COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Better EU tools and services for skills and qualifications (Europass) Accompanying the document Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and repealing Decision No 2241/2004/EC
Date: 2016-10-04
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission
Subjects: EU employment policy, cooperation in the field of education, dissemination of information, education policy, information system, professional qualifications, vocational training

EN 

   EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 4.10.2016  SWD(2016) 320 final   COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Better EU tools and services for skills and qualifications (Europass) Accompanying the document Proposal for a DECISION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL  on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and repealing Decision No 2241/2004/EC  {COM(2016) 625 final}  
 
 
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

BETTER EU TOOLS AND SERVICES FOR SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS 

(Europass) 

Contents 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 2 

1.  Background and state of play .......................................................................................................... 2 

1.1 

Overview of available tools and services ............................................................................. 5 

1.1.1 Europass ................................................................................................................................. 5 

1.1.2 Other tools and Services directly addressed in initiative: .................................................... 7 

1.1.3 Synergies with other services related to skills and qualifications........................................ 7 

1.1.4 National support services for skills and qualifications ......................................................... 8 

2. Challenges ahead ................................................................................................................................. 9 

2.1 

Exploiting the full potential of Europass to meet evolving needs .................................... 10 

Overcoming the limited efficiency and user-friendliness of services due to stand-alone 

2.2 
online tools ....................................................................................................................................... 11 

2.3 

Improving insufficient digital compatibility and out-dated nature of online skills tools
14 

Increasing awareness among the end-users of existing services for skills and 

2.4 
qualifications .................................................................................................................................... 15 

2.5 Increasing cooperation and communication among national centres to improve the 
effectiveness and reach of tools and services ................................................................................ 17 

3.   Possible ways forward ................................................................................................................... 19 

3.1 Baseline scenario ....................................................................................................................... 20 

3.2 Option 1 - Enhancing documentation and online presence ................................................... 20 

3.3 Option 2 – Better integration of services ................................................................................. 22 

3.4 Option 3 – Better coordination of support networks ............................................................. 26 

Summary of strengths and weaknesses associated with this option: ......................................... 27 

3.5 Option 4 - Better Interoperability between tools .................................................................... 27 

3.6 Comparison of options .............................................................................................................. 29 

4 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................................................ 30 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

Introduction 

This Staff Working Document provides the analytical basis for the proposals for better tools 
and  services  for  skills  and  qualifications  made  in  the  context  of  the  New  Skills  Agenda  for 
Europe  adopted  by  the  Commission  on  10  June  2016 1.  The  document  first  presents  the 
challenges and problems with current tools and services for skills and qualifications. It then 
attempts to provide effective solutions by proposing a number of policy options for which the 
envisaged  impacts  are  analysed.  Finally  it  gives  an  overview  of  stakeholders'  consultations 
carried out in preparation of this initiative. 

The proposals include a revision of the Europass Decision (Decision No 2241/2004/EC of the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council).  The  revision  will  seek  to  enhance  Europass,  and 
address  its  relationship  with  a  number  of  other  related  tools  as  well  as  the  national  support 
services associated with these tools.  

Difficulty  in  obtaining  recognition  of  skills  and  qualifications  and  insufficient  access  to 
related information and support continue to limit mobility for employment or learning in the 
EU  and  more  widely.  The  revision  of  the  Europass  Decision  will  seek  to  enable  tools  and 
services to better support transparency and understanding of skills and qualifications. 

1. 

Background and state of play 

In  the  context  of  an  evolving  working  environment  and  labour  market,  with  high 
unemployment rates but also a lack of suitable skills in some areas or sectors, skills services 
can help support exchange of information and better understanding of skills and qualifications 
available.  This  facilitates  transparency,  mobility  and  ultimately  employability.  Transitions 
from  learning  to  employment,  from  one  job  to  another  or  from  one  learning  pathway  to 
another  are  increasingly  common  today.  Additionally,  in  many  cases  individuals  may  have 
acquired a wide range of skills but these may not be immediately visible to those looking to 
understand an individual's skills or qualifications. Where skills are not identified they cannot 
be subsequently understood and recognised thus denying an opportunity to the holder of the 
skills  to  demonstrate  what  s/he  has  learnt  or  knows  to  do.  Such  problems  are  particularly 
acute  for  third-country  nationals  and  the  potential  contribution  of  migration  to  assuage  the 
skills needs of the labour market remains virtually untapped2. People's skills need therefore to 
be clearly documented and understood. 

The  causes  of  barriers  to  understanding  and  comparability  are  often  complex.  The  EU  has 
continually sought to be a source of support for system reform, shared understanding and co-
operation between and within Member States to address barriers to mobility. Huge amounts of 
information are already available at EU and national level. However, this is often presented in 
different  ways;  languages  and  standards  used  in  different  systems  or  platforms  are  not 
necessarily  compatible  and  cannot  therefore  be  easily  exchanged  or  re-used.  This  forces 

1 A New Skills Agenda for Europe, COM(2016)381. 

2   Lack of transparency and comparability of qualifications means, for example, that the EU labour markets do 
not use efficiently the skills of third-country nationals with tertiary education among  which two-thirds are 
inactive, unemployed or over-qualified for their jobs, Eurostat, EU-Labour Force Survey (2014). 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

people to reintroduce the same information over again according to the different tools used. 
Moreover, information provided by different tools often overlaps, is incomplete and leads to 
confusion among users who may be discouraged from using the tools. 

Individuals  today,  whether  looking  for  employment  opportunities  or  making  decisions  on 
what and where to learn or study or on routes to become mobile, need access to information, 
means  of  assessing  their  skills,  and  means  of  presenting  information  about  their  skills  and 
qualifications easily and clearly. Equally, employers and other organisations need to find more 
efficient  and  effective  ways  of  identifying  and  recruiting  appropriately  skilled  people. 
Information must be exchanged by and between systems, organisations and individuals. The 
information may be in the form of advice and guidance for individual job-seekers or learners; 
information  to  establish  trust  and  support  transparency  and  recognition  of  skills  and 
qualifications; or technical information to allow systems exchange information more easily.  

The EU has responded over time to support effective exchange of information in the area of 
skills and qualifications by developing a range of tools and services. To date, these tools and 
services  have  largely  been  developed  on  a  case-by-case  basis,  by  separate  services  with  a 
minimum  of  integration  and  collaboration.  This  approach  has  had  impact  on  the  reach, 
potential and perception of the added value of each tool. Ultimately, users have not enjoyed 
the full intended benefits of each tool and service and this has not helped to reduce barriers to 
mobility and the integration of European labour markets.  

Further, the tools and services of themselves have not evolved in a systematic way to meet the 
expectations and needs of users and cater to how information is exchanged and managed in 
today's  economy.  Moreover,  they  are  not  always  flexible  enough  to  accommodate  ongoing 
and  future  developments  and  opportunities.  Any  tools  and  services  must  consider 
digitalisation  and  enhanced  online availability as  well  as  complementary  support  offered  by 
human networks to ensure access for all to skills services.  

The initiative for better tools and services  therefore aims at ensuring that tools and services 
reflect  the  needs  of  users  in  the  first  place  and  are  developed  to  be  coherent,  relevant,  user 
friendly and future-proof. Considerations are two-fold: i) tools  and services must  reflect the 
needs of users in the light of changing demands and trends in the labour market and education 
and training sector; ii) tools and services must be developed so as to be accessible to a wide 
variety  of  users  and  embrace  technology.  The  prompt  for  this  initiative  is  a  revision  of  the 
Europass Decision, an established EU framework that exhibits many of the issues described 
here.  A  number  of  other  related  tools  and  services  for  skills  and  qualifications  are  also 
addressed here. 

In this context, several consultations have taken place with stakeholders to gather input for the 
way forward.  

In 2014 a public consultation was carried out for the preparation of an initiative at the time 
known as "European Area for Skills and Qualifications"3. In that context, the effectiveness of 
existing skills tools  was addressed. In  2014 a special  Eurobarometer was also issued on the 
European Area for Skills and Qualifications which also addressed the views of individuals on 
the tools and their effectiveness.  

3  Towards  a  European  Area  of  Skills  and  Qualifications  –  Results  of 
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/more_info/consultations/documents/skills-results_en.pdf   

the  public  consultation,  Brussels,  17  June  2014. 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

The  public  consultation  found  there  was  significant  room  for  improvement  in  the  current 
landscape of web tools in the area of skills and qualifications; there was also strong support 
for  a  merge  of  Europass  documents.  Results  furthermore  indicated  that  there  was  potential 
interest  for the  creation of  a  "one-stop  shop"  providing  integrated  services  covering  the  full 
range of European services on learning opportunities, career guidance and the recognition of 
qualifications. Current tools for transparency were not found fully suitable for recognising the 
outcomes of digital learning. 

More recently, in 2016, several targeted consultations were carried out on the elements of this 
proposal. In particular, social partners provided their feedback as well as the policy networks 
supported  by  Erasmus+  (EQF  National  Coordination  Points,  National  Europass  Centres  and 
Euroguidance Centres). 

Social partners agreed on the challenge represented by the current fragmentation of services 
for  skills  and  qualifications  and  therefore  the  idea  of  more  integration  and  synergy  was 
welcomed, also in relation to the integration of national networks of existing contact points. 
For  them,  closer  links  to  national  skills  agencies/observatories  of  government  and  social 
partners should also be established. The Europass framework is generally appreciated for its 
closeness  to  individuals;  in  particular  the  Europass  CV  is  a  well-known  and  much  used 
common  format  which  can  increase  transparency  and  comparability.  Improvements  are 
however needed, in particular for the Diploma Supplement (document explaining the nature, 
level,  context,  content  and  status  of  a  higher  education  qualifications)  and  the  Certificate 
Supplement (similar document issued for vocational training).  The higher education Diploma 
Supplement, developed by the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO, 
is widely used in the 48-countries of the Bologna Process. Within this Process, work to revise 
the  Diploma  Supplement  is  ongoing,  to  ensure  it  reflects  the  latest  developments  in  higher 
education  and  is  relevant  for  students  and  for  employers.  Improvements  are  also  needed 
regarding  the  Certificate  Supplement.  Efforts  to  treat  certain  elements  consistently  between 
the two Supplements could be helpful in raising visibility and reinforcing use. 

