Annexes to COM(2008)180 - Establishment of the European credit system for vocational education and training (ECVET) [SEC(2008) 442 SEC(2008) 443]

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dossier COM(2008)180 - Establishment of the European credit system for vocational education and training (ECVET) [SEC(2008) 442 SEC(2008) 443].
document COM(2008)180 EN
date June 18, 2009
ANNEX I

DEFINITIONS

For the purposes of this recommendation, the following definitions shall apply:

(a)‘Qualification’ means a formal outcome of an assessment and validation process which is obtained when a competent institution determines that an individual has achieved learning outcomes to given standards;

(b)‘Learning outcomes’ means statements of what a learner knows, understands and is able to do on completion of a learning process and which are defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence;

(c)‘Unit of learning outcomes’ (unit) means a component of a qualification, consisting of a coherent set of knowledge, skills and competence, that can be assessed and validated;

(d)‘Credit for learning outcomes’ (credit) means a set of learning outcomes of an individual which have been assessed and which can be accumulated towards a qualification or transferred to other learning programmes or qualifications;

(e)‘Competent institution’ means an institution which is responsible for designing and awarding qualifications or recognising units or other functions linked to ECVET, such as allocation of ECVET points to qualifications and units, assessment, validation and recognition of learning outcomes, under the rules and practices of participating countries;

(f)‘Assessment of learning outcomes’ means methods and processes used to establish the extent to which a learner has in fact attained particular knowledge, skills and competence;

(g)‘Validation of learning outcomes’ means the process of confirming that certain assessed learning outcomes achieved by a learner correspond to specific outcomes which may be required for a unit or a qualification;

(h)‘Recognition of learning outcomes’ means the process of attesting officially achieved learning outcomes through the awarding of units or qualifications;

(i)‘ECVET points’ means a numerical representation of the overall weight of learning outcomes in a qualification and of the relative weight of units in relation to the qualification.


ANNEX II

ECVET — PRINCIPLES AND TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

ECVET is a technical framework for the transfer, recognition and, where appropriate, accumulation of individuals’ learning outcomes with a view to achieving a qualification. ECVET tools and methodology comprise the description of qualifications in terms of units of learning outcomes with associated points, a transfer and accumulation process and complementary documents such as learning agreements, transcripts of records and ECVET users’ guides.

ECVET is intended to facilitate the recognition of learning outcomes in accordance with national legislation, in the framework of mobility, for the purpose of achieving a qualification. It should be noted that ECVET does not imply any new entitlement for citizens to obtain the automatic recognition of either learning outcomes or points. Its application for a given qualification is in accordance with the legislation, rules and regulations applicable in the Member States and is based on the following principles and technical specifications:

1. Units of learning outcomes

A unit is a component of a qualification, consisting of a coherent set of knowledge, skills and competence that can be assessed and validated with a number of associated ECVET points. A qualification comprises in principle several units and is made up of the whole set of units. Thus, a learner can achieve a qualification by accumulating the required units, achieved in different countries and different contexts (formal and, where appropriate, non-formal and informal), while respecting national legislation relating to the accumulation of units and the recognition of learning outcomes.

The units that make up a qualification should be:

—described in legible and understandable terms by referring to the knowledge, skills and competences contained in them,

—constructed and organised in a coherent way with regard to the overall qualification,

—constructed in a way that enables discrete assessment and validation of learning outcomes contained in the unit.

A unit may be specific to a single qualification or common to several qualifications. The expected learning outcomes defining a unit may be achieved irrespective of where or how these have been achieved. Thus, a unit is not to be confused with a component of a formal learning programme or training provision.

The rules and procedures for defining characteristics of units of learning outcomes and for combining and accumulating units for a given qualification are defined by competent institutions and partners involved in the training process according to the national or regional rules.

The specifications for a unit should include:

—the generic title of the unit,

—the generic title of the qualification (or qualifications) to which the unit relates, where applicable,

—the reference of the qualification according to the EQF level and, where appropriate, the national qualifications framework (NQF) level, with the ECVET credit points associated with the qualification,

—the learning outcomes contained in the unit,

—the procedures and criteria for assessment of these learning outcomes,

—the ECVET points associated with the unit,

—the validity in time of the unit, where relevant.

2. Transfer and Accumulation of learning outcomes, ECVET partnerships

In ECVET, units of learning outcomes achieved in one setting are assessed and then, after successful assessment, transferred to another setting. In this second context, they are validated and recognised by the competent institution as part of the requirements for the qualification that the person is aiming to achieve. Units of learning outcomes can then be accumulated towards this qualification, in accordance with national or regional rules. Procedures and guidelines for the assessment, validation, accumulation and recognition of units of learning outcomes are designed by the relevant competent institutions and partners involved in the training process.

Credit transfer based on ECVET and applied to learning outcomes achieved in formal learning contexts should be facilitated by establishing partnerships and networks involving competent institutions, each of which is empowered, in their own setting, to award qualifications or units or to give credit for achieved learning outcomes for transfer and validation.

