Europass Decision Update

Europass is a suite of tools and services which support the transparency of skills and qualifications across the European Union.
In November 2018 Euroguidance Ireland attended the Learning by Leaving Conference 2018 where William O’Keeffe, Policy Officer, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion , EU Commission, gave an update on the advancement of the Europass Decision which was first adopted in Strasbourg in October 2016. 
 
This Learning by Leaving Conference was a joint conference for European mobility networks with the aim of establishing closer cooperation between the European mobility networks through regular exchanges of information, best practices and peer-learning as well as to make better use of synergies to increase the quality of the service provision. It included the Euroguidance, Europass, EURES and Eurodesk networks, who work together to ensure that learners and workers are provided with the appropriate information, guidance and competences before and when deciding to go abroad.

William O’Keeffe updated the networks on the current progression of the developments of Europass under the following four areas:

Until April 2018, the Europass portfolio has consisted of five documents: a CV, a language passport, a certificate section, a diploma section and a mobility document.  The most recent idea was to add a new tool - the e-portfolio - which would gather all the information about a person in one place.

1. Europass e-portfolio – the newest addition

The e-portfolio assists people to manage their skills and qualifications online, to include documents and media, such as open badges, digital qualifications or video CVs, to create CVs and applications and self-assess skills

2. Career and lifelong learning information

This provides interoperability with learning, employment and other opportunities in Europe, where people can transfer their e-portfolios to/from other services, e.g. Social Media or job boards

3 Digital credentials

This is a technical framework to issue digital credentials to people which is fraud-proof. It can include information on the qualification, awarding body, and the qualification system. It is also machine-readable for online applications, job matching, etc.

4 Information on skills demand & supply

Europass provides information on skills demand, skills supply and skills gaps, helps people to plan their training and career, and provides information from the EU Skills Panorama. It achieves high quality results from the big data analysis of job vacancies available in Europe.

As the conference had participants from four agencies of the European Commission working in collaboration together to promote educational and employment mobility across Europe, Mr O'Keeffe celebrated the continual progress of these agencies in complementing and assisting each other. He also referred to the networks’ links with ESCO, (European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations) and the value of ESCO to enhance Europass. He emphasised that Europass is an open service to European countries and those in the European Union and European Economic Area.

Useful links:

William O’Keeffe’s presentation

The history of Europass

The New Europass Framework 2016 (Q&A)

Revision of Europass in 2018

Statement by Commissioner Thyssen following the adoption of the revised Europass framework