CREDCHEM - Credit-Transfer-System - chemical industry
CREDCHEM - The development and testing of a credit transfer system to improve mobility in the chemical industry
With an eye to the ECVET test phase recommended by the majority of Member States in 2006, the European Commission published a call for proposals in May 2008 for projects to "test and develop the credit system for vocational education and training (ECVET)". CREDCHEM is one of eleven selected European projects that have been working since January 2009 on developing sector-specific credit systems and testing them under practical conditions in connection with mobility measures. This project has the aim of developing a model for the transfer of credits within the European chemical industry. The project works on the fundamental assumption that work processes in the chemical industry are similar throughout Europe (operation of comparable systems and equipment, monitoring of comparable processes). The CREDCHEM project will record the learning outcomes that are acquired in operator occupations and in laboratory occupations. On the basis of this information, it will then define learning units and assign them credit points analogously to their weighting in the final qualification. This will require as a first step the development of criteria for weighting learning units and for defining and referencing them. The methods and instruments developed in this connection will be tested over the course of two mobility cycles. In order to anchor mobility measures in the chemical industry over the long term and to safeguard the credit system, the project consortium will develop partnership agreements and learning agreements (target: 1-3 partnerships per partner country) which will lay down the conditions for applying the credit system and for implementing mobility measures. National CREDCHEM boards (political and administrative decision-makers, social partners, disseminators) will be set up to flank the project's progress and results. These boards will ensure that the instruments are practicable and ensure they are anchored in day-to-day practice.