One of the main outcomes of the policy network consultation was the need to focus more on 
guidance  issues,  which  cannot  be  properly  addressed  via  web-based  tools  and  services  but 
need a presence and face-to-face approach to users. This need to address the role of guidance 
was also raised during consultation with Civil Society. Requests for simplified administrative 
procedures and longer-term planning compared to the current annual exercise were also made. 
This would be in line with the Commission's proposal to simplify operation and financing of 
the networks.  

The following sections introduce and offer background to the range of EU tools and services 
for  skills  and  qualifications  currently  available  (Section  1.1).  Specific  problems  to  be 
addressed  are  described  (Section  2)  and  options  for  achieving  better  tools  and  services  are 
proposed (section 3) and potential impact of these described. 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

1.1  Overview of available tools and services 

1.1.1 Europass 

The  single  European  framework  for  the  transparency  of  qualifications,  Europass,  was 
established by the Decision 2241/2004/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 15 
December 20044. 

The  overall  objective  of  the  initiative  is  to  increase  the  mobility  of  people  in  Europe  for 
education and employment purposes. This is being achieved chiefly by increasing awareness 
of  and  access  to  transparency  instruments  amongst  learners,  job-seekers,  employees  and 
employers,  and  education  and  training  institutions  among  others.  The  initiative  is 
implemented across Europe by the network of National Europass Centres (NECs), Cedefop, 
with  the support  from  EACEA  under  the  overall  management  of  the  European  Commission 
(DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion). 

At  the  core  of  the  existing  Europass  Framework  is  a  portfolio  of  documents  that  act  as 
uniform tools  for transparency  of skills and qualifications and for  mobility. The documents, 
identified within the Europass Decision, include: 

 

 

 

 

 

the Europass Curriculum Vitae (CV) completed by any individual to report on 
his/her qualifications, professional experience, skills and competences; 
the Europass Language Passport (ELP) completed by any individual to report 
on her/his language skills; 
the Europass Certificate Supplement (ECS) issued by the authorities that award 
vocational  educational  and  training  certificates,  to  add  further  information  on 
these certificates so as to make them more easily understandable especially by 
employers or institutions outside the issuing country; 
the  Europass  Diploma  Supplement  (EDS)  issued  by  higher  education 
institutions to their graduates along with their degree or diploma to make these 
educational  qualifications  more  easily  understandable,  especially  outside  the 
country where they were awarded; 
the Europass Mobility Document (EMD) for recording any organised period of 
time  that  a  person  spends  in  another  European  country  for  the  purpose  of 
learning or training – completed by the home and host organisation. 

There has been some additional technical development of Europass over time, including:  

 
 

 
 
 

 

Development of a tool to design a cover page to complement the Europass CV; 
Development  of  the  Europass  Skills  Passport  –  an  electronic  portfolio  for 
storing the Europass documents;  
Adaptation of CV editor for use on mobile devices; 
Enhancements of the CV tool to make it more interactive; 
An  initiative  to  improve  the  interoperability  of  Europass  with  other  services; 
and, 
On-going development of the Europass portal. 

4 OJ L 390, 31.12.2004, p. 6. 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

Europass  offers  huge  potential  for  development  based  on  its  achievements  to  date.  Since 
2005,  Europass  has  had  more  than  126  million  website  visits;  over  93  million  document 
templates have been downloaded while more than 60 million Europass CVs, by far the most 
popular  tool,  have  been  created  online5.  The  Europass  brand  has  become  more  established 
over  time,  and  its  remit  offers  an  opportunity  to  increase  its  scope  and  improve  services 
offered  through  the  framework  to  meet  the  needs  and  requirements  of  the  users  within  the 
labour market and education and training sectors. 

An  evaluation  of  the  Europass  Framework  carried  out  in  2013 6 highlighted  a  number  of 
achievements.  Europass  documents  have  proven  relevant  to  all  groups  of  stakeholders  and 
have contributed to helping people change their job or location (CV, Language Passport and 
Certificate Supplement were all reported to be instrumental in this by more than 60% of their 
surveyed users) and gain learning opportunities such as admission to educational institutions 
(46.3%  of  Certificate  Supplement  users,  49.9%  of  Language  Passport  users,  and  smaller 
proportions of surveyed users of other documents). 

Moreover,  Europass  played  an  important  role  in  mobility  within  the  same  country  (40%  of 
surveyed  users  were  domestically  mobile)  and  indeed  the  documents  have  become  widely 
used within countries such as Italy and Spain, which display above average usage rates of the 
CV, while in France the Europass Mobility has been adapted for use by individuals to reflect 
on their own skills. 

Some limitations however were also reported. In particular, Europass has been shown to reach 
mainly  individuals,  administrations  and  public  institutions  and  had  limited  reach  among 
employers7.  This  is  despite  employers  and  mobility  for  employment  purposes  being  a  key 
goal of Europass and  indeed  it is only  through use  by employers that Europass can achieve 
wider use and establish its full value. In general there is an ongoing lack of knowledge about 
the  Europass  service,  its  documents  and  their  purpose:  in  the  2013  evaluation  of  Europass 
almost 61% of surveyed non-users reported that they had never heard of Europass documents. 
Similar  conclusions  were  drawn  from  other  consultations  and  studies  carried  out  after  the 
evaluation.  More  information  on  the  current  limitations  of  EU  tools  and  services  will  be 
provided in section 2. 

Europass sits among a number of tools and services which have application and use at system 
level,  within  sectors,  by  groups  of  practitioners  and  for  the  public.  The  evaluation  and  the 
public consultation mentioned before, in particular, have found that Europass and other tools 
and services are not offered in a sufficiently integrated way to provide coherent and accessible 
information, guidance, and services for skills and qualifications. Users and stakeholders have 
questioned  the  stand-alone  nature  of  many  tools  and  services,  the  ease  of  access  to  quality 
information on skills and qualifications, overlap in types and functions of tools and services 
and disparate support from services offered at national level. 

5 Europass  2020:  A  vision  for  meeting  the  current  and  future  needs  of  modern  European  citizens  in  recording  and  promoting  skills, 

qualifications and experience. Europass Innovation Working Group, April 2016. 

6 http://ec.europa.eu/smart-
regulation/evaluation/search/download.do;jsessionid=Dq4rTThVgYXFvXVGzY59vHwhngnbxL5l4xRsCMxTl5LHTvBnqTqm!1601440011
?documentId=8026737  
7 Stepping  up  the  pace  -  Conceptual  and  technical  reflections  on  how  to  take  forward  European  tools  for  education,  training  and 
employment, Cedefop, 2014. 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

The following  section describes  a number of these tools and services to establish the issues 
addressed by this initiative. The tools and services are described in two sets: first, those that 
are  being  addressed  directly  within  this  initiative,  and  second  those  that  synergies  and  co-
operation should be pursued with.  

1.1.2 Other tools and Services directly addressed in initiative:  

Learning Opportunities and Qualifications Portal (LOQ)8: The LOQ provides information 
and links on opportunities to learn or study in another EU country. The portal also provides 
information  on  qualifications  in  Europe  and  information  on  the  European  Qualifications 
Framework9, national qualifications frameworks and how they compare. More information on 
the role of EQF in  supporting transparency and understanding  of skills and qualifications is 
described in depth in Annex III. Input on learning opportunities to the LOQ portal is provided 
and  maintained  by  Euroguidance 10 ,  a  national  network  that  promotes  the  European 
dimension  in  lifelong  guidance  and  provides  quality  information  on  lifelong  guidance  and 
mobility for learning purposes. Euroguidance operates through a network of national centres 
(Euroguidance centres). An EQF National Coordination Point (NCP) is set up in each country that 
participates in the EQF and coordinates the EQF implementation at national level. They provide the 
information on qualifications and the national qualifications frameworks and how they compare to the 
EQF. 

EU Skills Panorama11: The EU Skills Panorama is an online tool providing central access to 
data,  information  and  intelligence  on  skill  needs  in  occupations  and  sectors.  It  provides  a 
European perspective on trends for skills supply and demand and possible skill mismatches, 
while  also  giving  information  about  national  data  and  sources.  The  EU  Skills  Panorama  is 
managed by CEDEFOP. 

ESCO 12 :  ESCO  (European  Skills,  Competences,  Qualifications  and  Occupations 
classification) is a reference terminology for skills. It will be used to describe skills needed in 
a specific job, but also the skills a person acquired through formal, non-formal and informal 
learning. Online services such as EURES, Europass, the EU Skills Panorama, career guidance 
services and job boards will use ESCO so that they can offer multilingual services, exchange 
information between them and make skills gaps visible. ESCO will  also help education and 
training institutions to understand the needs of the labour market and thus bring education and 
employment closer together. 

1.1.3 Synergies with other services related to skills and qualifications  

The following tools also provide services in relation to skills and qualifications: 

EURES13:  EURES  (the  European  Employment  Services  network)  is  a  cooperative  network 
between  the  European  Commission  and  partner  organisations,  which  may  include  public 
employment  services  (PES),  private  employment  services  (PRES),  trade  unions,  employers' 
organisations and other relevant actors in the labour market. It is responsible for exchanging 

8 Learning Opportunities and Qualifications Portal: https://ec.europa.eu/ploteus/  
9 Information on the European Qualifications Framework (EQF): 
https://ec.europa.eu/ploteus/search/site?f[0]=im_field_entity_type%3A97#  
10 Euroguidance: http://euroguidance.eu/  
11 EU Skills Panorama: http://skillspanorama.cedefop.europa.eu/en  
12 ESCO: https://ec.europa.eu/esco/portal/home  
13 EURES: https://ec.europa.eu/eures/public/homepage  

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

information and facilitating interaction among its stakeholders in order to help make the free 
movement  of  workers  a  reality.  EURES  provides  free  assistance  to  jobseekers  wishing  to 
move to another country and provides advice on living and working conditions in the EEA. It 
also  assists  employers  wishing  to  recruit  workers  from  other  countries  and  in  cross-border 
regions.  EURES  operates  through  a  network  of  EURES  Advisers,  and  the  EURES  portal, 
which provides access to job vacancies and information on job mobility in Europe. 

