your country's own national qualifications framework. It sits above national systems as a comparison layer, letting one country's education ministry see roughly where a qualification from another ASEAN country sits on a shared scale.

Which Countries Have Completed Referencing

Referencing to AQRF is a formal, multi-year process. A country prepares a report assessing how its national qualifications framework and quality assurance systems line up against AQRF's principles, then the AQRF Committee reviews and endorses it. Five ASEAN member states have completed this process so far, according to the ASEAN Secretariat:

• The Philippines, endorsed May 22, 2019.

• Malaysia, endorsed in 2019.

• Indonesia, completed in 2020.

• Thailand, also completed its referencing.

• Vietnam, with its report endorsed on October 24, 2025.

Other ASEAN member states have not yet completed referencing. Check with your own country's education ministry or qualifications authority for its current AQRF status before assuming it applies to your qualification.

How the Referencing Process Works

A country does not simply declare its qualifications framework equivalent to AQRF. It goes through a defined process: the country prepares a self-assessment report showing how its national qualifications framework levels and descriptors line up against AQRF's own levels, and how its quality assurance system meets AQRF's criteria.

The AQRF Committee, made up of representatives from ASEAN member states, then reviews the report and formally endorses it once it meets the criteria. This process typically takes years from the start of preparation to endorsement, part of why five member states have completed it while others have not, more than a decade after AQRF's framework document was first adopted in 2016.

AQRF Is Not the Same as a Recognition Agreement

Do not confuse AQRF with a bilateral or multilateral recognition agreement, a separate legal arrangement between two countries that specifically commits each side to recognize the other's qualifications for a defined purpose, often further study or professional licensing. AQRF only creates comparability. Two countries can both have AQRF-referenced frameworks and still require you to go through a full, separate recognition or credential evaluation process, since AQRF does not carry the same binding commitment a recognition agreement does.

What AQRF Does and Does Not Guarantee

AQRF works as an information tool to help recognition of qualifications, not a recognition decision itself.

Referencing to AQRF means your country's National Qualifications Framework has a documented, peer-reviewed position on a shared regional scale, giving universities, employers and government agencies elsewhere in ASEAN a clearer basis for evaluating your qualification.

AQRF does not replace the decision-making authority of each country's own qualifications body. If you finished secondary school in the Philippines and want your certificate assessed in Malaysia, the Malaysian Qualifications Agency still runs its own evaluation.

AQRF referencing gives that evaluator a clearer regional reference point, not an automatic approval. Participation in AQRF is voluntary, and referencing does not require a country to change its national qualifications system.

What This Means for Your Application

• Do not treat AQRF referencing as automatic degree or certificate recognition. Confirm the actual recognition process with the destination country's qualifications authority.

• If you are applying from a country that has completed referencing, your qualification's level is more clearly documented on a shared scale, which can speed up an evaluator's review, though it does not remove the review itself.

• If your home country has not completed referencing yet, your qualification still gets evaluated. It runs through the receiving country's standard evaluation process without an AQRF reference point to shortcut it.

• For regulated professions such as medicine, engineering or law, AQRF referencing has no bearing on licensing. Licensing bodies run their own separate recognition and examination requirements regardless of AQRF status.

• AQRF referencing status can change. A country not on this list today may complete its referencing report before you finish your program, so recheck closer to when you need the recognition.

Where to Verify Current Status

AQRF referencing status changes as more countries complete the process. Check the ASEAN Secretariat's AQRF page for the current list of endorsed referencing reports before you rely on a specific country's status, since new reports can get endorsed between the time this is written and when you read it.