What Does APEL.Q Assess?
Fifteen or twenty years in a field can give you a substantial record of work to draw on. For an APEL.Q assessment, choose experiences that show what you learned, what you can do as a result and how that learning relates to the qualification you are seeking.
Start with the learning you can demonstrate
Malaysia’s Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning for Award of Academic Qualifications (APEL.Q) provides a route to a qualification from a fully accredited programme through formal assessment. The Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA, 2020) requires assessors to compare the knowledge, skills and competencies you gained through formal, non-formal or informal learning with the outcomes and academic requirements of the specific programme.
Two candidates with 15 years in management may have developed different capabilities. One might show how they evaluated competing proposals and allocated a budget. Another might show how they diagnosed a recurring problem and improved an operational process. MQA calls for demonstrable learning achievement in the outcomes being assessed.
Connect your experience to a programme learning outcome
Cedefop (2023) describes validation as a process in which an authorised body checks whether a person’s learning outcomes meet a relevant standard. The four stages are identification, documentation, assessment and certification. The UNESCO-UNEVOC TVETipedia glossary (n.d.) cites a 2023 definition from the International Labour Organization that similarly describes recognition of prior learning (RPL) as assessing competencies gained in different learning settings against established qualification standards.
Start with a learning outcome from your programme. If it asks you to evaluate strategic options, for example, a decision paper you prepared could show how you compared costs and risks. Point to the relevant section, explain what you learned from the comparison and show how it informed the decision.
How the assessment progresses
MQA (2020, Section 3.2) sets out a sequence in which candidates pass the first three assessments in order before completing the programme’s capstone course or courses.
| Stage | What you demonstrate |
|---|---|
| 1. Portfolio | Document what you learned and show how your evidence supports specific programme outcomes. |
| 2. Field and Validation Visit | Demonstrate relevant knowledge and skills in a suitable setting, such as a workplace, laboratory or simulation. |
| 3. Challenge Test | Show your knowledge and competencies in a supervised assessment. The format depends on the discipline. |
| 4. Capstone course or courses | Bring together the programme’s key learning outcomes. Assessment includes a comprehensive oral examination. |
For your portfolio, choose evidence that is authentic, relevant to a specific outcome, current enough for the field and detailed enough to support your claim. MQA requires APEL.Q assessments to apply the same level of rigour as assessment in conventional taught programmes.
How Swiss Academic Support helps
Swiss Academic Support (SAS) can help you review your work and training records, identify relevant evidence, organise your portfolio around the programme’s learning outcomes and understand what to prepare for each stage.
You provide the evidence and explain your learning. The authorised institution conducts the formal assessment and makes the decision on the award.
References
Cedefop. (2023). European guidelines for validating non-formal and informal learning (3rd ed.). Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2801/389827.
Malaysian Qualifications Agency. (2020). Guidelines to good practices: Accreditation of prior experiential learning for award of academic qualifications (APEL.Q). MQA guidelines (PDF).
UNESCO-UNEVOC. (n.d.). Recognition of prior learning (RPL). In TVETipedia glossary. Glossary entry.
