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The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have agreed to grant automatic mutual recognition of each other's higher education qualifications.

Mailis Reps, Estonia¡¯s minister of education and research, has signed an agreement with her Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts, designed, she said, to make it easier for students to move between the countries while ¡°increas[ing] academic mobility, mak[ing] our higher education system more open and international and also support[ing] labour mobility¡±.

The agreement covers any academic degrees and professional diplomas, as well as diplomas?conferred at the end of secondary school, awarded after the implementation of the deal.

This means that universities can now accept students and recruit faculty from other Baltic countries without needing to consult

Part of the broader plan to achieve automatic recognition of qualifications right across Europe by 2020, the new arrangements are similar to those already in place in the Benelux countries of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

matthew.reisz@timeshighereducation.com