Study on Academic Degree System on the Base of Evaluation of Competences

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This study investigates special academic degree systems that exempt students from academic coursework in higher education. It compares the systems in the European countries to examine the processes and problems that their systems entail within higher education. Competence-based academic degree systems are based on the accreditation of prior learning, APL, which assesses students' competences. This study clarifies the actual situation and certain APL features in the countries. We identified the following APL-related points: APL places greater importance on learning outcomes than on the application to Higher Education Institutes, HEI, as assessment factors for exemption from coursework. APL creates certain crucial problems for IHEs, such as the determination of equivalence between the experiential knowledge and skills that people acquire in daily lives and the academic skills that IHEs offer. EU, OECD, and UNESCO have policies that promote APL in their member countries.