Brussels, 10/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 10 April, the European Commission presented a Europe-wide credit system in vocational education and training. Called ECVET, the system would make it easier for European citizens to obtain formal recognition of knowledge, skills and competences they have gained in another country. The Commission encourages member states to adopt this voluntary scheme that does not seek to replace national systems but to facilitate the transfer between them.
The new initiative aims to build on the success of ECTS, the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) in application on a voluntary basis in higher education. Originally introduced in 1989, ECTS has improved transparency and facilitated the recognition of study components done in a country other than one's own. Set in place voluntarily, it now has a legal base almost everywhere and is usually applied to programmes of the bachelor and masters degree kind, according to the results of the latest study by Eurydice, the information network on education. The ECVET system will be fully compatible with the ECTS system and answers to the same logic - that of facilitating mobility of European citizens in education and vocational training. In Europe, education systems are very fragmented and often complex, and education and vocational training are no exception to the rule, the Commission explains. The number of certifications and procedures even within one country can make it difficult to transfer the results of learning from one system, or learning context, to another. The ECVET system defines the “units of learning outcomes”, for which credit points are given. Qualification-awarding authorities in the member states are thus helped to translate learning outcomes and associated points acquired elsewhere into their own vocational training qualifications systems. The Commission's proposal is presented in the form of a recommendation currently put to the European Parliament and Council for approval. Member sates will then be free to adopt it on a voluntary basis and to implement it according to their own rules. The Commission also put forward plans for a new reference tool that would help member states exchange best practice in vocational education and training policies. The European Quality Assurance Reference Framework (EQARF), which is the subject of a separate recommendation, aims at increasing transparency and consistency of policy developments in this field. Member states are invited to improve their quality management practices by applying this set of common criteria and indicative descriptors and by measuring their policies against it. (I.L.)