Duration

since November 2007 until end of 2010

Approach

DECVET is a German pilot initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Its main objective is to test the principles for credit transfer in order to encourage permeability between the different VET sub-systems in Germany.
This objective is expressed in the following project statement:
The absence until now of any standardised system to describe and accredit learning achievements in vocational education and training has meant that trainees making the move from school-based vocational training to in-company VET or switching from one training occupation to another have often encountered difficulties in acquiring recognition for existing learning outcomes.

The pilot initiative supports projects that work on different areas of permeability. The following four main areas for increasing permeability were identified by the call for proposals:

• Dual system of VET - School-based vocational education and training
• Vocational preparation - Dual system of VET
• Different VET qualifications within a single occupational field
• Dual VET - Advanced VET

Features particularly relevant to ECVET

The German initiative is very much inspired by the ECVET principles which are: the use of units of learning outcomes, enabling accumulation and transfer through assessment, validation and recognition, use of credit points to express the volume of learning.

Leading organisation

Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany)

Partners

The following institutions are engaged in this pilot initiative

BWHW e.V. – Educational Institution of the Employers’ Federation of Hesse (VhU) & INBAS GmbH – Institute for Vocational Training, Labour Market and Social Policy
Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) - DB Training (Training Unit of Deutsche Bahn)
ÜAG Jena gGmbH – a non-profit inter-company training association for the promotion of work and employment
f-bb – Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training Nuremberg
SAZ – Schwerin Centre for Vocational Education and Training
AFBB – Academy for Vocational Education and Training Dresden
Consortium of the Baden-Wuerttemberg Association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce, the Baden-Wuerttemberg Chambers of Crafts and Skilled Trades’ Council and the Ministry of Education Baden-Wuerttemberg
BAQ – Research Institute for Employment Labour Qualification, Bremen
BCM – Bremen Centre of Mechatronics & aib – Bremen Institute for Work Science, University of Bremen
QFC – Institute for Promotion of Training and Vocational Education in the Chemical Industry &
SBG – The Saxon Education Company for Environmental Protection and Chemical Occupations Dresden &

Dresden University of Technology, Department of Education for Chemical Engineering, Environmental Protection and Environmental Technology &
JIBB – Jena Institute for Research on Vocational Education and Training & Consulting
Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg (OVGU) Department of Vocational Education and Human Resource Development - Chair of Research on Vocational Education and Training
Friedrich Schiller University of Jena (FSU) Department of Economics and Business Administration Chair of Business and Economics Education
Federal Institute for vocational education and training (BIBB)

Website

http://www.decvet.net