Franco-German cooperation in the development of qualifications standards in logistics
Benedikt Peppinghaus
Translated by: Martin Kelsey, Global Sprachteam
On 2 June, the website of the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research (Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche) published updated regulations on the qualification of BTS transport et prestations logistiques (Advanced technical diploma in transport and logistics services).
Within the French system, the BTS qualification is at the same level as short courses of higher education study (short cycles) and is aligned to level 5 of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). A pilot scheme is taking place whereby credit points are also issued for this qualification in accordance with the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS).
European partners were also integrated into the preparation of the new qualification alongside the French Ministry of Education and the French social partners. These comprised a Franco-German working group on logistics, which on the German side included the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and trade union experts, and the EU funded LEONARDO project Eurotranslog. The ordinance enacting this logistics qualification made express reference to the "European dimension" and to the work carried out by the Franco-German working group and the Eurotranslog project.
The French BTS exhibits considerable communalities with the German training profile "Freight forwarding and logistics services clerk" in terms of specialist tasks. But also contains the core activity of "Managing a team" which is not included in the German qualification.
This places the BTS between the German training occupation of "Freight forwarding and logistics services clerk" and the German advanced training qualification of "Certified senior transport clerk". In the latter, requirements with regard to the design and control of transport and logistics services, business administration and HR management are significantly more broadly based than in the French BTS. This means that a comparison between the German and French qualifications suggests that German Certified senior clerk qualifications should be aligned to EQF level 6.
BIBB will use the impetuses gained from the Franco-German working group when updating initial and advanced training regulations in cooperation with German social partners.
Contact partner at BIBB: Benedikt Peppinghaus
Website of the LEONARDO project Eurotranslog: www.eurotranslog.eu
Full text of BTS transport et prestations logistiques available on the website: http://www2.cndp.fr/outils-doc
