The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is a translation tool that helps communication and comparison between qualifications systems in Europe. Eight common European reference levels are included, described in terms of learning outcomes on knowledge, skills and competences. Both ECVET and EQF are based on learning outcomes which makes it easier to understand what the holder of a certificate or diploma knows, understands and is able to do.
More information on EQF: https://ec.europa.eu/ploteus/en/content/descriptors-page
ECTS, the European Credit Transfer System, is a credit system and a central tool in the Bologna Process, which aims to make national systems more compatible. ECTS credits represent the workload and defined learning outcomes (“what the individual knows understands and is able to do”) of a given course or programme. 60 ECTS credits are the equivalent of a full year of study or work.
More information on ECTS: http://ec.europa.eu/education/ects/ects_en.htm
ECVET, the European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training, is a tool designed to aid the transfer, recognition and accumulation of learning outcomes of individuals on their way to achieving a qualification. It is meant to operate in coordination with other European tools, promoting borderless mobility and lifelong learning. It creates the potential to recognize, accumulate and transfer work-related skills and knowledge acquired during a stay in another country or in different situations, so that these experiences contribute to building up recognized vocational qualifications. The implementation of ECVET will increase transparency of qualifications, support mobility and benefit professionals by providing a systematic and transparent way to present, document and validate their knowledge, skills and competence.
ECVET is one of several European tools launched the last decade as an integral part of the ‘education and training 2010-20’ and Copenhagen processes. The development of ECVET began in 2002 after the Copenhagen Process emphasized the need for a credit system for VET. The system has been developed by the Member States and the social partners in cooperation with the European Commission and has been adopted through a recommendation by the European Parliament and the Council in 2009.
The timetable for ECVET implementation, which is a voluntary process, as foreseen in the ECVET recommendation, includes a preparatory period running until 2012, during which the Member States are asked to create the necessary conditions and to adopt measures with a view to introducing ECVET.
The technical components for ECVET can be described in three main categories:
• Qualification design (qualifications, units of learning outcomes and credit points)
• The accumulation process (assessment, validation and recognition of learning putcomes)
• The transfer process (memorandum of understanding, learning agreement and learners’
transcript of records)
More information on ECVET: http://ec.europa.eu/education/policy/vocational-policy/ecvet_en.htm
Related items are:
EUROPASS: https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/
ESCO (European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations): https://ec.europa.eu/esco/home
EHRO-N, the European Human Resources Observatory for the Nuclear Sector, published multiple reports on the needs of nuclear experts in the near future.
JRC-IET has developed over the last years a strategy and a road map for the ECVET implementation in the nuclear energy sector (NES). One of the components in the road map was the development of a Nuclear Job Taxonomy (NJT), where about 140 representative jobs were identified in the 3 phases of the NPP life cycle (New build, operation and decommissioning). It consists of a list of jobs and their profiles, focused on the required competences, and a catalogue of knowledge, skills and competence items to be used as an aid to draft the profiles.
More information on the Nuclear Job Taxonomy: http://ehron.jrc.ec.europa.eu/job-taxonomy
