Using ECVET for Geographical Mobility Part II of the ECVET's user guide. This  part II of the ‘ECVET Users’ Guide’  explains the role of ECVET in facilitating the transnational mobility of learners. It presents some possible scenarios for using ECVET in this context. It seeks to encourage ECVET mobility through explaining the added value and the potential of using ECVET for mobility. It is part of a series of documents that constitute the ‘ECVET Users’ Guide’. Download ECVET User guide Part II - Using ECVET for Geographical Mobility.

ECVET and geographical mobility
Substantially increasing transnational mobility of VET learners and teachers, and recognising the knowledge, skills and competencies they have acquired abroad, will be an important challenge for the future. The Bruges Communiqué on enhanced European Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training.
While mobility in vocational education and training (VET) is already happening, the political ambition in Europe is to increase the numbers and the duration of mobility exchanges significantly. Development of learning mobility in VET implies putting in place a range of support activities adapted to the target group of VET learners including for example: language learning, creating funding opportunities or other preparatory and accompanying measures. The recognition of qualifications and the transparency of what learners have achieved abroad are core to mobility in vocational education and training. ECVET was designed as one of the European instruments to improve this recognition and transparency (other instruments being for example, the European Qualifications Framework or Europass).
2.1 Learning mobility using ECVET
ECVET supports the valorisation of learning mobility because:
• The learning outcomes approach ensures a better understanding and comparability of qualifications and learning achievements across countries. When using ECVET for learning mobility, the learning outcomes that the learner is expected to achieve abroad are clearly agreed by the partner institutions and stated in a Learning Agreement. Consequently everyone, including the home institution, the host institution and the learner; have a shared understanding of the objectives of the mobility. Following the participation in appropriate learning activities, learners acquire the expected knowledge, skills and competencies and they are assessed on what they have achieved. The learning outcomes that they have achieved abroad are documented in a transcript of record and thus made visible.
• The validation and recognition of learning outcomes are in the framework of mutual trust among partner institutions.
Individuals’ mobility periods are set in a broader framework of agreements. Partner institutions set the conditions for smoother exchanges of learners and develop mutual trust. They also agree to the conditions under which learners’ credit (i.e. assessed learning outcomes) achieved abroad will be validated and recognised. These agreements are formalised in Memoranda of Understanding.
ECVET can accommodate different forms of validation and recognition of learners’ learning outcomes, such as:
• Awarding credit for the unit(s) of learning outcomes concerned.
• Exemption from an assessment or its part.
• Transcription of the learning outcomes achieved abroad in learners’ transcripts of record.
• Awarding additional credit to what s/he would have normally achieved.
• The integration of mobility into learning pathways.
When using ECVET all interested parties (learners, employers, education and training providers) will have a clearer understanding and evidence about the added value of learning in a partner institution. ECVET can improve the validation and recognition of both key competencies (such as foreign language skills) as well as more technical skills and competences.
Learners will have the chance to enrich their learning pathway by acquiring abroad the knowledge, skills and competences which they would not have had the possibility to achieve in their home institution (for example, because of the differences in technologies used or because of the variety of products). ECVET may also help VET providers to respond to certain labour market needs by sending learners abroad for units they cannot deliver themselves (for example, because of the investment necessary to purchase the technology). For the same reasons, VET providers may be able to attract new learners from abroad.
What does it mean to use ECVET for transnational mobility?
In short, using ECVET for transnational mobility implies that:
• In one country, the competent institution (the host institution) assesses the learner’s achievement of learning outcomes (as defined in units) and provides evidence of the results of the assessment (written statement on learning outcomes achieved or an assessment grid for example).
• In another country, the competent institution (the home institution) validates and recognises credit for units of learning outcomes. ECVET credit points are allocated to the learning outcomes, enabling the learner to add these credit points to those necessary to achieve a particular qualification. The unit(s) of learning outcomes achieved abroad is (are) recorded in a learner’s transcript of record.
