VAE: turn your experience into a qualification
Recognition of prior experiential learning (VAE) lets you turn your professional experience into a recognized qualification. We support you at every step.
Turning your experience into a diploma
You have real skills and professional experience but not the matching diploma? VAE lets you have this experiential learning formally recognized and earn a certification listed in the RNCP. ESIC is Qualiopi-certified, a mark of the quality of the support we provide.
Who VAE is for
Anyone who can show at least one year of activity (as an employee, a self-employed worker, a volunteer or in a community-service role) related to the target diploma. No age requirement and no minimum level of study apply.
The steps
- Eligibility: we check that you qualify and put together your eligibility booklet.
- Guidance: help writing the portfolio in which you describe and analyze your skills against the qualification's competency framework.
- Assessment panel: you present and defend your application before a panel of industry professionals and a representative of ESIC's academic leadership.
Duration and cost
Guidance represents 20 to 30 hours on average. A VAE most often takes between 6 and 12 months, depending on the target certification and your availability. As for cost, guidance is charged at €90 excl. VAT per hour, and taking the ESIC certification costs €600 excl. VAT.
Requirements and eligibility
What experience do you need to show?
At least one year of activity directly related to the target certification. This experience can be as an employee, self-employed, a volunteer or community-service work, continuous or not, with no seniority requirement.
Which certifications are eligible?
Diplomas, professional titles and certificates listed in the RNCP, the national register of professional certifications.
Nationality or frequency requirements?
No nationality or residency requirement. A given certification can be earned through VAE only once, and you may file only one application per certification per year. The process is personal: you must be the one to initiate it.
Is VAE accessible to people with disabilities?
Yes. Contact us so we can review possible accommodations together. The time to access guidance is about two weeks.
Planning a VAE?
Let's talk: we check your eligibility and support you all the way to the assessment panel.