What is a national qualification?
National qualifications refer to qualifications that ① are newly established and managed and operated by the state in accordance with laws and regulations (Framework Act on Qualifications). Here, the state refers to administrative agencies such as the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the National Tax Service, and the department in charge of the law is usually the department in charge of operating the qualification system.
Therefore, when you want to check whether a certificate is a national qualification, you can check whether there is an underlying law and whether the organization that manages and operates the qualification system is a national administrative agency, or in other words, whether the agency that issues the certificate is an administrative agency. For national qualifications, the relevant ministry does not conduct qualification tests, but related tasks are often entrusted to affiliated organizations or related associations, so the period for conducting qualification tests and the institutions that manage and issue qualifications are often different.
For example, the automobile driver’s license, which is one of the qualifications acquired by the most people, is a national qualification because it is issued by city and provincial police chiefs in accordance with the Road Traffic Act. The actual driving test is conducted at the Road Traffic Authority’s driver’s license test center, but the driver’s license certificate is issued in the name of a city/provincial police agency, such as the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency or the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency.
Road Traffic Act Article 80 (Driver’s License)
① Anyone who wishes to drive a car, etc. must obtain a driver’s license from the city/provincial police chief.
National qualification – car driver’s license
Differences from nationally recognized qualifications
The qualifications that are most often confused with national qualifications are nationally recognized qualifications. The correct name for a nationally recognized qualification is a nationally recognized private qualification. Among private qualifications created, managed, and operated by the private sector, that is, individuals, corporations, and organizations, rather than the state, nationally recognized qualifications are those in which the government recognizes excellent private qualifications that meet social needs as similar to national qualifications. Therefore, the essence of nationally recognized qualifications is private qualifications, and unlike national qualifications, there is no need to change the law to create, change, or abolish a qualification system, so the qualification system can be more easily changed or qualifications may disappear.
Therefore, it is safer to obtain a national certification, and in general, more places give preferential treatment to national certification holders (this is only true in general, but among national certifications, there are some that are not famous, and among nationally recognized certifications or private certifications, they are more useful. There are also certifications that give preferential treatment).
In particular, there are many national certifications that have the characteristics of a license that must be obtained in order to perform certain activities, such as a driver’s license must be obtained to drive. For example, national qualifications such as lawyer, doctor, tax accountant, and certified public accountant are license-like qualifications that must be obtained in order to do the job.
National qualification type
National qualifications are largely divided into ① national technical qualifications and ② national professional qualifications, depending on the underlying law.
National technical certification is a certification created in accordance with the <National Qualification and Technology Act> and is a collection of national qualifications in technology, skills and service fields related to industry.
National professional qualifications are qualifications created in accordance with various laws other than the National Qualifications and Technology Act, and include laws that many people have heard of, such as the <Road Traffic Act>, as well as unfamiliar laws such as the <Act on the Sustainable Use of Wood>. The name ‘national professional qualification’ is not a legal term, but since it is a qualification that covers professional areas such as medicine, taxation, and accounting, it is usually called a national professional qualification to classify it with the national technical qualification.
Types of national technical qualifications
You may have heard of certifications such as Korean Culinary Technician, Automobile Maintenance Engineer, Electrician, Confectionery Craftsman, and Firefighting Technician. National technical qualifications are those that end with technician, industrial engineer, technician, master craftsman, and technician.
The National Qualifications Act is largely divided into technical/skill field qualifications and service field qualifications, and depending on the level of job performance capabilities possessed by technical personnel, qualification levels in the technology/skill field are classified into engineer, craftsman, engineer, industrial engineer, and technician. Service field qualifications are classified as level 1, level 2, level 3 or single level.
Along with this grading system, national technical qualifications are divided into 26 job fields such as management, accounting, and office management, depending on the job performance required in industrial sites. As of 2022, there are a total of 544 national technical qualifications depending on the field and grade system as shown in the table below. Every year, depending on the need and demand for national technical certifications, new certifications are created, certifications are merged, or certifications disappear.
[Appendix 2] Job fields of national technical qualifications and items of national technical qualifications (related to Article 3) (Enforcement Rules of the National Technical Qualifications Act).hwp
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The most recently created national technical qualification is for Big Data Analysis Technician, and the qualification test has been conducted by the Korea Data Industry Promotion Agency since 2020.
National technical qualification (544)
Job field
(26) Technology/skills field (511) Service field (33)
Engineer Technician Technician Industrial Engineer Technician Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Single
Rating
84 29 117 119 162 10 10 3 10
National technical qualification enforcement agency
For national technical qualifications, the Human Resources Development Service of Korea conducts the largest number of qualification tests, and some qualification tests are conducted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as shown in the table below.
Implementing Agency Number of Items Item Name
Human Resources Development Service of Korea 494 All items except those implemented by other organizations
Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry 15 E-commerce manager level 1 and 2, computerized accounting operator level 1, 2 and 3,
Word processor, Korean shorthand level 1, 2, and 3, secretary level 1, 2, and 3,
Computer literacy level 1 and 2, e-commerce operator
Korea Atomic Energy
Safety Technology Institute Radiation Management Technician, Nuclear Power Plant Engineer, Nuclear Energy Engineer
Korean Film Council 2 Projection industry technician, projection technician
Korea Broadcasting Corporation
Radio Agency 16 wireless equipment engineer, wireless equipment industrial engineer, wireless equipment technician,
Broadcasting and communications engineer, broadcasting and communications industry engineer, broadcasting and communications technician,
Radio electronic communication engineer, radio electronic communication industry engineer, radio electronic communication technician,
Information and communication technician, communication equipment technician, information and communication engineer,
Information and communication industry engineer, communication line industry engineer, communication line technician,
Communication equipment technician
Korea Creative Content Agency 3 Game graphics expert, game planning expert, game programming expert
Korea Mine Reclamation Corporation 7 Mine reclamation prevention engineer, mine reclamation engineer, mine security engineer, mine security industrial engineer, mine security technician, drilling technician, resource management technician
Korea Internet & Security Agency 2 Information Security Engineer, Information Security Industry Engineer
Korea Institute of Design Promotion 1 Service/Experience Design Article
Korea Data Industry
Promotion Agency 1 Big Data Analysis Article
Total 544
The types of national technical qualifications implemented by the Human Resources Development Service of Korea can be checked on the Qnet site (click on the picture below to go to the Qnet site).