For organised mobility (i.e. when the learner goes abroad as part of an inter-institutional agreement), the process takes place in the framework of a Memorandum of Understanding and it is supported by an individual Learning Agreement. Therefore, the learning outcomes to be achieved, the assessment, validation and recognition processes are agreed between the competent institutions a priori thus facilitating the recognition of credit.

The fifth issue of the ECVET Magazine was prepared by the ECVET Support team which coordinates the ECVET Network. Download Magazine.
It contains:
- An editorial by LilianeVolozinskis, Director for Social Affairs and Training Policy at UEAPME (European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises);
- An article by Elena Camilletti from the ECVET team about the ECVET seminars that are on offer;
- An article by Sibilla Drews and Astrid Terreng from the german National Agency about the NetECVET Initiative (14 National Agencies from the Lifelong Learning Programme promoting ECVET);
- An article by Thierry Joseph, director of EFMA, about ECVET as an asset to mobility;
- An article by Reinhard Noebauer, Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture, about the Austrian ECVET-strategy;
- An article by Caterina Casado Latorre, Head of Unit for VET Curricula Design and Feliu López Vidal, Technical Advisor at the Unit for VET Curricula Design about ECVET and the Catalan VET System;
- An article by Dr Recep Altin, Deputy Director and Osman Yalçin, Project Director, Projects coordination Centre MoNE, about ECVET as a key to the VET reform in Turkey.

An article by Sibilla Drews and Astrid Terreng from the german National Agency about the NetECVET Initiative (14 National Agencies from the Lifelong Learning Programme promoting ECVET)
NetECVET, Working together on understanding and implementing ECVET
The thematic network NetECVET consists of 14 National Agencies in the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP). It promotes ECVET in the context of transnational mobility and supports the implementation process in the Member States through a bottom-up approach. It addresses VET actors, supports and guides them in the implementation of ECVET.
Linking ECVET principles and mobility and thus taking mobility to a more advanced level is the major challenge that NetECVET is facing. Turning mobility into high-quality mobility using ECVET principles and approaches means:
• working with learning outcomes at a practical level;
• providing guidelines for the definition, description and assessment of (units of) learning outcomes;
• providing examples of basic documents like the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) or Learning Agreements.
In order to meet these challenges NetECVET will develop an ECVET toolbox which will provide support and guidance for VET actors. This toolbox will offer a wide range of solutions from tailor-made approaches to real examples and models.
In 8 regional workshops NetECVET will reunite both VET actors and projects that have developed models and tools for the definition, description and assessment of units of learning outcomes. Methods, tools and approaches developed by the projects will be discussed and tested for their practical suitability. Based on these workshops we will be able to make further progress in the definition of guidelines and the building of models to be used to implement ECVET, thus transforming mobility projects into ECVET-proof mobility projects. The toolbox will contain information on national entry requirements, existing mobility units, activities at a sectoral level and required partnership criteria.
Besides the development of the toolbox NetECVET will also prepare and train VET professionals by providing training material for internal training at VET schools or companies and by teaching them how to use it. NetECVET has already identified more than a hundred projects from the Lifelong Learning Programme which are currently exploring and testing ECVET components and principles. These projects are expected to encourage VET actors to apply ECVET in the context of transnational mobility.
ADAM featuring thematic groups
Since March 2011 the European thematic networks NetECVET and QALLL (Quality Assurance in Lifelong Learning) are being featured on ADAM (see infobox). The recent improvements of the platform have made it possible to showcase projects which appear to be in one way or another relevant to the implementation of ECVET.
An info box in the links navigation provides general information on the thematic groups. Clicking on the title of one of the groups leads to both background information and a list of selected projects. One particular section found on the individual project information pages of the ECVET-tagged projects shows the ECVET components that the project deals with. Users can search for specific information such as projects referring to the Assessment of Learning Outcomes by using a filter on the NetECVET page.
The advanced search function allows users to find information on specific countries or types of projects. During the next working phase of NetECVET, the selected projects will be examined in greater detail by experts and the results will be narrowed down further allowing us to identify the best working methods.
What does ADAM have to offer?
