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Benefits of RPL
Recognition of Prior Learning
How can you benefit from RPL?
- By recognising in yourself, and making visible to others, the valuable skills, capabilities and learning you already have through work or other life experience, RPL can practically support your self-esteem, confidence and well-being.
- RPL can allow you to return to higher education to build on previous learning.
- RPL can provide you with formal qualifications if you are looking to advance your career.
- RPL can speed up the progress through a programme, for example through advanced entry or module exemptions; RPL does not believe in having to relearn what you already know.
- RPL can help reduce the amount of time, and cost, associated with acquiring a qualification or credential.
Skipping a year can involve a lot of additional work, but due to Ireland’s fee policy for people who already hold a degree, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to do this course without advanced entry. In that way, RPL has been a real game-changer.
- Hayley Kavanagh
Benefits of RPL for employers
- RPL can support and enable further education and skills development in your team. It can assist in upskilling or reskilling your staff while addressing existing workforce skill gaps. Higher education has a role to play in providing a qualified workforce, and RPL is part of that response. It could help you prepare for the future, e.g. digitalisation and AI needs.
- RPL can help open doors and empower staff — recognition of ‘on the job’ learning is part of RPL and can boost staff motivation around relevant education and training. By recognising what your team members already know, RPL can help identify and open up new higher and further education opportunities for them. A skilled and educated workforce is vital in the changing world of work.
Benefits of RPL for Higher Education Institutions
- DCU sees RPL as a critical component in supporting lifelong learning. It broadens and enhances the reach of higher education by making programmes more accessible to learners. By allocating a defined value on RPL, barriers to learning can be lifted for learners who otherwise may not meet minimum entry requirements but who do have, for example, relevant prior learning.
- DCU values its relationship with industry partners and actively seeks partnerships and collaborations with enterprise and industry. RPL adds value to an institution’s relationship with industry partners and can be used to develop customised learning solutions tailored to existing employee skill sets and organisational needs.