Elizabeth Anne

That's how "RPL" works for us. One can request recognition of competence in the way you describe in order to enter a formal course at an appropriate level - and the resulting diploma can be obtained in one year instead of 3 or 4 years. While the protocol in place provides "equivalences" in order to enter the system, it does not provide an "equivalence" (of a diploma) per se.

Your remark "Kind of reminds me of guilds in the Middle Ages." made me jump out of lurking ! (Elizabeth Anne, EFL teacher at a University in Grenoble, France.) - after having jumped, I realize I don't know what you mean. Is it formal insitiutions as "credentialing" bodies (with a little teaching on the side) which remindes you of guilds, or is it the existing formal education system which reminds you of guilds. If it is the latter, then I totally agree with you. - a quick copy and paste from Wikipdia is called for here

The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society. They often depended on grants of letters patent by an authority or monarch to enforce the flow of trade to their self-employed members, and to retain ownership of tools and the supply of materials.

These guilds (formal education confraternities) have been demolished in most countries with the enthousiastic help of their members, who are on the frontline in the combat against the accumulation of knowledge for its own sake. That substative learning can take place outside the formal system has always been the case. As someone has mentioned elsewhere, no one thought of asking for creditation for the extra books they read. But could I ask you what did you mean by your reference to guilds ?

Hi from a lurker in  France. I teach ESP at the Université Joseph Fourier. Previously webmaster of our new departmental site:
http://dsu-net.ujf-grenoble.fr/pool/anglais/accueil.php
I've been "following" the Blogging for Beginners workshop of EVO.
http://eannegrenoble.edublogs.org/
I don't want to interrupt for long, because I don't think I'll manage to make time to follow the discussion properly - but for someone who, as an undergraduate in Physics at Aston-in-Brimingham, actually programmed computers using punchcards - I assume my position of grandmother in both lives, and look forward to - and thank you for letting me - "listen in" to the discussion.
Sorry - it was "Yorkshire" that made me crack... my homeplace many years ago.