EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 25.3.2024

SWD(2024) 71 final

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT

Evaluation of Decision (EU) 2018/646 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018







on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and repealing Decision No 2241/2004/EC

Accompanying the document

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL

on the implementation and impact of Decision (EU) 2018/646 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018












on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and repealing Decision No 2241/2004/EC










(submitted pursuant to Art. 9 of the Decision (EU) 2018/646)

{COM(2024) 135 final}

Table of contents

1.Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………...

1.1 Purpose and scope of the evaluation    

1.2 Overview of the methodology    

2.What was the expected outcome of Europass?

2.1 Description of Europass and its objectives    

2.1.1 Policy context and evolution    

2.1.2 Intervention logic    

2.2 Points of comparison    

3.How has the situation evolved over the evaluation period?

3.1.    Delivery of Europass tools and services    

3.2.    Implementation of the Europass Decision by the Commission and Member States    

4.Evaluation findings (analytical part)

4.1.    To what extent was the intervention successful and why?    

4.1.1 Effectiveness    

4.1.2 Efficiency    

4.1.3 Coherence    

4.2.    How did the EU intervention make a difference and to whom (EU added value and impact)?            

4.3.    Is the intervention still relevant?    

4.3.1 Need for information and guidance on job and learning opportunities and skills required by the labour market    

4.3.2 Need for improved transparency and comparability of qualifications and skills    

4.3.3 Need to reduce the fragmentation between different skills, qualifications and labour mobility tools        

4.3.4 Need for a shared understanding of skills and qualifications and an EU infrastructure for digital credentials (EDC)    

5.What are the conclusions and lessons learned?

5.1.    Conclusions    

5.1.1 Effectiveness    

5.1.2 Efficiency    

5.1.3 Coherence    

5.1.4 EU added value and impact    

5.1.5 Relevance    

5.2.    Lessons learned    

Annex I: Procedural Information

Annex II. Methodology and Analytical models used

Annex III. Evaluation matrix

Annex IV. Overview of benefits and costs and Table on simplification and burden reduction

Table 6 - Overview of benefits and costs identified in the evaluation    

Table 7 - Simplification and burden reduction    

Annex V. Stakeholders consultation - Synopsis report

Consultation strategy    

Public consultation    

Surveys    

Interviews    

Qualitative observations    

Annex VI. Main changes to Europass and evolution over the Evaluation period

Annex VII. uptake of europass tools and services

Annex VIII. user and stakeholder perception of europass

Table of figures

Figure 1 - EU tools and initiatives that the Europass policy framework interacts with, integrates and supports

Figure 2 - Intervention logic - Needs

Figure 3 - Intervention logic - Objectives

Figure 4 - Intervention logic – Inputs (EU level and Member States Level)

Figure 5 - Intervention logic – EU level activities and outputs

Figure 6 - Intervention logic – National level activities and outputs

Figure 7 - Annual number of new profiles created on the new Europass platform

Figure 8 - Number of unique visitors per month (August 2020 to January 2023)

Figure 9 - Number of Europass mentions by month (2020-2022)

Figure 10 – Intervention logic of Europass

Figure 11 - Respondents to the public consultation

Figure 12 - Country distribution of respondents to the public consultation

Figure 13 - Familiarity with the Europass tools and services

Figure 14 - Usefulness of the Europass tools and services

Figure 15 - Awareness and uptake of the Europass tools and services

Figure 16 - Levels of satisfaction with Europass tools

Figure 17 - Number of page visits on Europass (2005-2019)

Figure 18 - Number of documents generated online (2005-2019)

Figure 19 - Uptake of Europass web-based tools and services

Figure 20 - Use of the Europass platform for retrieving information

Figure 21 - Overview of the number of EDCs stored in Europass wallets by months and over time

Figure 22 - Share of Europass profiles across Member States over their total population

Figure 23 - Main advantages of Europass

Figure 24 - Importance given to the information and services provided by Europass

Figure 25 - Share of end-users perceiving Europass tools and services as accessible and user-friendly

Table of tables

Table 1 - Assessment of the tasks carried out by the European Commission for the implementation of the Europass Decision.

