EUROPEAN COMMUNITY COURSE CREDIT TRANSFER SYSTEM

ECTS, the European Community Course Credit Transfer System, has been conceived to ease academic mobility and recognition, through the creation of a common credit system for the courses of the participating institutions from different countries.     

ERASMUS: THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY'S HIGHER EDUCATION ACTION PROGRAMME IN ITS FIRST YEAR

On 14 May 1987, the Education Ministers of the Twelve reached agreement on the European Community Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students (ERASMUS). With a total of 85 million ECU** ** One ECU is worth approximately $ 0.8131 United States dollars. View all notes earmarked for its initial phase (1 July 1987 to 30 June 1990), the programme will aim at encouraging increased student and staff mobility throughout the European Community by means of the creation of a European University Network, the award of grants to individual students, arrangements for the mutual recognition of qualifications and courses or parts of courses, and a range of additional supporting measures. In the following article, the authors will examine, in some detail, the Actions provided for in the Programme, which was formally adopted by the Council on 15 June 1987.

     

CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES FOR THE RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN QUALIFICATIONS

The criteria and procedures for the recognition of foreign qualifications are not sufficiently known to most evaiuators of foreign qualifications. This lack of knowledge results in inappropriate and incorrect evaluations and recognition decisions. The purpose of this article is to explain who evaluates and reaches decisions as to foreign qualifications, what the role of national recognition centres is, how such centres co‐operate internationally, and how international co‐operation has led to the advancement of agreed upon methods, criteria, and procedures for the recognition of foreign qualifications. The biggest step forward in this respect is the Draft Recommendation on General Procedures and Criteria for the Evaluation of Foreign Qualifications that was recently developed by an expert group and which, in its final form, will be a subsidiary text of the Council of Europe/UNESCO Convention.