EU Certification of accumulated professional skills and learning

• Title: Comp4You
• Programme: DE/13/LLP-LdV/TOI/147664
• Contractor: IBS - CEMES Institut GmbH (Germany)
• Area of Activity: Education
• Duration of the Project: 24 months
• EC Co-financing: 296,160 EUR
• Start Date: 1st October 2013

Objectives

The main aim of the Comp4you project is to develop an ECVET system for the recognition of competences, regardless of how they have been acquired. The system to be developed is a testing method which uses an online competence evaluation platform and thus addresses both accessibility and affordability criteria which are essential for it to be workable. The viability of the system will be piloted in the vocational area of commerce:

• The competences and skills necessary for the execution of specific functions or roles in commerce are identified and sub-divided into a series of specific modules, each with a particular area of activity, and each with a set of distinctive learning outcomes.
• A candidate wishing to acquire recognition for learning can then select those areas (modules) in which s/he believes s/he can demonstrate competence and skills.
• The learning outcomes associated with each module are expressed as a combination of competences, skills and technical terms which are all interlinked.
• The assessment results provide a competence profile, and a competence description will be generated for the candidate.
• The competence assessments and identification of acquired competences will be carried out by a certification partner who will also issue appropriate certificates.
• Focusing on EQF Levels 3 and 4 or higher levels, this system represents a cost efficient means of widening access to recognition of learning than had hitherto been the case.

The system will be developed and offered in five European languages: English, French, German, Italian and Swedish, covering the core area of Europe.

Innovation Transfer

In Comp4you, there will be a transfer of methods and tools which have been developed for ECVET in the field of formal vocational training, and they will be used for the recognition of professional competences which have been acquired through informal and non-formal learning. These methods and tool have been developed in the LdV-project M-ECVET-S and in the ECVT-project ESyCQ

The following products from M-ECVET-S and ESyCQ are suitable for a transfer from a modular system of formal vocational training to the area of non-formal learning:

• ECVET methodology for a modular system in formal vocational training
• Methodology for calculation and allocation of credit points by using the concept of "notional learning time"
• Descriptions of learning outcomes for professional commercial competences
• Descriptions of learning outcomes for 6 selected commercial professions/qualifications which shall consist of competences, skills and knowledge
• Online-based test procedure for selected professions/qualifications for the confirmation of acquired competences