The thematic group NetECVET in ADAM has a large variety of examples ready to be used by VET partnerships wishing to test and apply ECVET principles. For example, Omnia, a major training provider in Finland has provided a short and precise Memorandum of Understanding, which in this particular case served as an agreement in the development of a unit for a child care qualification, transferable from one country to another.
The EVOC (Ecvet Unit for Vocational Studies in Child Care) project also provides learning outcomes for units in the fields of Play, Intercultural Studies, Rehabilitation and Language. It may even encourage other training institutions within the child care sector to implement ECVET and even adopt (parts of) the unit.
A project covering a broader range of aims is the EURO TRANS LOG (ETL). This concerns the transport and logistics sector and aims at enabling mobility of students throughout Europe and acknowledging professional skills gained in one country by another through common certification. It has developed 7 units of learning outcomes at level V of the EQF as well as several tools such as learning agreements or quality charters for schools and companies. 33 training centres from 8 European countries are already partners of the Euro Trans Log network.
This is just a quick insight into the very practical tools, methods and units of learning outcomes that NetECVET can provide in ADAM. As NetECVET develops, we will be able to offer more varied and specific support for actors promoting ECVET mobility.
See also on the blog: The eight types of strategic action lines in the current progress towards ECVET implementation, Testing a joint ECVET-ECTS Implementation: Be-TWIN project, Supporting modernisation of VET systems, Linking credit systems and qualifications frameworks.

Voici la présentation des questions-réponses pour mieux connaître ECVET. Télécharger la version pdf. Voir la version en ligne.
ACQUIS D'APPRENTISSAGE
1. Que sont les acquis d'apprentissage ?
2. Comment les acquis d'apprentissage sont-ils décrits ?
3. Comment les acquis d'apprentissage sont-ils utilisés dans ECVET ?
UNITÉS
4. Qu'est-ce qu'une unité et comment se rapporte-t-elle à une certification ?  
5. Comment ECVET peut-il être utilisé dans un système de certifications qui n'utilise pas d'unités ?
6. Comment les acquis d'apprentissage peuvent-ils être regroupés afin de créer des unités ?
7. Comment les unités peuvent-elles être décrites au moyen d'ECVET ?
POINTS ECVET
8. Que sont les points ECVET ?
9. Combien de points ECVET sont alloués à une certification et comment ?
10. Quelle est la différence entre points et crédit ECVET ?
TRANSFERT ET ACCUMULATION DE CRÉDIT
11. Qu'est-ce que le crédit?
12. Qu'est-ce que le transfert de crédit ?
13. Qu'est-ce que l'accumulation de crédit ?
14. Comment le transfert de crédit est-il organisé dans le cadre de partenariats ECVET ?
15. Est-il possible de transférer des acquis d'apprentissage ne correspondant pas à une unité complète ?
ÉVALUATION DES ACQUIS D'APPRENTISSAGE
16. Qui organise l'évaluation des acquis d'apprentissage ?
17. Où sont décrites les exigences d'évaluation ?
ECVET ET APPRENTISSAGE NON FORMEL ET INFORMEL
18. ECVET est-il applicable à l'apprentissage non formel et informel ?
Oui, la Recommandation affirme que :
* ECVET facilite le développement de parcours flexibles ET individualisés et également la reconnaissance de ces acquis d'apprentissage qui sont acquis par l'apprentissage non-formel ET informel.
* Pour appliquer ECVET aux acquis d'apprentissage obtenus dans un contexte d'apprentissage non-formel et informel, ou en dehors du cadre d'un accord de partenariat, il appartient à l'institution compétente habilitée à délivrer les certifications ou les unités, ou à octroyer les crédits, de mettre en place des procédures et des mécanismes pour l'identification, la validation et la reconnaissance de ces acquis par l'attribution des unités correspondantes et des points ECVET associés.
19. Comment ECVET facilite-t-il la validation de l'apprentissage non formel et informel ?
Le processus de validation de des acquis d'apprentissage non formel et informel en vue de l'obtention d'une certification suit généralement les phases suivantes :
* Identification des savoirs, aptitudes et compétences développés lors d'activités personnelles, au travail ou à la maison dans le contexte familial.
