Accreditation replaces the outdated system of equivalences, crediting training undertaken as part of other higher education cycles in national or foreign higher education establishments, as well as introducing the possibility of crediting professional experience and post-secondary training. In this way, accreditation makes it possible for institutions to recognise post-secondary training and carry out a process of identifying, evaluating and recognising knowledge obtained outside the formal education system, by awarding credits, for the purposes of progression in the course or cycle of studies in which the student is enrolled.