Sri Lanka SLQF Level Checker

The Sri Lanka Qualifications Framework (SLQF) is the national reference scale for higher-education qualifications, published by the University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Higher Education. Its purpose is a single ladder on which every award, a diploma from one institute and a degree from another, can be placed and compared, so that employers and universities can state a minimum learning levelrather than name specific programmes. That is why government and semi-government vacancies increasingly read “a qualification of SLQF Level 5 or above.”

The SLQF 2016 document defines twelve levels. Levels 1 and 2 correspond to GCE O/L and A/L. Levels 3 to 6 are the undergraduate ladder, Diploma (3), Higher Diploma (4), Bachelors (5) and Bachelors Honours (6). Levels 7 to 12 are postgraduate, Postgraduate Certificate (7), Postgraduate Diploma (8), Masters by coursework (9), Masters with coursework and a research component (10), MPhil (11) and PhD/Doctorate (12).

Each level is defined by a minimum volume of learning measured in credits, not by calendar time. SLQF 2016 sets one full-time academic year at 1,500 notional learning hours, and one taught credit at 50 of those hours, so 30 taught credits equal one academic year. The undergraduate ladder follows this exactly: measured after GCE A/L, a Diploma needs 30 credits, a Higher Diploma 60, a Bachelors 90, and an Honours degree 120, a clean 30-credit (one-year) step per level. This tool cross-checks that increment on every render, so a data slip would be caught rather than shown.

Postgraduate credit counts are measured from a Bachelors or Honours baseline: a Postgraduate Certificate is 20 credits, a Postgraduate Diploma 25, a taught Masters 30, and a research-component Masters 60 (of which at least 15 must be research). The two highest levels are defined by research time instead of credits, a minimum of two years' full-time research for an MPhil and three years for a PhD, in both cases after a Level 6 qualification or above.

For the lower levels, SLQF 2016 Table 2 also publishes an official comparison with the seven-level NVQ (vocational) framework governed by TVEC: SLQF 5 (Bachelors) aligns with NVQ 7, SLQF 4 with NVQ 6, SLQF 3 with NVQ 5, and SLQF 2 with NVQ 4. Because the NVQ framework tops out at Level 7, there is no NVQ equivalent above a Bachelors, so this tool shows “no NVQ equivalent” for SLQF Levels 6 to 12.

• UGC / Ministry of Higher Education: Sri Lanka Qualifications Framework (SLQF) 2016 (Tables 1 & 2)
• UGC Quality Assurance Council: SLQF FAQ (confirms the twelve levels)
• Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission (TVEC): NVQ framework (authority for the NVQ side of the comparison)

Every level, credit requirement, and NVQ comparison on this page is transcribed from the SLQF 2016 document and was last verified on 2026-07-09. The comparable-NVQ column uses SLQF 2016 Table 2; it is an official framework alignment, not a guarantee of automatic credit transfer, which the UGC and TVEC decide case-by-case. A general Bachelors degree is confirmed as SLQF Level 5 and an Honours degree as Level 6.