Irish Regions Office Website

April 21, 2008

Vocational Training mobility on its way

Students in higher education have been able to avail of a European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) to underpin cross-border mobility exchanges since 1989. Now learners in manual or practical activities are set to get their own EU-wide system to recognise national vocational education and training (VET) qualifications after the Commission proposed plans on 10 April to harmonise them into a comprehensive system. The proposed new European Credit system for Vocational Education and Learning (ECVET) will look to improve trainee mobility across Europe by ensuring that the very fragmented framework of national education systems are much better integrated and that training completed in one Member State is recognised in another. This should give an estimated 17 million trainees more access to and choice of lifelong learning opportunities. The system "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" explained Education Commissioner Ján Figel. If ultimately adopted, Member States would implement the initiative on a voluntary basis. For more information on ECVET visit http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/educ/ecvet/index_en.html

Posted by iroronan at April 21, 2008 08:12 PM