For the first time, students attending vocational education and training (VET) institutions will be able to carry out their training in different countries in Europe, and obtain formal recognition of such training, under a new credit transfer system.
The new European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) will build upon the success of the European Credit Transfer System, which is operational between approximately 4,500 universities, including the University of Malta.
The aim of the ECVET is to offer students formal recognition of the training and skills obtained in other vocational education institutions abroad. In this way, it would be supporting and promoting transnational mobility and access to lifelong learning in VET.
The scheme will not replace any national systems of vocational training, but aims to facilitate the recognition of training received from approximately 30,000 vocational education institutions in the EU.
The scheme was announced by the European Commission yesterday week, with a technical briefing to explain how the system will work.
Introducing the scheme, European commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth Ján Figel' said: "For the first time in history, we are able to introduce a credit transfer scheme in vocational education and training. ECVET will make it much easier for individual trainees to complete their training courses in different training establishments and in different countries, thereby boosting mobility of learners throughout Europe. This is an even more remarkable achievement, given that there are over 30,000 vocational training establishments around the EU."
In Malta, the three main vocational education and training institutions, which are offered at a post-compulsory education stage are: MCAST, which offers a wide variety of areas of study, including ICT, mechanical, electric and electronics engineering, maritime studies, and building and construction studies; the Institute of Tourism Studies, which trains students in hospitality and management, and the Institute of Health Care.
Although the system is still in its early stages, the European Commission's proposal has been submitted for approval to the European Parliament and the Council for students to be able to benefit from this scheme, states must sign up to this voluntary system and implement it according to their own rules. In fact, the European Commission has already encouraged member states to sign up to this scheme.
"It is recommended that member states should implement ECVET by 2012. Member states are also recommended to develop partnerships and networks at European, national, regional, local and sectoral level, as appropriate, and to promote and apply the principles for quality assurance in VET when implementing ECVET. Members states should provide access to information on ECVET and guidance to stakeholders and individuals, and ensure that all relevant qualifications and related "Europass" documents issued by the competent authorities contain clear information related to the use of ECVET. Lastly, member states are recommended to ensure that functioning coordination, monitoring and review mechanisms are in place, which take existing instruments into account in order to guarantee the consistency of initiatives within and across countries. The national reviews will contribute to a European review to be organised by the Commission," the proposal states.
The proposed ECVET works as "a methodological framework that can be used to describe qualifications in terms of units of learning outcomes with associated points, with a view to transferring and accumulating learning outcomes... Any credit obtained by a learner is an expression of the validity of his/her achieved learning outcomes for the purpose of transfer and accumulation towards a qualification.
"These learning outcomes are assessed and validated so that credits (units of learning outcomes) can be transferred from one VET qualifications system to another or from one learning context to another," the proposal states.