Table 2 – Evaluation questions

Table 3 - Surveys implemented in the context of the evaluation of Europass

Table 4 - Geographic coverage by category of interviewed stakeholders

Table 5 - Evaluation matrix

Table 6 - Overview of benefits and costs and table on simplification and burden reduction

Table 7 - Simplification and burden reduction

Table 8 - Types of stakeholders consulted

Table 9 - Stakeholders’ participation in consultation activities

Table 10 - Evolution of Europass, its components and governance

Table 11 - State of play of implementation of features in the 2020 online platform

Glossary

The first version of the Europass framework was established by Decision 2241/2004/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 15 December 2004 1 . From the outset, Europass has provided a set of instruments to support the mobility of people in Europe for education and employment purposes and the transparency of qualifications, skills and competences.

The Europass Decision 2018/646 on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications was adopted in April 2018 2 . The Decision aims to strengthen and develop Europass into a service-based platform that takes into account changes since 2004 in technology, the labour market, education and training systems and society at large.

Europass is one of the 12 actions of the 2020 European Skills Agenda 3 , which aims to help individuals and businesses develop more and better skills to support upskilling and reskilling. This will contribute to the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and achieve socially fair green and digital transitions.

The new Europass provides tools and information through an online platform 4 . The European Commission launched it in July 2020 to support people in their lifelong learning and career management. The tools and services can be used by learners, workers, jobseekers and volunteers to communicate and present their skills, qualifications and experience clearly and consistently across Europe.

1.1 Purpose and scope of the evaluation

This staff working document presents the findings of the Commission’s evaluation of the Europass Decision. Under Article 9, an evaluation of the impact and implementation of the Decision is required in 2023 and every 5 years after that. The evaluation is supported by a study carried out by an external contractor.

In line with the Better Regulation guidelines 5 , the evaluation assesses the extent to which Europass is effective, efficient and coherent, provides EU added value and remains relevant to tackle current needs 6 . Moreover, the evaluation reviews the take-up of Europass and its wider impact on the European labour market and on skills and lifelong learning policies. This includes:

·better transparency and comparability of qualifications 7 , skills and competences;

·less fragmentation between different skills and qualification tools;

·access to information and guidance on job and learning opportunities and skills required in the labour market.

For this evaluation, Member States were consulted regularly through the Europass Advisory Group 8 .

The evaluation covers the period from 2018, when the Europass Decision was adopted, until 2022. It focuses on 2020 when the new platform was launched and beyond. The geographical scope of the evaluation covers the 27 EU Member States, the European Economic Area (EEA) as well as candidate and potential candidate countries under their agreements concluded with the EU (Article 10 of the Europass Decision).

The outcome of the evaluation will contribute to further developing and improving Europass tools and services. Moreover, the results of this evaluation should be seen in combination with the those of the 2023 evaluation of the European Qualifications Framework 9 , as both exercises provide comprehensive insights into the role of EU transparency tools and services for skills and qualifications.

1.2 Overview of the methodology

The evaluation of Europass was supported by a study 10  carried out by an external contractor. The methodology is based on a mixed-method approach, combining primary and secondary data and covering different user profiles. More precisely, the mixed-method approach 11  comprised

·a desk review of relevant official documents and literature

·data analysis (Europass platform user data, cost data provided by the Commission, Google search and social media analysis)

·quantitative primary data (three targeted surveys to Europass users and non-users 12 , employers, and education and training providers)

·qualitative insights from in-depth stakeholder interviews, targeted qualitative observations of non-users, discovering the Europass platform and functionalities for the first time.

·a public consultation and a call for evidence 13 .

An intervention logic 14 was developed in the context of this evaluation as well as an evaluation matrix. The matrix linked the evaluation criteria to the intervention logic and used the key elements to draw up research questions.

One of the evaluation’s challenges is that the scope of the previous pre-2018 Europass framework was significantly narrower than the new one. Consequently, comparing the two frameworks is more difficult. Another challenge was related to the availability of data to prepare the supporting study, e.g. monitoring data on the uptake and use of specific Europass tools and monitoring data on National Europass Centres (NECs) 15  since 2020 when the centres submitted their last final activity reports. Mitigation measures included using data collected through the survey targeted at users and non-users to map the use of specific tools, a social media analysis on communication activities carried out as well the use of data from a survey of NECs carried out by the Commission in 2022. Moreover, specific questions were included in stakeholder interviews.

Further details on the methodology are available in Annex II to this report (Methodology and analytical models used).