ENIC-NARIC 14 :  The  ENIC-NARIC  portal  provides  support  for  academic  recognition 
practices for higher education. The portal is supported by two networks. The ENIC Network 
(European  Network  of  National  Information  Centres  on  academic  recognition  and mobility) 
was established by the Council of Europe and UNESCO to implement the Lisbon Recognition 
Convention  and  to  develop  policy  and  practice  for  the  recognition  of  qualifications.  The 
NARIC  Network  (National  Academic  Recognition  Information  Centres)  aims  at  improving 
academic recognition of diplomas and periods of study in the Member States of the EU, EEA 
countries, and Turkey. The network operates through a network of national centres and also 
maintains a central website. 

For  documenting  skills,  synergies  could  be  envisaged  also  with  sectoral  passes  issued  for 
specific  sectors  (such  as  tourism  and  hospitality)  or  with  the  Youthpass15,  a  European  tool 
used  for  projects  funded  by  Erasmus+/Youth  in  Action  to  assess  and  validate  the  skills 
acquired  through  non-formal  and  informal  learning  in  youth  work.  Participants  in  projects 
reflect,  assess  and  describe  what  they  have  done  and  show  what  they  have  learnt.  The 
certificates are issued by SALTO Training & Cooperation Resource Centre16. 

1.1.4 National support services for skills and qualifications 

A  number  of  national  support  services  have  been  established  to  promote  awareness  and 
support  implementation  of  the  tools  outlined  above.  The  services  addressed  through  this 
proposal are the following:   

1.1.4.1 National Europass Centres 

Currently 38 countries participate in Europass17. Each participating country has designated a 
National  Europass  Centre.  These  centres  are  established  through  the  current  Europass 
Decision; in 2016 34 centres made an application for co-financing by the Commission.  

The  National  Europass  Centres  are  responsible  for  promotion  of  the  Europass  portfolio  and 
engage  in  a  range  of  activities  to  create  awareness  of  the  documents  and  support  their  use. 
Activities  are  targeted  at  varying  audiences.  They  target  individuals  to  create  awareness  of 
Europass and their entitlement to receive the Europass Diploma or Certificate Supplement and 
to  promote  the  benefits  of  documents  they  can  themselves  complete  (the  Europass  CV  and 
Europass  Mobility).  They  target  organisations,  including  education  institutions,  that  have  a 
direct  role  in  the  implementation  of  Europass  documents  (in  particular  the  Diploma  and 

14 ENIC-NARIC: http://www.enic-naric.net/  
15 Youthpass; https://www.youthpass.eu/en/youthpass/  
16 SALTO-YOUTH  is  shorthand  for  Support,  Advanced  Learning  and  Training  Opportunities  within  the  Erasmus+  Youth  in  Action  EU 

Programme: https://www.salto-youth.net/  

17 Activities  of  the  centres  are  co-financed  through  the  Erasmus+  programme  (co-financing  of  max  50  per  cent  for  the  annual  grants  for 
Europass).  The  Education,  Audiovisual  and  Culture  Executive  Agency,  by  delegation  from  the  Commission,  is  in  charge  of  the  financial 
management of the grants to the centres, 

9 

 
 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

Certificate Supplements). They also target employers and recruiters with information on the 
use and benefits of the Europass documents.  

The  centres  also  operate  within  a  network  that  is  also  established  through  the  Europass 
Decision.  

1.1.4.2 EQF - National Coordination Points 

Further to  the  2008  EQF  Recommendation  all participating  countries  have  set  up NCPs18 to 
support and coordinate a transparent referencing of the national qualifications systems to the 
EQF.  Furthermore  the  Recommendation  invites  the  NCPs  to  publish  the  result  of  the 
referencing  process,  to  provide  access  to  information  and  guidance  to  stakeholders  on  how 
national  qualifications  relate  to  the  EQF  through  national  qualifications  systems  and  to 
promote the participation of all relevant stakeholders, including, in accordance with national 
legislation  and  practice,  higher  education  and  vocational  education  and  training  institutions, 
social  partners,  sectors  and  experts  on  the  comparison  and  use  of  qualifications  at  the 
European level19. The EQF-NCPs would typically expect to meet as a network 1 – 2 times a 
year  and  would  also  meet  with  national  correspondents  for  the  European  Higher  Education 
Area (EHEA) as a way to ensure co-operation between those responsible for the EHEA and 
EQF Frameworks.  

1.1.4.3 National Euroguidance Centres 

Euroguidance is a European network of National Euroguidance Centres active in 38 countries. 
In 1992 the European Commission took the initiative to form a European Network of national 
resource  and  information  centres  for  guidance,  which  later  became  the  Euroguidance 
Network.  Euroguidance  was  established  as  one  of  the  three  strands  of  the  PETRA 
programme20.  Euroguidance  centres  work  in  support  of  two  common  goals:  to  promote  the 
European dimension in guidance and to provide quality information on lifelong guidance and 
mobility  for  learning  purposes.  The  main  target  group  of  Euroguidance  is  guidance 
practitioners  and  policy  makers  from  both  the  educational  and  employment  sectors  in  all 
European  countries.  They  work  to  link  together  guidance  systems  in  Europe  and  promote 
mobility, helping guidance counsellors and individuals to better understand the opportunities  
available throughout Europe. 

2. Challenges ahead 

Despite the achievements obtained thus far, currently the general problem is that the tools and 
services discussed here do not exploit their full potential and do not offer all the added value 
they potentially could. Several online tools and other services coexist but do not necessarily 
talk to one another or work in synergy, so that users do not get the full intended benefits of the 
service. This has an impact on mobility, recognition of skills and qualifications and ultimately 
on the integration of European labour markets. Any response must consider digitalisation and 

18 Activities  of  the  centres  are  co-financed  through  the  Erasmus+  programme  (co-financing  of  max  75  per  cent  for  EQF-NCPs).  The 
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, by delegation from the Commission, is in charge of the financial management of the 
grants to the centres, 
19 The EQF-NCPs also receive financial support for the development of national databases for qualifications, to be linked to the Learning 
Opportunities and Qualifications Portal.  
20   Council Decision 87/569/EEC of 1 December 1987 concerning an action programme for the vocational training of young people and 

their preparation for adult and working life, OJ L 346, 10/12/1987, p. 31. 

10 

 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

an  enhanced  online  presence  for  these  tools  as  well  as  complementary  support  offered  by 
human networks for those that may not have necessary digital competences and may in fact be 
the largest potential beneficiaries of skills services. Finally, evidence shows that awareness of 
the  services21 available  is  generally  limited  among  the  potential  beneficiaries,  despite  some 
success stories such as Europass. 

The  following  sections  describe  five  key  challenging  areas  to  be  addressed  within  this 
initiative; the causes and implications of each are described, including references to feedback 
and evaluation, where relevant. The problems address both the limitations of the existing tools 
and services in serving the current needs of users but also raise the key issue of enabling tools 
and services to evolve to meet changing needs and be future-proof.  

2.1  Exploiting the full potential of Europass to meet evolving needs 

The  current  Europass  Decision  has  the  clear  initial  goal  of  increasing  transparency  by 
establishing  a  portfolio  of  documents  that  individuals  can  use  to  'better  communicate  and 
present  their  qualifications  and  competences  throughout  Europe'22.  Its  scope  is  limited  to 
documentation  with  the  current  Decision  setting  out  a  clearly  defined  and  closed  set  of 
documents.  

Despite some development, in particular in the Europass portal, the service is still spoken of 
and  understood  as  a  set  of  five  document  templates.  Such  a  focus  on  documents  means 
Europass has not evolved to meet the transforming demands of the labour market, changes in 
education and training provision and the new ways in which people communicate their skills 
and  qualifications and manage  personal  information23.  There  is  demand  from  employers  for 
information to assist them understand and recognise all forms of skills acquired by potential 
employees;  education  institutions  equally  are  interested  in  skills  and  experiences  of 
individuals  that  may  be  seeking  validation  of  learning  or  entry  into  programmes;  and 
individuals are learning and acquiring new skills in new ways and a service such as Europass 
should  enable  them  communicate  these  skills  and  have  them  understood  and  valued.  The 
importance  of  life  skills  and  transversal  skills  was  emphasised  during  consultations  on  the 
Skills Agenda by civil society. In 2015 the Commission launched a study on the feasibility of 
a  tool  for  self-assessment  of  transversal  skills 24 by  individuals.  The  study  established  the 
potential value of such a tool but also affirmed the increased emphasis on transversal skills in 
recruitment practices.  

There is clear ambition and interest from stakeholders, and the centres involved in delivery of 
Europass,  to  develop  the  service  to  meet  users'  needs.  Centres  have  requested  amendments 
and  new  elements  in  Europass  based  on  their  experience  of  promoting  the  framework  and 
getting feedback from users. Users require and expect more than document tools25. National 

21

 Second 

http://ec.europa.eu/smart-
regulation/evaluation/search/download.do;jsessionid=Dq4rTThVgYXFvXVGzY59vHwhngnbxL5l4xRsCMxTl5LHTvBnqTqm!16014
40011?documentId=8026737 

Europass 

evaluation, 

22 Article 1 of Decision No. 2241/2004/EC. 
23   Europass  2020:  A  vision  for  meeting  the  current  and  future  needs  of  modern  European  citizens  in  recording  and  promoting  skills, 

qualifications and experience. Europass Innovation Working Group, April 2016. 

24 Feasibility Study and Technical Specification on the Development of a Citizen Tool for Transversal Skills  - Final Report, PPMI, January 
2016. 
25 The  stakeholders'  consultations  carried  out  in  2016  confirmed  this.  See  section  3.2  of  the  Staff  Working  Document  accompanying  the 

Communication "A New Skills Agenda for Europe", SWD(2016) 195 final. 

11 

 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

Europass Centres have tried to respond to these needs. Centres are required to submit annual 
activity reports  to  the Commission.  A  synthesis  report  was  prepared  to  summarise the  main 
outcomes26. According to the findings, National Europass Centres have explored diversified 
means  of  communication  (social  media,  online  etc.),  they  have  promoted  the  documents 
through other services such as guidance services that can guide individuals in completing the 
documents;  and  provide  links  to  other  sources  of  complementary  information  such  as 
recognition services. It remains however that the primary Europass product is five document 
templates. The templates have changed minimally in ten years; they do not facilitate users to 
record  and  capture  information  and  the  document  tools  are  presented  and  promoted  in 
isolation from information, guidance and links to other services.  

