On 26 and 27 June 2024, Dr Maria Brown participated in an Experts’ Meeting of the SEA-EU Lifelong Learning Task 2.5 Group.
The meeting was held at the Université Bretagne Occidentale (UBO) in Brest (France). Participating experts were tasked with exchanging practices concerning the recognition of prior learning and validation of acquired experience.
Dr Maria Brown presented an overview of recognition of prior learning policies and practices of the University of Malta, with attention to strengths that include the Senate-mandated policy, clear guidelines for prospective applicants, and the services offered by the UM’s Student Advisory Services Team. Suggested improvements highlighted in Dr Brown’s presentation included reviewing ongoing RPL practices using an ‘asset-based, citizenship education’ perspective, and enhancing accessibility to RPL-related data, as informed by the principles of findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability (FAIR).
The main takeaways include exposure to the case of the UBO, which stood out for catering for the validation of competencies, knowledge, and skills up to conferring a full Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree.
The event programme included encounters with graduates who validated Master's degrees through the process of validation of prior experience at the UBO, along with UBO assessors tasked with the validation of acquired experience; visits to the UBO’s state-of-the-art simulation infrastructure supporting teaching and learning with adults, and encounters with the UBO’s university pedagogy development staff whose role is specifically dedicated to supporting lecturers with developing programmes and resources and using the latest technologies to this end.
Aside from the UBO team, the other participating experts included academic representatives from the University of Cadiz, Kiel University, Nord University, University of Algarve, and University of Gdansk.
Alongside Dr Brown, Project Officer Isabella Bianco from UM's SEA-EU Office represented the University of Malta, whilst the SEA-EU Lifelong Learning Task 2.5 Group at the UM is co-led by Prof. Marvin Formosa.
This mobility was supported by the SEA-EU project budget.