* Attestation de ces acquis d'apprentissage par le recueil de données disponibles : descriptions des précédentes activités professionnelles, développement d'un portefeuille de compétences ou évaluation.
* Validation de ces acquis d'apprentissage sur la base des standards, des référentiels ou listes des acquis d'apprentissage requis.
* Délivrance d'une certification ou d'une partie de certification (reconnaissance des acquis d'apprentissage).
ECVET facilite ce processus car il :
* Décrit les savoirs, aptitudes et compétences requis pour une certification et ses unités. Ceci aide l'institution compétente à identifier ce que les apprenants ont déjà obtenu par rapport à ce qui est requis en vue d'une certification.
* Peut être utilisé pour permettre aux apprenants d'obtenir certaines unités par la validation d'apprentissage non formel et informel et d'autres par l'apprentissage formel.
* Facilite l'attestation des acquis d'apprentissage obtenus par l'utilisation d'outils tel que le relevé individuel de résultats.
ECVET permet donc aux apprenants d'obtenir des certifications en partie par un apprentissage non formel et informel validé et reconnu et par l'obtention des unités restantes par l'apprentissage formel.
ACCORD DE PARTENARIAT
20. Qu'est-ce qu'un accord de partenariat ?
21. Pourquoi un accord de partenariat est-il nécessaire ?
CONTRAT PÉDAGOGIQUE
22. Qu'est-ce qu'un contrat pédagogique ?
23. Pourquoi un contrat pédagogique est-il nécessaire ?
RELEVÉ INDIVIDUEL DE RÉSULTATS
24. Qu'est-ce qu'un relevé individuel de résultats ?
INSTITUTIONS COMPÉTENTES
25. Qui sont les institutions compétentes impliquées dans ECVET ?

The latest issue of ECVET Magazine is now available for download. ECVET Magazine N°4 - April 2011.
The topics of this issue: *an editorial by Christian Lettmayr, Acting Director of Cedefop; *an article about the results of the OPIR-Project, based on the OPIR final conference on 18-19 February in Brussels; *an article on the designing and testing of mobility units developed by the Aerovet project; *an article on the CREDCHEM project about developing and testing a credit system on enhancing the mobility in the chemical sector; *an article on the M.O.T.O project, which tests ECVET in practice on mobility in the tourism sector; *an article by Cedefop on the general stage of development of ECVET in Europe; *a snapshot from the seventh ECVET pilots projects seminar in Vienna; and a series of news items.
Download ECVET Magazine N°1 - June 2010. ECVET Magazine N°2 - October 2010. ECVET Magazine N°3 - January 2011.ECVET Magazine N°4 - April 2011.
The way forward: preparing for introducing ECVET
The Cedefop monitoring identifies eight types of strategic action lines in the current progress towards ECVET implementation.
Strategy 1: Setting up broad range testing initiatives. Testing is carried out within national initiatives such as the FINECVET initiative in Finland or the DECVET initiative in Germany. There are also initiatives focusing on specific qualifications (e.g. in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Belgium/Wallonia starting in 2011). In most cases, these initiatives informed the decisions of the main policy-making stakeholders (i.e. ministries or qualifications authorities). The initiatives receive a specific budget line and are co-financed by national and European budgets.
Strategy 2: Measuring impact (theoretical and methodological approaches). This strategy is common to the Czech Republic, Germany, Finland and Austria for instance. In Austria a feasibility study analysed the legal and organisational status-quo of various Austrian VET options regarding their ECVET readiness; it delivered evidence to underpin the policy decision to start developing ECVET for European mobility.
Strategy 3: Updating VET legislations and regulations. Legislations and regulations are updated, taking on board some (or all) technical features of ECVET. This is the case in Luxembourg, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Slovenia, and Italy or at regional level (such as in Catalonia).