2.2  Overcoming the limited efficiency and user-friendliness of services 
due to stand-alone online tools 

Europass  does  not  exist  in  isolation.  At  least  16  different  initiatives  on or  around  skills  and 
qualifications  provide  learners,  workers,  employers  and  other  stakeholders  with  information 
and support across the EU. Seven different portals address lifelong and career guidance; three 
different initiatives provide services on recognition of qualifications for employment purposes 
or further learning; at least 14 different European initiatives exist for documenting skills and 
qualifications,  some  of  general  nature  and  some  sector  specific.  Sections  1.1.2  and  1.1.3 
described  a  number  of  other  tools  and  services  dealing  with  skills  and  qualifications 
developed to address different policy areas and different challenges. These tools have mostly 
been  developed  in  a  fragmented  way,  without  clear  co-ordination  in  the  delivery  and 
promotion as well as without technical integration. 

Here is a picture of the current situation: 

26 Synthesis Report - Activities undertaken by the National EUROPASS Centres (NECs) under the Restricted Call EACEA 06/2014, EACEA, 
2016. 

12 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

Some  of  these  tools  overlap  in  purpose  and  in  target  audiences.  In  2015,  the  Commission 
launched  a  study  on  the  feasibility  of  streamlining  online  tools  and  services  for  skills  and 
qualifications27.  The  study  collected  information  on  and  analysed  seven  portals  related  to 
skills  and  qualifications 
(EURES,  Europass,  ESCO,  Learning  Opportunities  and 
Qualifications in Europe, ENIC-NARIC, EU Skills Panorama and European Youth Portal28) to 
better  capture  the  challenges  that  target  users  or/and  stakeholders  face.  The  table  below 
illustrates the range of users of the portals analysed and the overlapping in target audiences. 

Source: IT feasibility study for one single integrated service for online skills and qualification 

Very often the tools provide similar information, in attempts by each to connect and link with 
other  services,  but  the  information  is  provided  in  different  formats  or  may  be  incomplete 
without systematic or co-ordinated updating or sharing of information. 
The  effect  is  that  users  are  unclear  on  the  purpose  of  the  tools,  cannot  be  assured  of  the 
relevance and currency of the information they access, and cannot complete linked processes 
within  a  single  location.  Users'  needs  vary,  traversing  topics  of  education  and  training  and 
employment; however information and tools that may be of much use are housed in different 
locations  with  any  linking  between  each  managed  on  an  ad-hoc  basis  so  that  a  user  cannot 
intuitively navigate tools. In the context of the IT feasibility study mentioned above29 a survey 
of stakeholders involved in promoting and use of online tools for skills and qualifications was 
also carried out to gather the views of a wider pool of stakeholders. A total of 298 respondents 
provided answer to a questionnaire.  
According to the findings, moderate satisfaction with the current seven EU online platforms 
for skills and qualifications emerged: 59.3% of respondents considered the tools moderately 
effective and only  24.1%  effective or  really effective.  Overall,  the  usefulness of the content 
provided  was  satisfactory  with  all  the  platforms  but  the  update  of  the  content  of  the  seven 
platforms  was  considered  mostly  moderated.  According  to  75%  of  participants,  Europass 
content  is  “Very  useful".  Europass  rated  highly  also  for  added  value,  together  with  Youth 
Portal  and  EURES,  with  over  88%  of  respondents  agreeing  on  added  value.  There  is  room 
however for improvement to clarify the purpose/objectives and services of each platform.  

27 IT feasibility study for one single integrated service for online skills and qualification – Tools as-is analysis, Everis, 17/12/2015. 
28 https://europa.eu/youth/EU_en  
29 Ibid. 

13 

JobseekersEmployers StudentsYoung PeopleHigher Education InstitutionsPublic & Private Employment Services Policy Experts Youth Work OrganizationsENIC-NARIC✓✓✓✓✓✓ESCO✓✓✓✓✓EU SKILLS PANORAMA✓✓✓EURES✓✓✓✓✓✓✓EUROPASS✓✓✓✓✓✓✓EUROPEAN YOUTH PORTAL✓✓✓LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS AROUND EUROPE✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓✓Primary target✓Secondary targetEND USERSSTAKEHOLDERSTechnology Developers 
 
 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

In general, one of the points for improvement that generated a significant consensus among 
stakeholders was the need for a better integration among platforms. Such poor levels of co-
ordination  and  integration  between  the  services  also  counteract  the  important  effort  and 
resources committed to managing and promoting each tool. The overall effect is that users do 
not use, or do not see the value in using a tool, defeating the purpose of having these tools in 
the first place.   
Examples of overlap include: 

Source: IT feasibility study for one single integrated service for online skills and qualification 

The IT study also highlighted that operation and provision of these services is determined by 
institutional structures, with each looking to offer information within the context of their own 
objectives,  rather  than  in  conjunction  or  synergy  with  other  services.  Therefore  multiple 
sources of similar information are presented, but often in different formats with no assurances 
as  to  updating  and  relevance.  Ultimately  user  needs  are  secondary  within  these  terms  for 
development and provision of tools and services. 
Users  and  stakeholders  have  signalled  the  need  to  reduce  this  fragmentation  and  simplify 
current services. The public consultation carried out in 2014 on the European Ares for skills 
and qualifications30 identified much room for improvement in the current landscape of tools 
and  services  in  this  field.  Markedly  low  numbers  of  respondents  found  tools  and  services 
highly  or  somewhat  effective.  Only  4%  of  respondents  found  European  tools  for  the 
documentation  of learning experience  totally satisfactory, with  44%  finding  them somewhat 
satisfactory, 27% somewhat unsatisfactory and 19% totally unsatisfactory. Results called for 
greater  integration  of  services  -  including  their  supporting  platforms:  44%%  of  respondents 
strongly  and  33%  partially  agreed  that  the  creation  of  one-stop  shops  providing  integrated 
services  on  learning  opportunities,  career  guidance  and  recognition  of  qualifications  for 
employment  purposes  or  further  learning  would  be  beneficial.  The  same  call  for  better 
integration  and  cooperation  with  other  online  services  was  reiterated  more  recently  by  the 
Europass Innovation Working Group31. 

30  Towards  a  European  Area  of  Skills  and  Qualifications  –  Results  of  the  public  consultation,  Brussels,  17  June  2014. 
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/more_info/consultations/documents/skills-results_en.pdf  
31 Ibid, p. 10. 

14 

Jobs & OcupationQualifications & Recognisition toolsEducation & Vocational training offerENIC-NARIC✓✓✓ESCO✓✓EU SKILLS PANORAMAEURES✓✓✓EUROPASS✓EUROPEAN YOUTH PORTAL✓✓✓✓LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES AND QUALIFICATIONS AROUND EUROPE✓✓✓✓✓✓✓Employment MobilityEducation and vocational trainingMoving to work/ study in another countryYouth informationSkills & Competences 
 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

The stand-alone nature of tools  also has  implications for how information  on labour  market 
and  skills  intelligence  (LMSI)  features  in  tools  and  services  used  by  individuals  and 
organisations.  The  EU  Skills  Panorama  (EUSP),  as  referenced  above,  is  the  EU's  portal  for 
LMSI  that  brings  together  datasets  and  evidence  from  various  sources,  which  are  analysed 
and  transformed  into  LMSI.  The  wider  New  Skills  Agenda  for  Europe  acknowledges  the 
importance  of  LMSI  and  understanding  skills  trends  (see  section  2.3  of  the  Staff  Working 
Document accompanying the communication32). On transparency and understanding of skills 
and qualifications, LMSI can be an input into career guidance and counselling and potentially 
influence  individual  attitudes  to  learning  and  career  choices 33 .  Individuals  could  benefit 
greatly from information to improve their understanding of skills trends and their knowledge 
of  labour  markets.  For  now,  while  the  EUSP  evolves  in  the  quality  of  the  information  it 
collects  and  produces,  it  remains  that  it  is  only  accessible  through  a  single  stand-alone  site 
rather than in conjunction with other related services.  

Improving insufficient digital compatibility and out-dated nature of 

2.3 
online skills tools 
Digitalisation  and  fundamental  shifts  in  how  technology  is  used  in  recruitment,  information 
management, education and training provision means that this focus on documentation is no 
longer  compatible  with  an  objective  to  aid  transparency  and  understanding.  Organisations 
such  as  employers  and  education  institutions  more  and  more  use  web-based  tools  and 
technology  such  as  big  data  and  data  crawling  for  sourcing  candidates  and  filtering 
applications.  Any  tools  offered  to  organisations  must  respond  to  the  effectiveness  and 
efficiency of handling data that they require.  

As for individuals,  there is  increasing use  of new ways to  document skills  and experiences, 
such  as  open badges34 and this  has  to be taken fully into account.  Compatibility with social 
media,  apps,  and  other  devices  is  another  important  issue  to  be  tackled.  Over  the  years 
Europass has responded to some of the challenges and such achievements are a stepping stone 
for the further developments that are necessary to address evolving needs and situations. 

32 Analytical underpinning for a New Skills Agenda for Europe, SWD(2016) 195 final. 

33 Staff  Working  Document  accompanying  Commission  Communication  on  the  Europass  Decision,  Cedefop,  2016  (input  to  the  Skills 
Agenda; not published). CEDEFOP manages the EUSP. See also section 2.4.1 of the Staff Working Document accompanying the New Skills 
Agenda for Europe (SWD(2016) 195 final).. 
34 Open badges are digital indicators of skills learned inside or outside the classroom. They function as being a seal (or badge) that an issuer 
(e.g. a training provider) attributes to an individual to certify that s/he has acquired a given knowledge or skill or has gone through a given 
experience.  Being  digital  they  can  be  incorporated  to  any  documentation  on  the  individual,  e.g.  CV  or  social  media  profile.  Being  open 
implies that its usage is not limited to any technology or platform but can be incorporated in any digital setting.  See http://openbadges.org/ 

15 

 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

In  other  areas  of  life,  potential  users  can  access  and  manage  online  and  digital  services  for 
personal use, for example to  get information  on specific topics, or  to  support organisational 
functions, with ease. Such services are adapted for access on multiple devices, easy sharing 
and  exchanging  of  information  in  reusable  formats  with  intuitive  layouts  for  all  types  of 
users35. EU tools and  services  have evolved in technological terms but  not  sufficiently. In a 
2015 survey of stakeholders36 on the platforms, additional functionalities were cited as an area 
for  improvement  for  Europass,  ESCO,  EURES,  Youth  Portal  while  users  of  every  platform 
surveyed called for better integration of platforms.  

