Different applications of ECVET: Synthesis of the results of ECVET pilot projects

Special issue dedicated to the Joint ECVET conference held on 24-25 October 2013 in Brussels. Download ECVET Magazine No 17 - February 2014.
Article by Daniela Ulicná, Anette Curth (ICF GHK) and Karin Luomi-Messerer (3s). Different applications of ECVET: Synthesis of the results of ECVET pilot projects 
One of the main goals of the conference was to present the results of the ECVET pilot projects. This was done through five workshops. The examples for credit transfer and accumulation presented in these workshops varied from using ECVET to preventing early school leaving, recognising non-formal and informal learning, to improving the quality of international mobility.
One of the main topics discussed at the conference was: National implementation requires national authorities/organisations to make a strategic decision about what they want to use ECVET for. In other words: What needs do we have, and how can ECVET contribute to solving them?
Each of the eight projects funded under the 2010 call for proposals to test ECVET was designed by their promoters to address specific issues and to respond to different needs in the national context. The projects were also designed to fit very different regulatory and institutional contexts...
Conclusions and lessons learned
The pilot projects showed that ECVET can serve a variety of purposes and respond to different needs. It can offer solutions to a range of target groups - not all of which are described above. The projects’ experiences illustrate the diversity of situations that can be at least partially improved by the use of ECVET. Depending on the starting point of the system and the issues to be tackled, ECVET principles can be used with more or less adaptations. See more in ECVET Magazine No 17 - February 2014.