Work programme 2012-2015
EURASHE Seminar on Recognition of Prior Learning
EURASHE organised a Seminar on Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) titled ‘Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Flexible Ties within Higher Education‘ in Prague (Czech Republic) on 14 December 2012. It is organised by EURASHE, the European RPL Network (ERPLN), the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (MŠMT) and the Czech Association of Schools of Professional Higher Education (CASPHE).
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL): Flexible Ties within Higher Education
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in Higher Education has been one of the issues within the Bologna Process debates for the last years. The topic received full attention and support within the Ministers’ Communiqué “Making the Most of Our Potential: Consolidating the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)” in Bucharest (Romania) in April 2012. The theme of RPL is invevitably linked to qualifications, combination of knowledge, skilss and competences, lifelong learning. Due to societal and technological developments, both in private and public sectors, Higher Education systems will have to accommodate a growing proportion of adult learners, allow more flexibility in Higher Education provisions, in lifelong learning and in professional programmes.
Therefore the development of modern tools of recognition of any prior knowledge, skills and competences and their mutual acceptance within the EHEA, learning about different approaches and bridging them may be of great importance for further compatibility and transparency of different national systems. An improvement of the RPL-procedures with the purpose to make them first of all payable, trustable and effective is key at this stage.
The overarching thematic of the Seminar was “RPL: Flexible Ties within Higher Education”. This Seminar aimed at providing participants with an overview of general developments as regards RPL, with the opportunity to discuss the current challenges and to learn from the examples of best practices regarding RPL implementation at institutional level, through the 4 different workshops scheduled throughout the Seminar.
Two major areas of discussions dealt with:
- The Mindshift to make RPL a reality in particular drivers and motives of different stakeholders, and
- How to embed RPL into the QA system, and its effectiveness
Conclusions
EURASHE is pleased to present the Report of the Seminar compiled by Věra Šťastná, General Rapporteur of the Seminar and Czech Republic Representative in the BFUG.
It summarises the points of the discussions and debates, as well as provides the conclusions and recommendations of participants to make RPL a reality.
Download the Report of the Seminar from the EURASHE website.