These guidelines are designed to help professionals in higher education (HE) to explain validation of prior learning (VPL) to newcomers (i.e. migrants and/or refugees) and to show them how it might facilitate their entry higher education programmes of study.

The guidelines are structured around frequently asked questions that we have identified based on consultation with a wide variety of minority groups participating in HE across Europe. The answers are formulated in simple and straightforward language to be accessible and clear to people who have little idea of what validation is and what it might mean for them.  However, we have also tried to introduce some of the key terms and vocabulary that they will encounter if they wish to proceed in a validation process.

We therefore hope that these will be useful to HE professionals as a general introduction for newcomers, which can be used with very little editing and that it will be easy to add to and/or adapt them to the specifics (and sometimes complexities) of regulations and practice.