The purpose of this article is to examine the French system of accreditation of prior experiential learning (APEL) in the light of experiences elsewhere in Europe. We shall do so by determining the extent to which the institutional characteristics of the system and the way in which it is put into practice reflect some of the main French societal…

In many countries throughout the world, efforts to articulate the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of workers have translated into the development of organizations with the specific charter to establish industry-based skill standards with attendant new and/or expanded forms of certification of competencies. The new emphasis on skill…

In both France and Germany, the government, employers' organizations, and unions all participate in defining vocational diplomas based on a national framework of procedures of elaborating and standardizing titles. Important differences between the diploma definition processes in France and Germany may be identified. In Germany, the issue is…