2.1 Description of Europass and its objectives

The new Europass provides tools and information through an online platform to support people in their lifelong learning and career management. As set out in Article 1 of the Europass Decision, the platform can be used by individuals, such as learners, workers, jobseekers and volunteers, to communicate and present their skills, qualifications and experience clearly and consistently across Europe. Other stakeholders include education and training providers, guidance practitioners, employers, public employment services, social partners, youth work providers, youth organisations, volunteer organisations and policymakers.

Since its launch in July 2020, Europass has evolved from providing downloadable templates into a service-based platform that provides individuals with better access to information on opportunities for working and learning in Europe, on how to assess their digital skills and how to present information about their skills and qualifications.

2.1.1 Policy context and evolution

Europass and its development are related to two of the six priorities set out by the von der Leyen Commission when taking office 16 . These are A Europe fit for the digital age and An economy that works for the people. Europass can contribute to these strategic priorities by improving the transparency of skills and qualifications of individuals applying for jobs. This supports better matching candidates to jobs regardless of the language or technology used to advertise such jobs, the countries where the jobs and the candidates are located or where candidates acquired their skills and qualifications.

As part of the European Pillar of Social Rights 17 , the main policy frameworks related to Europass are the European Skills Agenda, the European Education Area and Europe’s Digital Decade. These policies are linked to different EU tools and initiatives that Europass serves in different ways and more specifically to different services and tools provided by Europass. Figure 1 presents the EU tools and initiatives that Europass interacts with, integrates or supports.

Figure 1: EU tools and initiatives that the Europass policy framework interacts with, integrates and supports

Source: External supporting study by Kantar

2.1.2 Intervention logic

For the evaluation exercise, an intervention logic was developed 18 as described below.

2.1.2.1 Needs

Europass aims to address the needs of individuals and other stakeholders in the areas of learning, working or volunteering to access information and guidance on what opportunities are available, how to assess skills and how to present information about skills and qualifications.

Figure 2: Intervention logic – Needs

Source: External supporting study by Kantar

Differences in definitions related to skills and qualifications, document formats, languages, assessments and validation methods can represent considerable challenges for individuals, employers and education and training providers, especially when moving between countries. These differences also affect people moving within a country, between employment sectors or across different sectors of education and training. To address these challenges, it is important to have clear, transparent and fully accessible information and a common understanding of skills and qualifications.

Furthermore, skills, experience and learning achievements are acknowledged in different ways. The use of digital technologies is changing the way individuals present information on acquired skills and qualifications. Traditionally, individuals have presented information in a CV and supporting documents, such as certificates or diplomas. Now, new tools are available that can facilitate the presentation of skills and qualifications by using different online and digital formats. Examples of such digital formats are the European Digital Credentials for Learning, which make it possible to issue and seal learning credentials in a digital format.

2.1.2.2 Objectives

Recital 34 of the Europass Decision clearly states the general objective of Europass, which is to create a comprehensive and interoperable framework of tools and information, in particular for transnational employment and learning mobility purposes.

Figure 3: Intervention logic – Objectives

Source: External supporting study by Kantar (“SO” stands for Specific Objectives)

This general objective can be broken down into three specific objectives:

·supporting the mobility of individuals for work and education opportunities in the EU;

·better integrating services for learners, jobseekers, workers, volunteers, employers and education and training providers to communicate skills and competences, with a focus on disadvantaged groups;

·fostering a common framework for the transparency and recognition of qualifications/validation of skills among Member States.

2.1.2.3 Inputs

In terms of inputs 19 , Erasmus+ and European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) financial instruments and programmes contribute to supporting Europass activities at EU level. NECs are also co-funded by the countries that contribute financially to these activities.

Figure 4: Intervention logic – Inputs (EU level and Member States Level)

Source: External supporting study by Kantar

2.1.2.4 EU and national activities and outputs

With the support of the input described above, Europass activities can be grouped into activities at EU and national level as presented below.

Figure 5: Intervention logic – EU-level activities and outputs

Source: External supporting study by Kantar

Figure 6: Intervention logic – National-level activities and outputs

Source: External supporting study by Kantar

2.1.2.5 Results

As a result of the activities above, Europass is expected to address the needs described in Section 2.1.2.1 and, more generally, increase the visibility of its tools and services to end users and EU and national stakeholders, thus facilitating access to opportunities for working and learning. A better understanding of skills and qualifications is also expected to lead to a better integration of the labour market. The identification of skills, access to information on learning opportunities and possibly access to skills intelligence tools and guidance, validation and recognition of skills are expected to support the increase of upskilling and reskilling, in line with the Porto targets set for 2030 20 .