Any  potential  co-ordination  between  the  tools  and  services  is  hindered  by  the  variety  of 
system  architectures,  technology  models  and  hosting  environments.  As  such  both  the  front 
and back end of EU tools and services is complex and counterproductive to their goals37. 

Europass and other related EU tools and services need to be interoperable with each other and 
other similar services, to enable easy sharing of information. Currently individuals that may 
be looking to complete a single process cannot reuse information, despite the time it may take 
to upload it in one setting (e.g. completing the Europass CV); they instead need to input such 
information  again  to  use  it  elsewhere  (e.g.  in  the  application  system  used  by  a  recruiter). 
Organisations  are  unable  to  effectively  exchange  information  on  candidates,  vacancies, 
learning opportunities, and qualifications. As such a wealth of information is denied for policy 
makers  and  those  involved  in  skills  intelligence  and  analysis;  and  employers  and  education 
and training institutions are unable to easily filter information on candidates and skills.  

Increasing awareness among the end-users of existing services for 

2.4 
skills and qualifications 
A symptom of the problems discussed here is that awareness and use of the tools and services 
is  very  low.  According  to  the  survey  conducted  in  the  context  of  the  IT  feasibility  study 
mentioned  above,  the  current  EU  online  skills  and  qualifications  services  environment  is 
complete  but  complex.  Most  of  the  required  information  regarding  mobility,  occupations, 
skills, education  and qualifications is provided by one of the services. However, the current 
lack of integration between the portals makes it difficult to provide the user with a clear and 
complete picture of the services offered in  the area.  The portals’ objectives  are not easy for 
users to understand and this results in a lack of clarity on the purpose, audience, content and 
services for each portal in the existing service environment. This is especially the case for the 
technical/specialised  end-user  oriented  portals.  The  service  with  the  most  satisfied  result  is 
Europass, with 80% of participants responding that it is “Easy” or “Very easy” to understand 
and access the service. As far as the Youth Portal is concerned, the picture obtained is rather 
similar  to  Europass  (77%  “Easy”  or  “Very  easy”).  With  ESCO,  77%  said  that  they  find  the 
ease of using the service to be from “Moderate” to “Very difficult". 

This  means  that  the  tools  and  services  have  not  reached  intended  users  and  more 
fundamentally that the tools have not signalled and proven their full value. Development of 
distinct  tools,  separate  branding,  separate  promotion  and  separate  operation  dilutes  the 

35 Ibid, Europass Innovation Working Group, April 2016. 

36 Stakeholders' survey results (5.10.2015); undertaken as part of Commission IT Feasibility Study for one single online service for skills and 
qualifications. 

37 Ibid. 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

potential  for  each  tool  and  service  to  reach  and  serve  intended  beneficiaries.  In  2014  the 
special Eurobarometer issued on a European Area for Skills and Qualifications addressed the 
perception  that  individuals  had  on  skills  tools  and  their  effectiveness.  Findings  showed  that 
only 21% of individuals have heard of the European Qualifications Framework, including 9% 
who said they knew the EQF level to which their qualifications correspond38, while only one 
third (34%) of individuals were aware of even one of the different ways of documenting skills 
and qualifications. This lack of awareness was particularly serious among some groups: only 
7% of those with lower level qualifications were aware of Europass, despite this being a key 
group in need of support and services to assist their learning and employment needs39.  

The second evaluation of the Europass framework covering the period 2008-2012 confirmed 
that  the  unemployed,  a  key  target  group  for  Europass,  represented  only  12.8%  of  users40 
calling into question the impact and value of EU tools and services.  

Users of the Europass documents according to their educational/occupational status 

Educational 
attainment 

Europass 
CV 

All the 
Europass 
documents* 
1.1% 

Europass 
Language 
Passport 
1.2% 

8.7% 

13.6% 

1.4% 

8.7% 

14.4% 

16.4% 

12.4% 

Primary 
education 
Secondary 
(academic 
route) 
Secondary 
(vocational 
route) 
Post-secondary 
non-university 
education 
Undergraduate 
degree 
Post-graduate 
degree 
Doctorate 
Total 
Source: Second evaluation of the Europass framework 

2.4% 
100% 

1.9% 
100% 

10.0% 

28.0% 

37.1% 

14.2% 

30.8% 

21.2% 

24.6% 

39.0% 

2.9% 
100% 

10.0% 

Europass 
Certificate 
Supplement 
1.0% 

Europass 
Mobility 

0.7% 

15.3% 

24.1% 

23.3% 

17.0% 

20.5% 

16.1% 

16.8% 

15.3% 

21.5% 

25.6% 

1.6% 
100% 

1.2% 
100% 

The availability of easier-to-access, more user-friendly and better integrated services through 
a  reduced  number  of  access  points  or  portals  should  improve  visibility  of  the  services 
themselves  and  thus  increase  awareness.  This  would  have  a  positive  impact  on  use  for  all 
potential users. For the groups that are currently most difficult to reach, services provided on 
the ground at national level could raise awareness on the tools available and help those who 
may not have access to, or the skills necessary, to use digital and online tools and services on 
skills.  Simplified  access,  more  modern  and  visible  tools  and  services  would  also  be  more 

38 These and other figures quoted from Eurobarometer were obtained from Special Eurobarometer survey 417- European Area of Skills and 
Qualifications. Report. Full report can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_417_en.pdf  
39 Those stating not having at least a lower secondary level of education. 
40 Figures from the second evaluation of Europass (table 26), available at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/more_info/evaluations/docs/education/europass2013_en.pdf  

17 

 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

attractive  for  employers,  who  could  also  benefit  from  better  cooperating  centres  at  national 
level as proposed by the revised Decision.  

Regarding guidance services, both the 2014 Eurobarometer and the public consultation on the 
European Area of Skills and Qualification survey showed that only a quarter of respondents 
have used a career guidance service (mostly while they were still in education) but a majority 
agreed  that  guidance  services  were  useful  for  making  the  right  choice  for  further  studies41. 
The same survey showed that younger age groups and those with higher levels of education 
are more likely to have used a guidance service. Statistical data gathered by the Commission 
in  conjunction  with  representatives  of  the  European  Lifelong  Guidance  Policy  Network 
(ELGPN) on guidance activities at Member State level shows there is incomplete information 
available42, due to variation in structures and practices. What is clearly in evidence however is 
the  scale  of  guidance  services  in  many  Member  States;  data  provided  by  Member  States 
showed  guidance  activities  are  organised  across  multiple  sectors  and  structures  with  some 
stating that every teacher within every institution acts in a guidance capacity for individuals.  

The  issues  and  causes  behind  use  of  guidance  services  extend  beyond  issues  of  awareness; 
however  the  role  of  guidance  services  impacts  significantly  on  awareness  of  tools  and 
services.  Guidance  has  the  potential  to  be  a  point  of  convergence  for  the  tools.  A  guidance 
perspective  can  direct  the  development  of  the  tools  based  on  the  expertise  of  practitioners 
equally  to  be  a  key  outlet  for  promotion  and  awareness  of  the  tools.  (Self)  assessment  of 
skills,  including  transversal  skills,  is  an  element  where  guidance  services  could  provide 
support  in  the  use  of  self-assessment  tools  and  be  in  their  turn  supported  when  providing 
guidance.  

2.5 Increasing cooperation and communication among national centres to 
improve the effectiveness and reach of tools and services 
The role and activities of the national centres supporting implementation and promoting the 
tools  and  services  discussed  here  are  set  out  in  section  1.1.4.  The  operation  and  levels  of 
communication and cooperation between these centres have an impact on the effectiveness of 
the tools and services.  

The EQF – NCPs, the National Europass Centres and the National Euroguidance Centres are 
each  subject  to  separate  administration  and  reporting  on  an  annual  basis.  Each  of  the  three 
types  of  centres  has  separate  branding  and  online  presence  at  national  level;  each  centre 
manages separate communication and activity programmes. Although good practice exists in 
some  Member  States,  currently  there  is  little  or  no  overall  systematic  co-operation  or 
communication  between  the  centres  at  national  level;  these  working  practices  and  distinct 
operation  means  often  there  is  no  sense  of  a  coherent  service  offered  on  skills  and 
qualifications at national level.  

Evaluation reports of activities by the centres have found that centres are not fully reaching all 
users and have  been  found to  address some of  their objectives in part only; there is unclear 

41 Ibid, p. 6. 

42 The data gathered identified over 30,000 guidance professionals active in the 21 countries that responded. In 
many cases respondents stated there was no national collection of such data and that the data provided did 
not necessarily cover the full range of guidance services.  

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

information  on  the  impact  of  their  work  and  centres  do  not  often  form  long-term  strategic 
views or plans43. 

Analysis  of  activity  reports  submitted  by  centres  for  201444 show  that  centres  use  similar 
forms of promotion (publications, social media, attendance at public events) and each reports 
similar difficulties in reaching users and engaging with stakeholders across sectors including 
employers. Data shows there is poor awareness of these centres among potential beneficiaries, 
and  that  centres  are  not  always  easily  accessible.  A  Eurobarometer  survey  found  that  only 
18% of respondents stated that they were aware of at least one of the European information 
points or services45. This is despite Europass centres being established for over 10 years. So 
too,  the  synthesis  reports 46 of  the  activities  found  that  EQF,  Europass  and  Euroguidance 
centres  do  not  reach  all  their  intended  audiences  and  in  particular  do  not  appear  to  reach 
disadvantaged groups. 

Impact on role of guidance: The current operation of centres at national 
level  has  particular  impact  on  the  role  of  lifelong  and  career  guidance 
services. Feedback from the ELGPN and Euroguidance47 has  identified 
that  the  importance  of  guidance  services  is  not  visible  and  interaction 
between  guidance  and  other  services  does  not  occur  on  a  systematic 
level. This prevents the input by guidance services on the development 
of tools and services despite the fact that guidance services interact most 
often with individuals, i.e. the intended beneficiaries of a number of the 
tools and services. 

Countries  have  appointed  designated  bodies  to  manage  Europass,  EQF  and  Euroguidance 
centres and they are organised differently as regards the number of designated bodies and the 
number of actions (centres) put in place in a country. The table below gives a snapshot of the 
number of bodies managing Europass, EQF and Euroguidance centres by country in 2016.  

