After five successful years, the “MODUS – Enhancing student mobility across educational boundaries through recognition” project of the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK) will end on 30 June 2025. It supported German universities in strengthening and structurally developing their recognition practices for educational achievements and competences. The recognition of credits earned at other universities or in another degree programme, as well as the recognition of competences acquired outside of higher education for university studies, aims to promote the national and international mobility of students, lifelong learning and flexible learning paths, and to make the education system more permeable in general.
In close cooperation with university and non-university experts, MODUS developed quality-assured standards for modern recognition procedures, prepared relevant information for universities, prospective students and students, and also provided impetus for innovative further developments – such as the digitalisation of processes and the possible use of artificial intelligence.
Prof Dr Ulrich Bartosch, HRK Vice-President for Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, explains: “Recognition of academic study and prior learning gives shape to a wide range of prior qualifications and competences and makes them tangible. Individual educational pathways can be pursued, expanded or reoriented easier.. This applies in particular to prospective students with professional experience, international students and students who are studying abroad or changing their degree programme. MODUS has used its specialist expertise to make important adjustments to ensure that such transitions are even more successful in an increasingly flexible education system. The guidelines and impetus must now be systematically taken up and further implemented locally. The federal and state governments can effectively support this through policy prioritisation and sustainable use of funds.”
HRK President Prof Dr Walter Rosenthal says: “The HRK’s MODUS project has made a significant contribution to ensuring that qualifications acquired at other institutions or in other educational contexts can be appropriately recognised, taking into account the high quality of academic education. This also allows the educational policy ideal of lifelong learning to be better formally realised. I would like to thank the dedicated project team, the participating experts and the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space, whose funding has enabled the HRK to provide important impetus for greater permeability in the education system with MODUS.”
Background
Between August 2020 and the end of June 2025, the HRK project “MODUS –Enhancing student mobility across educational boundaries through recognition” supported German universities in making their recognition practices more transparent and efficient. Recognising achievements and competences from previous learning experiences, for example from previous study or employment, can effectively strengthen student mobility and permeability between different areas of education. This enables an increasingly heterogeneous student body to organise their studies flexibly and to pursue new learning paths between professional and academic qualifications in different phases of their lives. MODUS was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) resp. the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).
In just under five years, MODUS has supported seven universities in comprehensive advisory processes and carried out training courses at 33 universities. The project also organised a total of 16 specialist conferences, 22 online seminars and nine workshops. The results of the work led to 15 publications, among other things.
The key materials and results of MODUS will continue to be available on the project website www.hrk-modus.de after the end of the project. With the “Practical Handbook on Academic Recognition and Recognition of Prior Learning at Universities” (only available in German), MODUS has created a comprehensive handbook to support practical work at universities. Students and prospective students can find basic information about academic recognition and recognition of prior learning on the MODUS website “AN!” (https://www.anerkennung-und-anrechnung-im-studium.de/).