2.1.2.6 Impacts

The overall impact is that individuals have help in moving across Europe by using Europass to document and present their experience and skills transparently. Furthermore, Europass supports achieving the common objectives of the EU’s education policy and is a tool for enrolling in education and training and accessing the labour market.

2.2 Points of comparison

The points of comparison in this exercise are the previous Europass platform and the different levels of uptake of the different tools available on the new Europass platform.

According to the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) European skills forecast 21 , the work environment of the upcoming decade will be marked by transitions and certain trends: the growing importance of the service sector and high-skilled jobs and increasing automation/digitalisation. These trends are accompanied by a growing demand for high-level skills that need to be acquired by an ageing population.

The European Skills Agenda 22 , beyond setting skills targets for 2025, acknowledges how the EU population’s current participation in training still falls short of the objectives:

·in 2016, 38% of adults aged 25-64 participated in learning during the last 12 months;

·in 2016, 18% of low-qualified adults aged 25-64 participated in learning during the last 12 months;

·in 2019, 11% of unemployed adults aged 25-64 had a recent learning experience;

·in 2022, 54% of adults aged 16-74 had at least basic digital skills 23 .

The human capital chapter of the 2022 Digital Economy and Society Index 24  shows that 54% of Europeans have at least basic digital skills. This is 26% below the target set in the Digital Compass, with notable differences between countries. Some Member States, such as the Netherlands and Finland, are close to the target with 79% of people having at least basic digital skills in 2021. In eight Member States, the share of individuals with at least basic digital skills is lower than 50%. The countries that rank the lowest are Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Italy.

Around 8.9 million ICT specialists were in employment in 2021, which is 4.5% of the total number of people in employment. Even the frontrunners are far from the Digital Decade target, with Sweden at 8% and Finland at 7.4%. At the current rate, the EU will fall short of the target of 20 million ICT specialists for 2030.

Moreover, 40% of employers cannot find people with the right skills to fill their vacancies, and not enough people have the skill sets and support to consider setting up their own business as a realistic career path 25 .

As regards student mobility, 1.46 million students from abroad were in tertiary education across the EU in 2020 26 . Students from abroad studying in Germany represented 25% (368 700) of the EU total; the next largest shares were 17% in France and 9% in the Netherlands. More than two fifths (43%) of those students represented student mobility within Europe, while 26% of the students were from Asia and 16% from Africa.

In terms of labour mobility, in 2021 13.9 million EU and EFTA nationals lived in another EU country, including around 10.2 million of working age 27 . Although the number slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a constant year-on-year increase. Additionally, there were 1.34 million EU movers 28 residing in EFTA countries, up by 1.8% from 2020. As a share of the EU working-age population, EU movers have increased steadily since 2017. On 1 January 2021, they represented 3.9% of the working-age population in the EU; the percentage has increased every year since 2017 when it was 3.5%.

In this context, it is crucial to put in place a comprehensive and interoperable European framework of tools and information to support the transparency and understanding of skills and qualifications experience, in particular for transnational employment and learning purposes.

The Europass Decision does not make it mandatory to use the platform’s services and tools or set any quantitative targets. Therefore, while the Decision’s aim is to increase the number of users of the tools and services, no quantified objectives are set as regards the user base (end users 29 or stakeholders 30 ).

While no quantified objectives have been set, this evaluation relies on a baseline and the above-mentioned points of comparison to assess the performance of the 2018 Europass Decision and its implementation.

3.1.Delivery of Europass tools and services

Articles 3 and 4 of the Europass Decision list what should be included in the Europass platform in terms of web-based tools, information or links to information. These are described below.

·Web-based tools for:

-documenting and describing personal information in different formats, including curriculum vitae (CV) and cover letter templates;

-documenting and describing skills and qualifications acquired through working and learning experience, including through mobility and volunteering;

-supporting authentication services for any digital documents or representations of information on skills and qualifications;

-assessing skills and self-assessing skills;

-documenting the learning outcomes of qualifications, including the Europass supplement templates 31 .

