Europass
"Europass helps individuals highlight their abilities in an effective way. It can help to remove barriers to working, studying or training in Europe. It is free and enables people to present their competencies, skills and qualifications in a clear way"
Europass is a European Union initiative set up in 2004 to establish a transparency framework for qualifications and competences. Europass consists of five documents which aim to enable better recognition of qualifications and achievements for anyone enrolled in an education or training programme in the EU therefore facilitating mobility.
Europass is coordinated by a network of National Europass Centres across Europe. The UK National Europass Centre is under the management of UK NARIC, the National Agency responsible for providing information, advice and expert opinion on vocational, academic and professional skills and qualifications from over 180 countries worldwide.
Whilst it is not a Bologna Process instrument, Europass can support Bologna objectives (mobility, transparency/recognition, lifelong learning). There are potential benefits for learners as well as advantages for employers, educational establishments and training providers, such as:
- Aiding the understanding of qualifications, competencies and skills across borders
- Providing information that is formatted in a standardised way enabling applicants to be easily compared to one another
- Information is clearly and transparently presented allowing easier understanding of what individuals can offer
- Opportunities on a European level are opened up to individuals
The Europass Documents
The five Europass documents are:
- Europass Curriculum Vitae (CV)
- Europass Language passport
- Europass Diploma Supplement
- Europass Certificate Supplement
- Europass Mobility
The Curriculum Vitae and Language Passport are completed by the individual whilst the Diploma/Certificate Supplements and Mobility are completed by institutions.
Europass Curriculum Vitae (CV)
This is available as an online template for individuals to complete. It helps users to highlight skills, qualifications, work experience and any attributes that might set them apart from others.
Example of the use of the Europass CV
In the EPICS e-Portfolio project work was undertaken with the Europass CV as an additional way of transferring data within the ePET portfolio system data.
ePET can now export and import XML data in the Europass-CV standard. This was demonstrated at 2006 e-Portfolios conference in Oxford and involved the export of CV data from ePET in Europass-CV xml, which was uploaded in the Europass Website.
EPICS including ePET case study
Europass Language Passport
Again, this is available as an online template for individuals to complete. It enables users to record their language ability by recording any language experiences they may have or courses they may have completed. They can rank their proficiency to a European scale of language skill.
Europass Diploma Supplement
This is the Diploma Supplement issued by HE institutions covered earlier in this resource.
Europass Certificate Supplement
This provides basic information about training delivered to people who hold a vocational education and training certificate - it is additional information to that already included in the official certificate. Its intention is to make the information more easily understood especially by employers or institutions outside of the issuing country. It is provided in the same format for all EU and EEA countries. Europass can provide the template, guidelines and additional information regarding this if necessary but it is the responsibility of the relevant awarding body to issue the Certificate Supplement.
Europass Mobility
This is a record of any organised period spent abroad as part of a learning or training programme. This experience can include a work placement, voluntary work or an exchange programme. The documentation needs to be completed by the home and host institutions.
Further information on the Europass documents, as well as templates where available, is available from the UK National Europass Centre website.
Further reading