Strategy 4: Adapting qualifications systems. ECVET or elements of ECVET are introduced within activities for adapting qualifications systems, such as the renewal of curricula (in Hungary, Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia within the European Social Fund programme ‘Modernising the content of VET’ in 2007-2013), the development of partial qualifications (such as in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Spain), the development of validation mechanisms (in Germany or the Czech Republic for instance) and the renewal of educational standards (such as in Austria).
Strategy 5: A ‘wait and see’ strategy. In Cyprus or Norway, ECVET developments at national and European levels are observed and discussed. For the time being, no concrete action plan has been defined. Both countries are represented in the European ECVET Users Group.
Strategy 6: Combining ECVET with NQF development. In some Member States such as Poland, Greece and the Czech Republic, ECVET is considered as part of the development of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). In Poland this happens in the framework of the Human Capital Operational Programme (2007-13); in Greece it is linked to the renewal of the education and training institutional set-up. For the two countries already having a qualifications framework (England, Wales and Northern Ireland (EWNI-UK/QCF) and Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF)), the frameworks have been revised to accommodate credit transfer.
Strategy 7: Learning by working in European ECVET projects. This strategy consists of leading or participating in European, national, regional or sector-related ECVET projects and bundling the experiences. The European ADAM database1 registers 111 projects dealing with ECVET in Europe, the earliest ones dating back to 2003. A large number of countries and sectors are represented in those projects.
Strategy 8: Marketing ECVET to the stakeholders. Different Member States are working on developing information materials. In Austria a working group is writing guidelines for ECVET implementation for the purpose of mobility exchanges. It addresses VET practitioners who are involved in transnational mobility projects (e.g. teachers, people responsible for mobility, project sponsors from VET schools and colleges, part-time vocational schools for apprentices, training enterprises, and sectoral organisations). In Poland stakeholders are preparing guidelines, typical procedures and model documents. The third phase of FINECVET includes the publication of a handbook on the implementation of ECVET at the different stages of mobility (before, during and after). During the ECVET forum (July 2010) the French delegate announced the development of information materials on ECVET.
ECVET is currently in its next phase of development which started with the release of the European Recommendation in July 2009. This phase is intended to last until 2014, when the European Commission will evaluate the progress made and report to the European Parliament and Council. The first monitoring of the European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) developments, elaborated by Cedefop in 2010, confirms that ECVET is gaining momentum in national VET policy contexts. ECVET is taken forward within national and regional education and training systems, within European projects and national or regional initiatives. National initiatives and project activities are equally important for ECVET implementation, although ensuring transfer from experimentation to policy-making in order to innovate education and training, is a complicated matter...
Credit systems impact on the structure of qualifications (via the design of units and the setting up of credit points) as well as on progression and transition in education and training (by setting up rules for accumulation and transfer). The extent of ECVET impact will depend on the field of implementation (for international mobility or for reforms) and the political/regulatory anchorage and support to credit arrangements in qualifications systems. Discussions are currently being held on the necessary level of formalisation and regulation for the deployment of ECVET. The recognition of learning outcomes after a mobility period requires agreements at different levels (and this links to the European validation principles). Currently some would advocate that this can be done on the basis of existing mutual trust and experiences. Others consider that a higher degree of formalisation is requested since it ECVET relates to changes in VET systems (for instance on modularisation or the development of partial qualifications). The level of formalisation and regulations depends on traditions and regimes of VET and qualifications systems; this will be an issue for further analysis.

CEDEFOP EXPERT WORKSHOP “MAINSTREAMING ECVET TO PRACTITIONERS”, Thessaloniki, Greece, 30-31 May 2011.
Background to the workshop
The European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) is aiming at enabling learning mobility for young and adult learners, as well as supporting lifelong learning and recognition of prior learning in Europe. It builds upon further European tools and principles such as the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET), or the European principles for validation of learning outcomes. Core elements to those tools are the learning outcomes approach and a strong role given to qualifications as ultimate goal for individual learners.