Three actions in one country 

Two actions in one country  One  action  in  one 

1 body 

2 bodies 

1 body 

country 

BG 
ES 

BA 
LI 

FR 
PL 
RS 
SK 

1 body 

AT 
DK 
EL 
IS 
IT 
ME 

3 bodies 
BE 
CY 
CZ 
DE 
HU 
RO 
UK 

2 bodies 
EE 
FI 
HR 
IE 
LT 
LU 
LV 
MK 
MT 

43 Synthesis  reports  of  activities  undertaken by National  Europass  Centres,  Euroguidance  Centres, EQF-NCPs; 

unpublished.  

44 Synthesis Reports of the activities of the centres in 2014,Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2015, unpublished. 
45 The  "points  or  services"  listed  in  the  question  were  Europass  contact  centres;  Your  Europe;  EURES;  Europe  Direct;  Eurodesk  and 
Euroguidance. 
46 Synthesis Reports of the activities of the centres in 2014, Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2015, unpublished. 
47 Collected through the stakeholder consultation for the new skills agenda for Europe. 

19 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

NL 
NO 
PT 
SE 
SI 
TR 

Source: EACEA 2016. 

This data shows that currently in 12 countries one single body hosts all the national centres of 
the country, in 17 two bodies host all the centres and in 7 countries there are three different 
bodies managing the centres. 

1 managing body

2 managing bodies

3 managing bodies

In  general,  national  centres  have  reported  benefits  and  efficiencies  achieved  from  more 
systematic  co-operation  both  between  centres  and  where  centres  are  housed  together.  In 
countries where the centres are hosted by the same organisation the centres report48 positive 
outcomes in terms of both quality and efficiency of activities; even though they currently still 
need to submit separate applications for financing, prepare separate programmes of activities 
and submit separate final reports. Overall, any co-operation that does occur at national level 
occurs mostly on a case-by-case basis and only in relation to specific actions or initiatives on 
the part of the centres rather than on a systematic basis.  

3.  

Possible ways forward 

This section presents the baseline scenario and four main options for the future development 
of EU tools and services for skills and qualifications. The options are devised so as to address 
the  problems  identified  above.  They  are  not  mutually  exclusive  and  rather  build  on  one 
another.  They  are  set  out  progressively  so  as  to  propose  the  minimum  of  changes  which 
should  occur  to  offer  better  documentation  tools  with  Option  1;  the  second  option  would 
develop  a  more  comprehensive  online  service  (Option  2);  Option  3  would  promote  better 

48 Synthesis Reports of the activities of the centres in 2014,Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, 2015, unpublished. 

20 

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

cooperation  between  national  centres  and  the  fourth  option  would  establish  a  role  for  the 
Commission in development of open standards in the area of skills and qualifications (Option 
4).  This  section  describes  each  option,  their  impacts  and  how  they  will  address  specific 
problems as well as any implications on governance and associated costs.  

3.1 Baseline scenario 

The baseline scenario implies no significant change in the current tools and services for skills 
and qualifications. No legislative framework would be revised nor would structural changes in 
the online tools and networks be implemented. Only case-by-case improvements of different 
skills services would take place and no further complementarity or interoperability would be 
explored.  

This scenario offers no basis or flexibility to pursue improvements to documents to respond to 
users' current and future needs and address issues of overlap or relevance of the documents. 
Any improvements to online tools and services would be on a case-by-case basis with limited 
potential for better efficiency and focus on user needs. Services and tools would continue to 
operate  independently,  providing  similar  information,  in  different  formats.  This  scenario 
entails no activity on interoperability and any  adaptations to technology would be restricted 
and undertaken on ad hoc basis. No specific actions or co-ordinated efforts would be carried 
out to promote and increase awareness and use; therefore, it would be unlikely that low levels 
of awareness and use could be addressed effectively. 

Regarding the national centres, the Commission would work to encourage greater cooperation 
and  communication  between  the  existing  national  centres  but  the  status  and  separate 
organisation  of  each  centre  would  remain  in  place.  The  Commission  has  already  begun 
organising  joint  meetings  as  a  vehicle  to  promote  the  value  of  cooperation  and 
communication; however the number of participants at the meetings, and the established remit 
of  each  network,  has  meant  such  meetings  have  not  successfully  fostered  cooperation  at 
national level.  

3.2 Option 1 - Enhancing documentation and online presence 

This  option  would  establish  the  conditions  to  allow  on-going  enhancement  of  the  Europass 
portfolio of documents to allow for the effective and transparent communication of skills and 
qualifications. Documentation has been the core activity of the existing Europass framework, 
and, as described above, the form of the current Europass Decision has limited potential for 
changes to the existing documents and for any wider development of Europass services. 

This option would achieve a fundamental shift in how Europass could evolve by establishing 
the  conditions  for  a  more  flexible  approach  to  design  and  development  of  Europass 
documents.  The  new  Decision  would  not  specify  templates  for  documents  but  instead 
establish a mandate for the development of tools for documenting and sharing information on 
skills and qualifications, including editing documents, in line with the evolving needs of users 
and shifts in labour market practices and education and training provision. 

The  impact  for  implementation  would  be  that  the  Commission,  Member  States  and 
stakeholders  could  work  on  developing  new  and  varied  tools  and  formats,  on  an  on-going 
basis, in response to users' needs rather than adhering to templates established at one point in 
time  with  limited  possibilities  of  updating.  Europass  would  establish  itself  as  a  service 
offering relevant documentation tools for end users. 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

The necessary counterpart to new formats and varieties of documentation tools would be that 
they  should  also  be  designed,  supported  and  presented  in  line  with  changes  in  technology. 
This has been pursued to an extent in the development of Europass to-date; however any such 
development  has  occurred  within  the  limitations  of  the  existing  five  document  templates. 
Implementation of this option would also entail renewing the online presence of the tools and 
would  enable  creating,  editing  and  sharing  of  documents  in  more  innovative  ways  to  meet 
both user expectations and the reality of how information is shared in today's employment and 
education  sectors.  This  would  also  allow  enough  flexibility  to  cater  for  any  future 
developments and changes in technology and practices. 

This option would actually focus on documents in isolation, but as described above there are 
other  documentation  tools  in  existence which serve similar or  overlapping  purposes and the 
impact  of  each  in  turn  is  diluted  from  a  user  perspective.  As  such  this  option  would  also 
propose pursuing further synergies with other document tools as a minimum requirement to 
re-inforce the value of documentation tools supported at EU level. The result would be a more 
coherent  provision  of  documentation  tools  at  EU  level  that  enabled  easier  sharing  of 
information and improved the clarity, effectiveness and user-experience. 

This option would propose to retain the Europass brand for these document services, which 
would become a unifying brand. The data presented earlier shows that Europass has a history 
of  impact  and  growth  in  use  and  recognition,  and  clarity  around  its  purpose.  The  2015 
stakeholder survey already mentioned49 shows that 94% of the participants feel that Europass 
is  a  useful  tool.  Since  the  portal  has  been  released  in  2005  yearly  visits  have  increased 
gradually  year  by  year,  showing  remarkable  growth  between  2012  (14,812,624  visits)  and 
2013  (20,897,010  visitors).  Social  partners  and  national  centres  consulted  in  the  context  of 
this  initiative  both  remarked  on  the  achievements  and  well  established  Europass  brand.  A 
single brand would allow for simplified communication and branding and create potential for 
strong positive associations with EU documentation tools and establish their added-value. 

The limitations of this option would mainly be that the changes envisaged would not extend to 
the other online tools and supporting services described above (see sections 1.1.2, 1.1.3 and 
1.1.4).  The  necessary  complementarity  and  further  synergy  with  services  such  as  guidance, 
skills  intelligence  and  information  for  learners  and  job-seekers  would  not  be  achieved.  The 
development  and  evolution  of  the  documents,  while  positive  and  necessary,  would  occur 
alone without effectively tackling the full range of issues that have impacted the efficiency of 
the framework.  

The option would involve a revision of the Europass Decision, although limited in scope. The 
operation of the national centres would not be addressed.  

The following governance and costs considerations arise within this option: 

 

Any re-design or new approach to development of Europass documents would require 
consultation  with  co-owners  and  stakeholders  (as  examples,  the  Language  Passport  is 
part of the European Language Portfolio developed by the Council of Europe while the 
Diploma Supplement is a joint initiative by the European Commission, the Council of 
Europe and Unesco). However, as detailed in previous sections, stakeholders as well as 

49 Stakeholder survey, IT feasibility study for one single integrated service for online skills and qualification, Everis, 17.12.2015. 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

 

 

users have made suggestions and noted the need to change and modernise the Europass 
documents. 
The  promotion  of  synergies  between  Europass  and  other  documentation  tools  would 
require negotiations with other Commission services, organisations and Member States 
and also exploratory and developmental technical work to establish synergies. 
On costs, some development costs are envisaged for the enhanced online presence of the 
document  tools,  however  a  portion  of  these  could  be  accommodated  in  the  already 
established budget for maintenance of the Europass site; additional financial costs may 
be covered by Erasmus+. 

For 2015, the cost of hosting Europass by Cedefop amounted to € 300.000. 

Summary of strength and weaknesses of the option 

STRENGTHS 

WEAKNESSES 

More flexible and adaptable to digital needs. 

Limited to Europass and documentation only. 

Simplification of documentation of skills. 

Most  services  would  still  be  stand-alone 

Reduced  overlap,  increased  efficiency  and 

initiatives. 

awareness. 

Limited impacts in terms of costs. 

Support  services  provided  by  networks  not 

addressed. 

3.3 Option 2 – Better integration of services 

This  option  would  establish  an  integrated  online  offering  of  tools  and  services,  both  for 
documentation  of  skills  and  qualifications  and  a  range  of  related  information  and  services. 
These  services  would  be  offered  within  a  web-portal,  with  information  presented  in  an 
intuitive  way  to  meet  the  needs  of  different  user  groups.  ESCO  would  serve  as  common 
terminology  to  describe  skills,  competences,  qualifications  and  occupations  within  the  tool. 
The operation of the national centres would not be addressed within this option. 

This  option  would  transform  the  offering  of  online  tools  and  services  for  skills  and 
qualifications,  Europass  would  no  longer  be  operated  as  a  portfolio  of  documents  but  as  a 
progressive  service  designed  to  meet  user  needs,  as  necessary.  Users  could  access  the 
information  and  tools  they  need  to  document  their  skills  and  qualifications,  including  those 
acquired through non-formal and informal learning. In addition, complementary information 
on learning opportunities, skills intelligence, guidance services, validation of non-formal and 
informal  learning,  and  information  on  recognition  practices  and  decisions  could  each  be 
offered within a single online location. 

