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Table 5: Positioning of the different calculation elements Primary orientation Subdivision Basis Secondary orientation Source: the authors Qualifications frameworks and credit systems: a toolkit for education in Europe Torsten Dunkel, Isabelle Le Mouillour ECVET ECTS Qualification Study programme Units Learning outcomes Training regulations, overall curriculum, etc. Courses of study Learning effort Qualification Learning outcomes Behind the different positioning of learning outcomes in the two procedures lies the fact that VET and higher education providers, or their competent authorities, are responsible for awarding and allocating credit points. Credits in ECTS can only be obtained after ‘successful completion of the work required and appropriate assessment of the learning outcomes achieved’ (European Commission, 2004, p. 1) and provide information about the related workload. They are therefore dependent on the achievement of a certain outcome, which implies that qualitative factors are to be taken into account. In relation to the – already largely completed – introduction of uniform academic degrees (bachelor/master), this means in principle that credits count throughout Europe as a standard for measuring academic learning effort or workload, and for the award of degree certificates (BA/MA). They likewise simplify the management of mobility. Credits therefore play a central role in ECTS. In ECVET, credit points are defined as ‘simple and broad indicators. They have no intrinsic meaning of their own’ (European Commission, 2006d, p. 14). However, a good deal still needs to be done if, by 2010, there really is to be an integrated European Higher Education Area with comparable academic structures and compatible diplomas as well as significantly improved mechanisms for academic validation. And for the time being there is no answer to the question of whether, and to what extent, it will be possible to allocate and transfer ECVET and ECTS credits reciprocally, or whether - as often postu- 197
198 European journal of vocational training No 42/43 – 2007/3 2008/1 lated - it will be possible to devise an integrated system of credit points within the foreseeable future, because otherwise two credit systems would coexist within a single qualifications framework. Over and above such technical questions concerning the composition and allocation of credits, questions need to be asked about the role of credit points. ECTS is not as coherent in its application as it is on paper. So far there is no empirical basis for the award of credit points. We shall now present a few incongruities in order to illustrate the difficulties: for example, some German universities still use weekly hours per semester rather than student workload as a basis for calculating credits; weighting is still applied in certain cases. Other universities conduct extra intermediate and final tests in addition to academic examinations (DAAD, 2004). They award more credit points for labour-intensive courses than for courses merely requiring attendance. Matters become problematical when no common yardstick exists even within one institute or discipline (Rehburg, 2005); ECTS is an intricate system with credit points but also necessitates considerable administrative effort, red tape and an increased tutor workload; this impinges on the quality of teaching and, for students, means fewer choices and less autonomy during their studies; credit points provide no guarantee that credits obtained abroad will be fully recognised. There is no automatic administrative procedure for students to follow; examinations are held in individual cases (Rehburg, 2005); difficulties persist over the recognition of credits (for about 50 % of mobile students) and the dual testing of learning outcomes (in the form of credits and of the customary examination procedures). There is incorrect use of ECTS: ‘misunderstanding of student workload and diverse concepts of “modules”’ (Purser, Crosier, 2007b). Experience and difficulties with ECTS must be taken into account when applying ECVET, above all in terms of awarding and calculating credit points. Moreover, it is doubtful whether the ECTS system as it stands is transferable to VET and lifelong learning. The approach based on workload and learning outcomes has its justifications, but the compatibility of both parts of the system must be ensured: a credit certifies nothing other than the fulfilment of a requirement, which is only meaningful in connection with both the level of the anticipated learning outcomes (in relation to qualifications frameworks or systems) and the period of time within which these learning outcomes are expected (credit points). This would argue in favour of ECVET and ECTS
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