In a large majority of countries, ECVET is meanwhile taken forward. Preparing for ECVET implementation encompasses activities ranging from legal and regulatory updates to broad range test initiatives. The implementation of ECVET is not occurring on its own but is strongly related to policies on enhancing international learning mobility, to VET reforms at national, regional or local levels towards more permeability within and between systems and to the development of qualifications frameworks. ECVET is expected to be gradually implemented by learning from projects, experimentations and tests. The transfer of good practices and knowledge of difficulties from tests and pilots to policy-making is part of the European framework for ECVET and stated as such in the European ECVET Recommendation.
The European database on the ECVET projects reveals that 23% of the 110 registered projects deal with integrating ECVET in education and training, and that 32% are coordinated by VET providers. ECVET is being developed for qualifications located at EQF levels 3 to 6 in different fields of activities covering for instance construction and building, health care or transport and logistics. Further characteristics of ECVET testing are the involvement of a large range of stakeholders and the regional dimension as support for mobility. This, of course, implies dedicated human and financial resources.
On that basis organising a Cedefop workshop to ECVET and practitioners might not be astonishing. The institutional environment in which ECVET operates is undergoing changes which lead to new definitions of responsibilities, of autonomy in decision making and practices, and decentralisation/regionalisation and mergers. In some countries, institutional autonomy also involves funding (Bulgaria, Germany, Austria) where VET providers can increasingly take independent budgetary decisions. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovakia have merged state-owned VET schools to optimise financial and human resources as well as increasing quality of, and accessibility to, VET (Cedefop 2010). The first ECVET surveys (ECVET Connexion, ECVET Reflector) underlined the importance of providers for ECVET implementation and their need for autonomy to experiment and develop ECVET. This autonomy while embedded into national laws and regulations and observing standards and quality assurance requirements would enable providers in taking responsibility for the training process (including design of learning process, assessment procedures, awarding qualifications, participating to the definition of standards) as well as for entering into partnerships for mobility.
Currently the tests and experimentations are focusing on the technical features of ECVET (writing the learning outcomes, defining the learning units, ascribing ECVET points, developing partnerships in using Memorandum of Understanding and Learning Agreements). First lessons from European ECVET pilot projects confirm the essential role of VET providers (as mentioned for instance in the preliminary final reports of the M.O.T.O or OPIR projects). More generally, (too) little attention has been paid until now to providers and their administrative or teaching/training staff at European policy level.
Download in the following language(s) EN Information note. See also: Labels "ECTS et Supplément au diplôme", Testing a joint ECVET-ECTS Implementation: Be-TWIN project, Workshop ECVET.

ECVET Magazine No 3 - January 2011. The latest issue of the ECVET Magazine is available to download. The topics of this issue: -an editorial by Stefano Di Giusto from the Education, Audivisual and Culture Executive Agency; -an article about the project ASSET; -an article about the project VaLOGReg; -synthesis of the results of the projects seminar in Prague; -an article about linking ECVET and ECTS by the project Be-TWIN; -a series of newsitems.
Testing a joint ECVET-ECTS Implementation: Be-TWIN project
The Be-TWIN project tackles the issue of the connexion
between ECVET and the ECTS system, which is being used in higher education since 1989. The project involves a very diverse partnership from 8 EU countries representing stakeholders and education and training institutions in both, higher education and the VET sector. This article presents the basics of the methodology to link ECVET and ECTS which has now been published as one of the project outcomes.
Roughly the first half of the project’s duration has been dedicated to putting in place a methodological device linking the two credit systems. Both the ECTS and the ECVET system pursue the same objectives of credit transfer, accumulation and recognition, mobility of learners and workers, lifelong learning and transparency of national systems within a common European Education Area. However, the ways they intend to achieve these purposes differ. Indeed, the two credit systems have developed in different historical, institutional and methodological backgrounds. To start with, one, the ECTS, is 20 years older than the second, ECVET. The ECTS, although it has been reshaped in 2009 and now includes the learning outcomes approach, is historically an input based system which takes into account the learning content and the student’s workload to allocate credit points to courses and modules. The ECVET system, on the other hand, was shaped according to an output based model and consequently it allocates credit points to the results of the training process, namely the learning outcomes.
Whereas the ECTS is a quantitative mean of expressing an amount of time invested to obtain defined outcomes, ECVET is a qualitative mean of defining the relative importance of units of learning outcomes within a given qualification.