·Information or links to information on the following topics:

-learning opportunities;

-qualifications and qualifications frameworks or systems in line with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF);

-opportunities for validating non-formal and informal learning;

-recognition practices and relevant legislation in different countries, including non-EU countries;

-services providing guidance on transnational learning mobility and career management;

-skills intelligence as produced as part of EU activities and by agencies within their areas of responsibility;

-information on skills and qualifications that could be relevant to the particular needs of non-EU nationals arriving or residing in the EU to support their integration.

·A user-friendly and secure interface delivered in all Europass languages (languages of EU Member States and other Europass countries) and accessible to people with disabilities;

·Open standards 32  available free of charge for reuse by Member States and other stakeholders on a voluntary basis;

·An option for users to store personal data, such as a personal profile, in compliance with EU data protection laws;

·Support and ensure technical interoperability and synergies with other relevant instruments and services offered at EU level and, where appropriate, national level.

In this context, since 2018 the Europass framework has evolved in the following ways.

·Europass platform services and documents

-The new platform offers a one-stop shop for developing CVs and cover letters as well helping users reflect on their skills and interests in the Europass e-Portfolio.

-The new platform allows users to search and apply for jobs as well as education and training opportunities using different documents of their choice that represent their achievements and experience, stored in their personal library.

-To support guidance provision, the new platform allows users to self-assess their digital skills.

-Europass document templates have been updated, and some have been digitised and streamlined. In this context, the European Digital Credential infrastructure has been introduced as an authentication service for digital documents.

·Interoperability

The improved connectivity of Europass with other EU tools is one of the major changes. For example, the European Classification of Occupations and Skills (ESCO) is used by the Europass platform for entering work experience and building a skills or interests profile. The Europass and EURES platforms have been linked together and can exchange information (job vacancies and applications). The Qualifications Dataset Register (QDR) has become a Europass component. Furthermore, information on the European Qualification Framework (EQF) 33 has been integrated into the platform.

The EQF aims to make qualifications more transparent and comparable and therefore portable across borders, helping workers, learners and employers. The framework has eight levels based on learning outcomes and makes it possible to compare all types and levels of qualifications across institutions and national borders.

·Management and governance

-Member States were given additional responsibilities in the management of Europass. Under the 2018 Europass Decision, Member States are now required to:

§coordinate activities related to the implementation of Europass web-based tools;

§promote the use and strengthen awareness and the visibility of Europass;

§promote and provide information on guidance services on transnational learning mobility and career management, including, where appropriate, individual guidance;

§publish information on learning opportunities, qualifications and recognition practices on Europass, including through links to relevant national websites;

§involve stakeholders from all relevant sectors and promote cooperation among public and private stakeholders in the activities under their responsibility.

-Based on decisions of certain countries, some of these activities are carried out by National Europass Centres (NECs), which provide user support and promote skills and qualifications documentation.

-An advisory group was created to oversee the implementation of the Decision. The Europass Advisory Group is an EU-level consultative body composed of stakeholders from EU Member States, including social partners and civil society representatives. The group’s remit is to develop a strategic approach to the implementation of Europass and advise on the development of web-based tools, including through testing, and on information provided through the Europass online platform.

Many of the Europass tools, services and information have been made available on the Europass platform when it was launched in July 2020. Certain major tools have been added after the July 2020 launch, like the European Digital Credentials for Learning (released in October 2021), the Digital Skills Self-assessment tool (December 2021) and the Jobs & Skill Trends tool (June 2023). In parallel, the platform has been regularly updated to improve accessibility for users, the profile, CV and Cover Letter builders, the design and templates for CVs and Cover Letters, the Application manager functionality, the Recommender system for jobs and courses (learning opportunities), the search functionality for qualifications and learning opportunities and job opportunities, page navigation and information pages. Lastly, the Commission has been preparing the next steps for Europass, which involve using more artificial intelligence and data analysis, to improve its services for end users. The goal is to better match profiles, skills, qualifications and interests to jobs, courses and other opportunities. This work aims primarily at improving the jobs and course recommendations using data science and focuses on user behaviour and other aspects, for example, links between qualifications and skills.

3.2.Implementation of the Europass Decision by the Commission and Member States

The tasks assigned to the Commission to implement the Europass Decision are set out in Article 6 of the Decision and described below.

Table 1 – Assessment of the tasks carried out by the European Commission for the implementation of the Europass Decision.