The establishment of partnerships aims to:

—provide a general framework of cooperation and networking between the partners, set out in Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) through which a climate of mutual trust is established,

—assist the partners in the design of specific arrangements for credit transfer for learners.

The MoU should confirm that the partners:

—accept each other's status as competent institutions,

—accept each other's quality assurance, assessment, validation and recognition criteria and procedures as satisfactory for the purposes of credit transfer,

—agree the conditions for the operation of the partnership, such as objectives, duration and arrangements for review of the MoU,

—agree on the comparability of qualifications concerned for the purposes of credit transfer, using the reference levels established by EQF,

—identify other actors and competent institutions that may be involved in the process concerned and their functions.

For applying ECVET to learning outcomes achieved in a non-formal and informal learning context or outside the framework of an MoU, the competent institution which is empowered to award qualifications or units or to give credit should establish procedures and mechanisms for the identification, validation and recognition of these learning outcomes through the award of the corresponding units and the associated ECVET points.

3. Learning agreement and personal transcript

For applying credit transfer involving two partners and a specific mobile learner, a learning agreement is concluded by the two competent institutions involved in the training and validation process and the learner, in the framework of an MoU. It should:

—distinguish between competent ‘home’ and ‘hosting’ institutions (1),

—specify the particular conditions for a period of mobility, such as the identity of the learner, the duration of the mobility period, learning outcomes expected to be achieved and the associated ECVET points.

The learning agreement should lay down that, if the learner has achieved the expected learning outcomes and these have been positively assessed by the ‘hosting’ institution, the ‘home’ institution should validate and recognise them as part of the requirements for a qualification, according to the rules and procedures established by the competent institution.

Transfer between partners can apply to learning outcomes achieved in formal and, where appropriate, non-formal and informal contexts. Thus, the transfer of credit for achieved learning outcomes has three stages:

—the ‘hosting’ institution assesses the learning outcomes achieved and awards credit to the learner; the learning outcomes achieved and the corresponding ECVET points are recorded in a learner's ‘personal transcript’ (2),

—the ‘home’ institution validates the credit as a suitable record of the learner's achievement,

—the ‘home’ institution then recognises the learning outcomes that have been acquired; this recognition gives rise to the award of the units and their corresponding ECVET points, according to the rules of the ‘home’ system.

Validation and recognition by the competent ‘home’ institution depend on the successful assessment of learning outcomes by the competent ‘hosting’ institution, in accordance with the agreed procedures and quality assurance criteria.

4. ECVET points

ECVET points provide complementary information about qualifications and units in numerical form. They have no value independent of the acquired learning outcomes for the particular qualification to which they refer and they reflect the achievement and accumulation of units. To enable a common approach for the use of ECVET points, a convention is used according to which 60 points are allocated to the learning outcomes expected to be achieved in a year of formal full time VET.

In ECVET the allocation of points usually has two phases: ECVET points are allocated first to a qualification as a whole and then to its units. For a given qualification, one formal learning context is taken as a reference and, on the basis of the convention the total number of points is assigned for that qualification. From this total, ECVET points are then allocated to each unit according to their relative weight within the qualification.

For qualifications which do not have a formal learning pathway reference, ECVET credit points can be allocated through estimation by comparison with another qualification which has a formal reference context. To establish the comparability of the qualifications, the competent institution should refer to the equivalent EQF level or, possibly, NQF level, or to the similarity of the learning outcomes in a closely related professional field.

The relative weight of a unit of learning outcomes, with regard to the qualification, should be established according to the following criteria or to a combination thereof:

—the relative importance of the learning outcomes which constitute the unit for labour market participation, for progression to other qualification levels or for social integration,

—the complexity, scope and volume of learning outcomes in the unit,

—the effort necessary for a learner to acquire the knowledge, skills and competence required for the unit.

The relative weight of any given unit common to several qualifications, as expressed in ECVET points, may vary from one of these qualifications to another.

Allocations of ECVET points are normally part of the design of qualifications and units. They are produced by the competent institution responsible for the design and maintenance of the qualification or specifically empowered for this task. In countries where there is already a national system of points, the relevant competent institutions establish arrangements for the conversion of national credit points to ECVET points.

The successful achievement of a qualification or of a unit triggers the award of the associated ECVET points, independently of the actual time required to achieve them.

Usually the transfer of a unit entails the transfer of the corresponding ECVET points so that they are included when the transferred learning outcomes are recognised, in accordance with national or regional rules. It is up to the competent institution to reconsider, where necessary, the ECVET points to be taken into account, as long as the rules and methodologies which are laid down for this purpose are transparent and underpinned by quality assurance principles.

Any qualification acquired through non-formal or informal learning for which a formal learning pathway reference can be identified, and the corresponding units, carry the same ECVET points as the reference, since the same learning outcomes are being achieved.


(1) The ‘home’ institution is the institution which will validate and recognise learning outcomes achieved by the learner. The ‘hosting’ institution is the one that delivers training for the learning outcomes concerned and assesses the achieved learning outcomes.

(2) A personal transcript is a document which details the learners’ assessed learning outcomes, units and ECVET points awarded.