Regarding their technical specifications, the workload for ECTS and the relative importance of the units of learning outcomes within the qualification for ECVET have been identified as the main inconsistencies between the two credit systems. Having acknowledged this, the challenge remained to build a common matrix, which would enable recognition of credit from one system to another, despite the fact that the methodological ground of the two credit systems differ. Thus, learning outcomes have been identified as the only possible translation device between the two credit systems: they are the driving force behind contemporary higher education reform and constitute the very core of the VET philosophy.
The result of these considerations is to be found in the Methodological Guide, “ECVET-ECTS: Building bridges and overcoming differences”, which was finalised in July 2010 and strives to suggest a possible approach to coordinate ECVET and ECTS.
The main innovation of the guide is a double entry table, the “matrix”, whose common denominator is the learning outcomes. The matrix is meant to serve as a transparency tool and a translation device. It enables to link learning outcomes and learning activities and in this way it facilitates translation from an output based system to and outcome based system (and vice-versa). As a common interface, it emphasises learning outcomes and the systems’ secondary layers of information, namely the workload and the relative importance of the units of learning outcomes within the qualification (as expressed in credit points).
The Be-TWIN matrix proposes to training providers using either the ECTS or the ECVET systems to present their training offer more transparently. Both the learning outcomes (grouped into units) and the corresponding learning activities must be filled in the matrix. This should enable training providers using ECVET to better link the learning outcomes with the training offer they propose, and higher education institutions using ECTS to reshape their training offer according to an output based system.
Overall, the idea is to build bridges between the two segments of education and training and to favour the vertical mobility of learners from one system to another. The model is indeed expected to benefit mainly the learners wishing to have their previous learning recognised when shifting from one learning context to another (from VET to higher education or vice versa). A condition for that is that the training providers present the training offer and the qualifications more transparently, thus favouring recognition of prior learning.
In order to use the matrix, training providers have to follow four steps: •First, depict the qualification by filling in the grid with the single learning outcomes corresponding to the occupational profile and then by grouping these into units,  •Secondly, depict the qualification by filling in the grid with the associated learning activities, •Thirdly, cross which learning activities contribute to which learning outcomes in order to identify the overlapping of the training pathway and of the outputs of the qualifications expressed in learning outcomes, •Lastly, allocate the ECVET points to the units of learning outcomes respecting the ECVET specifications, or allocate ECTS credit points to the learning activities, taking into account the workload, or, in some cases, allocate both types of credit points within one training programme.
The methodology developed is currently being tested on three training programmes in France, the UK and Italy in the field of plastics industry, hospitality management and training of trainers. The Figures 1 and 2 present extracts from this methodological guide.

Le 3 mars 2011, Maison des universités, 103 boulevard Saint-Michel, 75005 PARIS, une journée d'information sur les labels "ECTS et supplément au diplôme" sera organisée par l'équipe française des experts de Bologne. Les établissements qui disposent de cursus ECTS ou délivrant un supplément au diplôme pour tous leurs diplômes sont particulièrement visés par cette journée. S'inscrire.
La date limite de dépôt des candidatures aux labels est fixée au 15 mai 2011. Les dossiers de candidatures sont disponibles en cliquant ici.
Programme
Informations générales sur les Labels
- principes et philosophie des labels
- état des lieux des labels en Europe
- critères d’éligibilité aux labels
le Label ECTS
- présentation des critères ECTS
- la valeur ajoutée pour un établissement d’enseignement supérieur
- points forts et faibles des candidatures.
Le Label Supplément au diplôme
- présentation du supplément au diplôme
- points forts et faibles des candidatures

Workshop ECVET - 6, 7 et 8 octobre 2010 à Paris. Download the program.
The European Commission proposes that the Member States' representatives in the ECVET Users' group participate in two workshops per year over the coming three years. These workshops, so called "support and development workshops" are intended to contribute to the implementation of ECVET in Member States. The workshops are organized by the ECVET Supporting Team contracted by the European Commission.
