Lead Auditor Courses on VET Standard NP4512 Concluded

The first course for lead auditors on the new VET standard NP4512:2012 “Training Management System, Including Technology-Enhanced Learning – Requirements” took place on November 29th and 30th on the premises of the Portuguese Institute for Quality in Portugal. The Q-Cert-VET project consortium welcomed 17 experienced auditors from 8 Portuguese and international certification bodies, including APCER, Bureau Veritas, CERTIF, DAS Certification, EIC, LUSAENOR, SGS, and TUV Rheinland. Four trainers from the Q-Cert-VET consortium conducted the course, which detailed the structure and requirements of NP4512 – Q-Cert-VET co-coordinator and NP4512 creators Sandra Feliciano and Vanda Lima from the Portuguese Centre for Research and Innovation in Business Sciences and Information Systems (CIICESI-ESTGF-IPP), and partners responsible for the standard’s extensive pilot-testing phase, António Bettencourt from iZone, and Jorge Farromba from TAP – MEGASIS.

A cooperative and honest atmosphere during the courses allowed for valuable dialogue to occur between the certification bodies present. In this manner the participant auditors were able to share their experiences, conciliate interpretations, and harmonize good practices through a highly rewarding experience of peer-learning. In order to continue the fruitful discussions begun during the two-day course, the group decided to open a new LinkedIn group under the title “NP 4512 Auditors” to maintain an open channel of communication to share their future work experiences with NP4512 and the accredited certification scheme based on it. The results of their discussions will contribute to the chances for ultimate acceptance by the European Committee for Standardization (CEN). CEN’s adoption and consequent adaptation of the tested and verified NP4512 standard is a major goal of the Q-Cert-VET project, thus responding to the European Commission’s call for the development of the quality and attractiveness of VET systems and practices.

The creation of the accredited certification scheme OEC010 by the Portuguese Institute for Accreditation (IPAC) provides all interested certification bodies with the possibility of applying for certification in NP4512. Certification bodies thus accredited can certify training institutions with the new standard. If you represent a certification body interested in the specifics of the new VET standard NP4512, please feel free to contact the Q-Cert-VET project consortium through the official website at www.edu-certification.eu/

For other up-to-date information on the Q-Cert-VET project and the standard NP4512, feel free to like and follow the project’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/QCertVET, and follow the project Twitter account at www.twitter.com/#!/QCertVET.

Q-Cert-Vet is the European research project for the quality certification (Q-Cert) of vocational education and training (VET) and is co-funded by the European Commission. The European initiative Q-Cert-VET develops a new quality standard and supports a related certification scheme for the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Portugal.

The project Q-Cert-VET develops a national quality standard and initiates the development of required tools for professional quality certification. The reference framework QPL (short for Quality Platform Learning), developed in Germany, provides the basis for the new quality standard and related instruments and tools for the certification scheme, including the first training course for lead auditors. A strong desire from the Q-Cert-VET consortium members goes beyond a national quality standard: the evaluated and optimized quality certification standard will be submitted to the European standardization CEN TC 353 to become an official European Norm (EN) for Quality and Certification in vocational education and training.

The consortium of Q-Cert-VET is coordinated and led by Center for Research and Innovation in Business Sciences and Information Systems (CIICESI). It includes eight partners from four countries: Germany, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Romania. The University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, one of the Q-Cert-VET project partners and the project co-coordinator, is author and auditor of QPL and providing long-term expertise in learning quality.

More information about Q-Cert-VET is available online soon at www.edu-certification.eu

Dipl.-Wirt.-Inf. Tatiana Shamarina-Heidenreich

University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen
Information Systems for Production and Operations Management
Universitaetsstr. 9 (FB WIWI: ICB)
D-45141 Essen (Germany)
Office: R09 S02 B89

Phone: ++49-(0) 201-183 4304
Fax: ++49-(0) 201-183 4067
Email: tatiana.shamarina-heidenreich@icb.uni-due.de
Web: http://www.wip.uni-due.de

This release was published on openPR.