A general overview of existing regulations, instruments and practices employed to facilitate permeability and progression in the 32 European countries taking part in the ‘Education and Training 2010’ work programme was created and the interaction of these permeability mechanisms with phenomena and processes both at the institutional and the individual level was examined. Furthermore, the specific contribution of credit systems like ECTS and ECVET to permeability and progression in education and training was examined. Conclusions were formulated which help map out future national and European policy options to take forward the issues of permeability and progression with a particular attention to the emergence of lifelong learning and lifelong recognition paradigm. The study was coordinated by the ITB, University of Bremen (DE).