The  comprehensive  tool  would  allow  completion  of  processes  for  different  users  within  a 
single web-portal and the synergies and links with other services would mean the number of 
sites  visited  separately  is  reduced.  The  potential  would  be  significant,  and  value  clear,  in 
enabling  a  job-seeker  or  individual  looking  for  career  or  education  or  training  information 
complete  linked  transactions  within  one  main  location.  Stakeholders,  including  the  national 
centres, have cautioned against creating a web tool that is difficult to navigate; nevertheless, 

23 

 
 
 
  
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

the need for modernisation and further digitisation was clearly expressed. The Commission is 
fully  mindful  of  this  concern  and  has  focused  any  initial  conceptual  and  technical  work  on 
user  cases  and  how  the  tools  could  serve  different  types  of  users  in  a  simpler  and  more 
efficient way. 

As described in 1.1.2, a number of tools exist, in a document format, to assist self-assessment 
of  skills  by  individuals.  The  development  of  a  more  comprehensive  online  service  would 
facilitate  development  of  other  forms  of  tools,  such  as  interactive  tools  for  assessing  and 
understanding  skills  in  specific  areas.  Importantly,  developing  such  tools  through  an  online 
system  –  allowing  for  interactivity  and  innovative  features,  rather  than  creating  document 
templates – would be most effective and would cater to the potential differing needs and skills 
levels  of  users.  The  assessment  experts  consulted  in  the  IT  feasibility  study  agreed  that  to 
produce comprehensive and valid results, the self-assessment exercise should have a selection 
of  different  assessment  exercises,  namely  a  self-assessment  grid,  multiple  choice  self-
assessment questions, scenario-based items and interactive (e.g. game-based) self-assessment. 

The efforts and resources in managing and developing the existing tools would see the output 
and added-value of each reinforced in the new online setting. Marketing, communication and 
promotion  activities  would  be  simplified,  through  use  of  a  single  brand  with  benefits  on 
visibility  and  ultimately  outreach  of  the  services.  The  offering  of  these  services  through  a 
main  web  portal  would  instil  co-operation  and  sharing  of  information  and  best  practices  by 
EU  level  services  creating  possibilities  for  further  development  of  tools  and  services. 
Development of one main service would allow for greater differentiation and specification for 
different  users,  extending  the  use  and  comprehensiveness  of  the tool rather  than  developing 
stand-alone  tools  and  services  as  has  happened  on  an  ad-hoc  basis  to  date.  Future 
development  could  include  information  that  is  not  yet  captured  in  a  single  location.  For 
instance,  information  on  recognition  practices  and  decisions,  in  the  EU  context,  has  mostly 
focused  on  access  to  regulated  professions  and  on  recognition  of  higher  education 
qualifications.  The  skills  required  by  today's  and  most  likely  future  labour  market  are  of 
course acquired across different sectors of education and training, as well as in more diverse 
settings.  Validation  and  recognition  of  skills  acquired  through  such  paths  are  crucial;  the 
integrated tool could offer information on validation and recognition practices and decisions 
to guide individuals and organisations to have skills properly valued. 

So too, information on labour market and skills intelligence would become an inherent part of 
tools and services accessed by users, allowing possibilities for data and trends on skills supply 
and  demand  to  inform  decision-making,  at  individual,  organisation  and  policy  level.  This 
could  contribute,  among  other  things,  to  tackling  skills  mismatches  by  directing  choices 
towards  learning  paths  and  careers  with  better  prospects  for  individuals  and  give  useful 
information  to  recruiters  and  education  and  training  organisations  on  skills  needed.  As 
described  above,  currently  data  and  information  on  skills  intelligence  is  housed  in  a  single 
location  –  the  EU  Skills  Panorama  (EUSP).  Information  on  skills  needs  and  demands,  in 
different  sectors,  countries  and  regions  will  assist  those  considering  employment  options  in 
other  locations  as  well  as  other  occupations  (in  addition  to  the  policy-makers  and  other 
practitioners already served through the EUSP). A key role of the EUSP and Labour Market 
Skills Intelligence (LMSI) more generally is the presentation of key messages in a meaningful 
and easily interpretable way, so that LMSI could feature in a single tool in ways that are easily 
understood  by  individuals  based  on  their  needs,  interests  and  skill  levels.  All  this  would  be 
underpinned  by  the  possibilities  offered  by  technology,  in  particular  through  web-crawling 
and big data analysis, which would allow gathering information from a wider range of sources 
and therefore help create a more reliable set of data. To systematically include the information 

24 

 
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

and data produced by the EUSP in a comprehensive tool for skills and qualifications would 
create awareness of the role of such intelligence information.50 

A possible configuration for the integration of services and links and synergy with other tools 
would be as follows: 

Arrows indicate synergies or links to be established with the integrated service. In white are existing portals; blue 
indicates new features of the tool. ESCO would be the common terminology. 

As  to  limitations  associated  with  this  option,  the  supporting  services  offered  by  physical 
bodies at national level would not be addressed. Accordingly, the person-to-person supports 
associated with these services, as well as the promotional activities at national level would not 
be formally co-ordinated. 

The following governance and cost considerations arise within this option: 

  Negotiations  with  all  relevant  partners  responsible  for  the  governance,  hosting  and 
maintenance  of  the  wider  range  of  tools  and  services  considered  under  this  option 
would be necessary. 

  On  costs,  initial  development  costs  are  envisaged.  The  impact  of  such  costs  would 
depend  on  the  technical  solution  found  to  reinforce  synergies  and  complementarity. 
Possible alternatives go from simplifying current tools and reduce some overlapping to 
the fullest integration of main services available. A balance should be struck between 
costs  and  benefits  of  the  alternative  chosen.  Importantly,  once  established,  financial 
gains can be achieved through reduced costs, such as hosting, for multiple sites. 

Cost analyses of current portals for skills and qualifications have been carried out in the 
feasibility  study  for  the  integrated  service.  Currently,  the  separate  online  tools  and  web 
portals carry the following costs: 

50 According  to  the  2014  public  consultation  on  the  European  Area  for  Skills  and  Qualifications,  the  European  Skills  Panorama  was 
considered  useful  only  by  27%  of  respondents.  However,  53%  of  respondents  strongly  agreed  and  31%  partially  agrees  that  forecasts  on 
skills supply and needs should be better integrated in education and training strategies. Meanwhile, a new release of the Skills Panorama was 
launched in December 2015 with enhanced features.  

25 

 
 
 
                                                            
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

Portal 

Europass 

Budget 

Task 

€ 300.000 (2015) 

Hosting by Cedefop 

EU Skills Panorama 

€400.000  (2015)  +  100.000 

Launch  of  new  version  + 

(2015-2016) 

further improvements 

Learning 

opportunity 

approx. €200.000/year 

Maintenance  

portal 

ESCO 

EURES 

€325.000 (2015)   

Hosting and maintenance 

€ 3 million/year 

Development,  hosting  and 

maintenance 

Part of the supplementary costs needed may be covered under the current Union financial 
provisions such as Erasmus+. For 2016, the Erasmus+ Workprogramme already includes 
activities  to  develop  web  services  on  skills  for  an  estimated  amount  of  €2.500.000.  As 
services will be integrated into the new Europass platform, a number of platforms should 
cease  to  exist.  This  should  help  achieve  substantial  savings  in  financial  resources 
primarily through the integration of the hosting, maintenance and support of the different 
IT tools and communication activities. This should amount to around €450.000 per year. 

Summary of strength and weaknesses of the option 

 STRENGTHS 

WEAKNESSES 

In addition to Option 1: 

Some issues of governance. 

Extension  of  benefits  of  Option  1  to  a  wider 

Short-term costs. 

range of EU tools and services. 

Consideration of web presence strategy of the 

More 

user-friendly 

and 

user-oriented 

Commission. 

solution. 

Support  services  provided  by  networks  not 

addressed. 

26 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

3.4 Option 3 – Better coordination of support networks 

This  option  entails  establishing  coordination  points  at  national  level  to  coordinate  activities 
currently associated with the National Europass Centres, EQF National Coordination Points, 
and  Euroguidance  Centers.  A  single  body  within  each  Member  State  would  be  the  main 
beneficiary  of  EU  funding  and  the  main  interface  with  the  Commission  in  relation  to  the 
activities  currently  carried  out  by  the  national  centres.  It  is  also  proposed  that  the  financial 
allocations would be made on a multi-annual basis to allow longer-term planning of activities. 
The  coordination  point in  each  country  would  bring  greater  coherence  and  simplification  to 
the  operation  of  national  centres  and  may  support  greater  cooperation  among  services  to 
enhance  the  transparency  and  understanding  of  skills  and  qualifications,  to  support  lifelong 
learning and career guidance at national level. The coordination point could also act as a point 
of  convergence  for  other  linked  services  such  as  development  of  skills  intelligence. 
Communication  and  promotion  activities  could  get  reinforced  by  a  more  coherent  and 
synergicistic  approach.  This  would  in  turn  increase  visibility  of  work  carried  out  on  the 
ground  and  therefore  improve  outreach  to  users  and  stakeholders,  which  was  one  of  the 
problems mentioned in the evaluation and consultations.  

During  consultation  on  the  Skills  Agenda  in  March  2016,  concern  was  expressed  on  the 
proposal to set up National Skills Coordination Points taking over the activities of the current 
networks. Some Member States would prefer to maintain the current situation where the three 
networks  are  mostly  separate  entities  under  different  administrations  and  invited  the 
Commission not to impose organisational arrangements that would be against the subsidiarity 
principle. This option proposes that a single body within each Member State is responsible for 
co-ordination  of  activities  associated  with  implementation  of  the  Europass  Decision  and 
linked tasks related to the EQF, validation, skills intelligence and guidance. Importantly, they 
would be the main beneficiary of EU funding and the main interface  with  the Commission. 
The designation of National Skills Coordination Points as the main interface and beneficiary 
of  Union  funding  will  therefore  support  simplified  administration  and  reporting  and  can 
support  greater  cooperation  and  coordination  between  these  national  services,  including  the  
existing National Europass Centres, EQF National Coordination Points and the Euroguidance 
network  without  prejudice  to  national  arrangements  in  terms  of  implementation  and 
organisation. As illustrated in section 2.5, this is already happening in several countries.  

