VALIDATION – A MEETING POINT BETWEEN HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE LABOUR MARKET?

Abstract

The function of the higher education institutions is changing nowadays. The higher education used to be a special system reserved for the dedicated ones earlier: for those, who were the most talented and/or the wealthiest members of the society. They had the chance to learn, and the knowledge they have collected at the universities guaranteed a good job with a good salary for them. New types of students appeared at the universities lately: for us the most important is the age group over 25 years. These students are typically part-time students: they are working and studying in parallel. This trend results in another need: the recognition of non-formal and informal learning collected by the employees during their career. In many cases the lifelong learners’ tuition fees and the different donations can cover a significant part of the higher education budget. For supporting the education companies always want some kind of compensation: this can be the validation.

Keywords

• Education
• Labour market
• Employment
• Recognition of prior learning
• Validation