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Europass

People who are looking for a job – whether in their own country or abroad – need to be able to present their qualifications and skills in a way that employers can correctly understand and appreciate.

The Europass service, available to individuals through a network of national centres and an on-line portal, aims to make this process easier.

There are a number of elements.

CV service

The portal – run by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) and available in 26 languages – provides an interactive tool to complete the Europass CV and the Europass Language Passport.

The Europass CV highlights people's skills and abilities, including those acquired outside of formal education and training. Language skills are described with the help of the commonly used reference framework established by the Council of Europe.

Users can download the CVs that they create in several formats, including XML which enables direct uploading to on-line employment databases.

On average, around 7 000 CVs are created using the service every day.

Other Europass documents

Europass Mobility records a learning experience abroad, such as an academic exchange or a stage in a company – making it more visible for employers.

The Europass Diploma Supplement is extremely valuable for academic recognition. Developed by the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO, it describes in a standardised way the nature, level, context, content and status of any higher education courses that an individual has successfully completed.

Read more about the Diploma Supplement.

The Europass Certificate Supplement explains vocational training certificates in terms of skills and abilities, enabling employers to better appreciate what their holders can do.

More information

• A summary of the EU legislation establishing Europass

• Legal text: Decision 2241/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on a single Community framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences (Europass)
  (December 2004)

• European Commission Report: the first evaluation of the Europass initiative, COM(2008)427
  

In depth

• European framework for key competences
• European Qualifications Framework
• Europass
• European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)
• European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET)
• Quality assurance in vocational education and training
• Validation of non-formal and informal learning
• Guidance
• Diploma Supplement
• National Recognition Information Centres