1. Formal recognition: the process of granting official status to competences, either
   

   • through the award of certificates or
   • through the grant of equivalence, credit units, validation of gained competences;

   and/or

2. social recognition: through acknowledgment of the value of competences by economic and social stakeholders.

SOURCE: Terminology of European education and training policy-a selection of 100 key terms. CEDEFOP, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2008.