Only two representatives per Member State can register for the workshops. Member States that have more than two representatives in the Users' group must appoint only two who will participate in the workshops.
One representative per Candidate country (participating in the lifelong learning programme) can register for the workshops.
The cost of workshop, travel and subsistence will be covered for these participants.
Other members of the Users' group may register for the workshops depending of the availability of the seats and on their own expense.
The first workshop will be held in Paris from 6 to 8 October 2010. Please fill in the registration form below specifying if you will participate in the first workshop. Once registered, we will contact you to finalize the organization of your trip and stay.

This study reviews the development of those tools in the context of the Copenhagen and the Bologna processes (ECVET, ECTS, EQF-LLL, EHEA-QF) and across a sample of European and non-European countries (Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Scotland, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, the UK-EWNI (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and the UK-Scotland.
It analyses development initiatives and reforms of credit systems and qualifications frameworks. The articulation between both tools reveals difficulties and opportunities. This analysis leads to grounded insights in the functioning of credits systems and qualifications frameworks concerning learning pathways (transfer and progression), governance of education and training systems, and qualifications policies, especially qualification designs and awarding procedures.
This international comparative study invites debate on possible futures for European tools within the European education area. Dowload Linking credit systems and qualifications frameworks.
In France, the qualifications not awarded by any of the competent ministries have to ‘qualify for a profession’, i.e. be recognised in the labour market, and this needs to be supported by data on graduate labour market entry. Other criteria concern aspects such as the way qualifications have to be described, the way they are accessed (to be accessible through validation of non-formal and informal learning).
The existing French structure of five levels is currently being reconsidered under the influence of the EQF development. It is possible that France could evolve towards an eight levels framework, in line with the EQF eight levels. The current lowest qualifications in the national register would correspond to level 3 of EQF, so levels one and two of a potential French eight-level NQF would remain empty, or would contain no qualifications from the formal system. However, certificates (not considered as qualifications in the French system) exist at those levels and are likely to use the reference to them.

ECVET est un cadre méthodologique commun, conçu pour l’enseignement et la formation professionnels, afin de décrire les certifications  en termes d’ unités. Chaque unité est constituée de connaissances, aptitudes et compétences (acquis d’apprentissages). Des points de crédits sont attribués à chacune de ces unités, ce qui leur donne ainsi un « poids » et évite la re-définition des unités au sein de chaque contexte d’apprentissage.
Le système ECVET ne cherche pas à remplacer les systèmes nationaux mais à faciliter les transferts entre ces systèmes. Les États membres sont libres de participer à la mise en œuvre. Ils sont appelés, à titre volontaire, à appliquer progressivement des mesures en vue d'utiliser l'ECVET à partir de 2012.
Pour accompagner le développement du système ECVET, la Commission européenne finance des projets d’expérimentation et de coopération. Un site internet dédié est également mis en place. Exemples: l'étude ECVET Connexion porte sur l'étude de faisabilité du système et l'étude ECVET Reflector a analysé les relations entre les caractéristiques du système ECVET et les réglementations et pratiques en vigueur au sein des systèmes nationaux en Europe.
Le système ECVET permet de documenter (détailler) et d’attester les acquis d’apprentissages d’une personne, puis d’accumuler et de transférer ces acquis - validés par les unités - en vue de l’obtention d’une certification professionnelle.
Un apprenant ayant passé certaines périodes de formation dans un autre pays européen, a ainsi la possibilité de faire reconnaître ces périodes dans son pays d’origine comme faisant partie intégrante de sa formation: ECVET vise à traverser les frontières des systèmes nationaux d’enseignement et de formation professionnels. Un apprenant dispose de plus d’opportunités de mobilité entre les différentes composantes d’un même système national: ECVET favorise la perméabilité des frontières entre l’enseignement professionnel et l’enseignement supérieur. Un apprenant à l’extérieur du système formel d’enseignement peut également se voir reconnaître ses acquis : ECVET prend en considération les résultats de l’apprentissage informel et en assure la reconnaissance - dans la mesure des possibilités offertes par la législation nationale.