The following governance and cost considerations arise within this option: 

-  Upon  designation  of  the  National  Skills  Coordination  Points,  any  decisions  about 
implementation and coordination arrangements at national level are at the discretion of 
Member States. 

-  Existing budget allocations for the national level centres will be grouped into a single 
allocation  by  country  that  will  be  awarded  to  a  single  beneficiary  in  each  Member 
State  on  a  multi-annual  basis.  This  measure  would  not  impact  the  overall  amount 
allocated  by  the  EU  budget  to  the  centres,  which  in  2006  amounted  to  €7,300,000. 
Administrative  simplification  will  ensue  in  terms  of  reporting  and  multiannual 
financing  compared  to  the  current  annual  exercise.  If  administrative  simplification 
entails savings in terms of (human and) financial resources, these could be better used 
to  the  benefit  of  the  services  provided.  Steps  to  simplify  administrative  work  were 
already taken within the call for policy networks under the Erasmus+ Workprogramme 
2016;  further  steps  are  currently  investigated,  such  as  a  multiannual  planning  and 

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

financing of activities based on feedback received by the policy networks and one lead 
beneficiary of the funding.  

Summary of strengths and weaknesses associated with this option:  

STRENGTHS 

WEAKNESSES 

In addition to Option 1 and 2: 

National coordination  points to  bring greater 

Some  initial  work  required  on  the  clear 

coherence  and  support  more  systematic 

articulation  to  Member  States  of  the  role  of 

cooperation among existing centres. 

the  national  coordination  points  to  ensure 

The  administrative  burden  for  the  Com-

mission  associated  with  two  or  three  centres 

clarity  and  continuity  of 

the  existing 

functions  and  objectives  of  the  national 

per country to be reduced.  

centres. 

Multi-annual  basis  for  funding  allowing  for 

more  strategic  long  term  planning  by  the 

centres.  

Administrative  burden  for  Member  States  

reduced  in  line  with  putting  in  place  multi-

annual  funding,  and  efficiencies  achieved 

through 

requirement  of  a  single  grant 

application and final report per country. 

3.5 Option 4 - Better Interoperability between tools 

Within  this  option,  the  Commission  would  aim  to  develop  the  future  European  tools  and 
services for skills and qualifications in a manner that ensures a high level of interoperability 
between its own tools, but also with tools and services provided by Member States or private 
actors. The operation of the national centres is not addressed within this option. 

The Commission would develop standards such as metadata schemata, semantic assets51 in its 
online  service(s)  and  make  them  publicly  available  for  re-use  to  support  interoperability 

51 Metadata  schemata  is  a  description  of  metadata  elements,  their  possible  values,  the  obligation  level  of  the 
values  and  the  relationships  between  these  metadata  elements.  The  expression  'semantic  asset'  means  a 
collection  of  highly  reusable  metadata  or  reference  data  such  as  code  lists,  taxonomies,  dictionaries  or 
vocabularies which are used for system development. 

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between systems. These formats and standards would be used by default in EU service(s) and 
put  at  disposal  of  all  stakeholders.  To  ensure  that  these  standards  can  be  used  by  various 
partners,  the  Commission  would  develop  these  open  standards  in  close  cooperation  with 
Member  States  and  stakeholders.  Where  applicable,  these  open  standards  would  build  on 
existing standards, in particular the standards for data exchange in EURES, ESCO, EQF and 
the ISA Core Vocabularies52. This is key to avoiding the duplication of work and creation of 
stand-alone services discussed throughout this paper. 

This  option  would  aim  to  enhance  and  simplify  communication  between  future  European 
tools  and  services  for  skills  and  qualifications,  and  provide  the  crucial  connectivity  of 
language, data and information between the various tools and services under consideration. 

The  impact  would  be  that  the  information  would  be  transmitted  and  exchanged  more 
effectively between various tools and services. 

Higher levels of interoperability would enhance the user experience, as the information in one 
tool could be reused in others. A jobseeker could for example prepare a CV in Europass, and 
reuse this CV to register on the EURES Job Mobility Portal, to complete his/her social media 
profile, to apply for a job online and to register for training, without the need to re-enter the 
data each time. This would provide the user with a seamless experience in which he/she could 
use several tools to achieve one task, such as finding a job abroad, or identifying new training 
opportunities that would increase his/her employability. 

The  ability  to  exchange  data  across  various  tools  would  allow  the  tools  to  become  more 
innovative linking domains of education and training offers with labour market information. 
Interoperability would also support big data analysis of skills supply and demand - if data in 
various  sources  such  as  job  boards,  company  websites  or  platforms  such  as  EURES  were 
interoperable,  it  could  be  monitored  in  real  time  -  allowing easier  identification  of  new  and 
emerging trends. 

Open  standards  would  be  developed  in  cooperation  with  Member  States  and  stakeholders. 
This  would  allow  reuse  by  a  large  number  of  organisations  and  support  to  all  types  of 
transactions in the labour market and in education and training. 

The Commission would coordinate the development of these open standards. Member States 
and  stakeholders  such  as  social  partners,  employment  services,  online  service  providers, 
statistical  institutes,  education  and  training  providers  would  be  invited  to  contribute  to  the 
development of the standards. 

The following governance and cost considerations arise within this option: 

  Negotiations with other Commission services and Member States for the development 
of standards to ensure coherence with work already being carried out, in particular by 
EURES. 

  To develop standards and enhance exchange and reuse of personal information, some 
IT developments would be needed, including a possible solution for data storage. This 
would imply additional costs. Budget may be covered by EU budget (Erasmus+) for 
IT development. 

52 http://ec.europa.eu/isa/actions/documents/eudig12a-1401-i01-core-vocabularies-lr_en.pdf  

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

  Any  processing  of  personal  data  (e.g.  exchange  of  personal  data  and  possible  data 
storage) shall be carried out in accordance with EU law on the protection of personal 
data53 as well as the national implementing measures thereto. 

Summary of strength and weaknesses of the option 

STRENGTHS 

WEAKNESSES 

In addition to Options 1, 2 and 3: 

Access,  exchange  and  use  of  data  and 

Negotiations  with  owners  and  users  of 

information from a wide-range of sources. 

relevant information and data. 

Maximising 

interoperability  between  EU 

IT development and data storage costs. 

services and more widely. 

Data protection issues. 

Support  services  provided  by  networks  not 

addressed. 

3.6 Comparison of options 

Evidence available shows that continuing delivery and operation of existing tools and services 
as they stand now does not address any of the problems raised. 

Option  1  would  have  a  major  impact  on  documentation  tools  for  skills  and  qualifications 
introducing  flexibility  and  modernisation.  The  documentation  of  skills  and  qualifications 
would  be  simplified,  overlapping  reduced  with  consequent  increase  in  efficiency  and 
awareness.  The  integration  of  documentation  tools  with  other  services  for  skills  and 
qualifications, such as information on skills intelligence, for instance, would not however be 
addressed and therefore impact would be more limited compared to other options. 

Option  2  proposes  a  more  integrated  service  which  would  build  on  the  positive  impacts  of 
Option 1, with a more efficient approach to a wide range of EU tools and services beyond just 
documentation  tools.  ESCO  would  serve  as  a  common  terminology  to  describe  skills, 

53   In particular Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995 on the 
protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such 
data (OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31) and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of    18  December  2000  on  the  protection  of  individuals  with  regard  to  the  processing  of  personal 
data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 8, 12.01.2001, 
p.  1);  to  be  replaced  by  Regulation  (EU)  2016/679  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  27 
April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free 
movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) - OJ L 119, 
4.5.2016, p. 1–88), applicable as of 25 May 2018.  

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Better EU Tools and Services for Skills and Qualifications (Europass) 

competences,  qualifications  and  occupations.  There  would  be  multiple  gains  in  terms  of 
effectiveness  and  efficiency  in  comparisons  with  the  baseline  scenario  and  Option  1: 
improved  synergy  and  flexibility,  increased  user-friendliness,  reduced  duplication,  effective 
promotion and responsiveness to current technological developments.  

Option  3  is  distinct  in  that  it  addresses  the  operation  of  national  centres,  which  can  offer 
interpersonal services, where the other options propose changes to online tools and services. 
Through this option the presence and operations of the centres will both be simplified through 
the establishment of the National Skills Coordination Points. The Coordination Points would 
act as a mechanism to simplify financing, administration and reporting processes between the 
EU  and  Member  States.  The  Coordination  Points  will  have  the  potential  to  work  in  closer 
cooperation more easily and explore new synergies that bring together their perspectives and 
expertise.  

Option 4 would offer new possibilities to access, exchange and use data and information from 
a  wide-range  of  sources  that  is  not  available  in  any  form  in  the  baseline  scenario  and  in 
previous  options.  Interoperability  between  EU  and  other  tools  and  services  would  be 
maximised. 

4 Concluding remarks 

The  four  options  presented  would  each  improve  the  current  state  of  play  of  EU  tools  and 
services  for skills  and  qualifications.  The  options  are  progressive  in  that  they each  build  on 
the  preceding  one  but  so  too  could  be  adopted  in  isolation.  This  Staff  Working  Document 
concludes  that  the  four  options  presented  here  must  be  adopted  together  –  this  is  the  most 
effective  way  to  address  all  the  challenges  posed.  Feedback  from  users,  stakeholders  and 
Member  States  shows  that  stand-alone  services,  developed  in  piecemeal  fashion  are  not 
meeting the needs of users. Equally, the national services should work in closer cooperation to 
support  implementation  and  awareness.  A  new  approach,  that  sets  the  conditions  for 
development of tools and services in a coherent way, in line with changing demands including 
new technology, must be assured. With an approach that seeks to offer a comprehensive set of 
user-friendly tools in a single online location, with coherent national support, the added value 
of the tools will be more easily established. When users see the value the issues of awareness 
and use will be addressed in turn. 

As a whole,  the initiative  on better tools  and services  for skills  and qualifications  will offer 
new opportunities to users and other stakeholders to manage and access information on skills 
and qualifications more easily and in a wider more complete context. The options proposed 
are future-oriented as they ensure sufficient  flexibility to  adapt  to current needs as well any 
future evolutions that may be difficult to envisage today. 

31