Source: External supporting study by Kantar

Under Article 7 of the Europass Decision, Member States are responsible for the following implementation tasks to be carried out by the relevant national services:

·coordinating activities related to the implementation of Europass web-based tools;

·promoting the use and raising awareness and the visibility of Europass;

·promoting and providing information on guidance services on transnational learning mobility and career management, including, where appropriate, individual guidance;

·making information on learning opportunities, qualifications and recognition practices available on the Europass online platform, including through links to relevant national websites;

·involving stakeholders from all relevant sectors and promoting cooperation among public and private stakeholders in the activities under their responsibility.

Member States implement the tasks set out in the Europass Decision mainly through the National Europass Centres (NECs), which already existed before the 2018 Europass Decision. NECs are designated at national level; they operate independently and are co-financed through grants. They support users and promote the documenting of skills and qualifications through Europass. Overall, NECs focus on the operational and promotional support of Europass, contributing to its national outreach and connecting it to individual users and their needs. Between 2018 and 2020, most Member States focused on coordinating the activities linked to the implementation of new tools and reaching out to stakeholders. NECs also put significant effort into raising the awareness of Europass and providing guidance on mobility and careers to end users. Work programmes for 2021-2023 show that NECs’ focus was mainly on promoting Europass, providing guidance and involving stakeholders. An updated assessment of Member States’ implementation from 2021 to 2023 will be possible once the final activity reports for that period are produced.

As regards the implementation of the platform’s tools, most Member States contributed to gathering user feedback to pass on to the Commission. A slightly smaller number of countries tested different tools and services (most tests involved the traditional tools: CV, Europass Diploma Supplement, Europass Certificate Supplement and Europass Mobility). Moreover, a third of NECs carried out pilot tests, which mainly concerned digitally signed credentials that were developed between March 2019 and October 2021, when EDCs were officially launched.  In addition to the NECs, many organisations in the Member States and Europass countries participated in the European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC) pilot.

All Member States contributed to the promotion of Europass. Although conferences and the distribution of promotional material (i.e. booklets, leaflets, merchandising) are still the most common communication methods used by all countries, the COVID-19 pandemic saw online events and social media used as additional promotional tools. Furthermore, seminars, fairs and mutual learning activities, such as peer exchanges, are common across countries. All countries are committed to promoting Europass, however target groups vary slightly across them. In general, most countries targeted students, jobseekers, employers and education and training providers, with young people being the biggest target group. Older people were not directly targeted by any country. Moreover, six countries implemented activities targeting migrants and refugees to promote Europass tools and services, aiming to integrate this group into education or the labour market (Spain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Latvia and Sweden).

NECs delivered several services providing guidance mainly on career management, while guidance on transnational learning mobility was mentioned less in the NECs’ activity reports. In most countries, the responsibility for guidance services under the Europass Decision lies with the Euroguidance centre 34 and, specifically for employment, the EURES network. These services included creating materials (manuals and guidelines) and organising events, such as career days, with HR professionals advising on CVs, cover letters and job applications. Some NECs managed to reach out to private organisations that provide career-related services.

NECs promoted cooperation among various public stakeholders at EU, national and regional levels. Most NEC teams also cooperate with the corresponding national Euroguidance, EQF National Contact Points and Erasmus+ teams to achieve better results in stakeholder reach and impact. At EU level, NECs have put in place a regular dialogue with Euroguidance, EQF, EQAVET, EURES and Eurodesk to integrate strategic objectives and exchange experience. Cooperation at national level included organising knowledge-sharing events with a wide variety of bodies (associations of guidance counsellors, universities, sector committees, education providers). Only 11 NECs mentioned cooperation with private national organisations.

On providing information on learning opportunities, qualifications and recognition practices, qualifications databases are often managed by EQF National Contact Points or qualifications agencies, and learning opportunity databases are managed by different national organisations. Euroguidance can be responsible for connecting learning opportunity databases with Europass. Not all countries provided information on learning opportunities and qualifications 35 . By early 2023, 10 countries 36  had published data on learning opportunities, and three countries 37  were testing the Qualifications Data Register (QDR). As regards qualifications, 19 countries 38 had published data on the Europass platform, and one country (Croatia) is in the preparatory phase before connecting their database with Europass. For both learning opportunities and qualifications, there is a mapping tool (the Qualifications Dataset Register) to process information shared with the Europass platform. However, this is not the case for information on recognition practices – Europass links to the ENIC-NARIC 39 website.

4.1.To what extent was the intervention successful and why?

This chapter assesses to what extent Europass tools and services address the policy objectives in an effective, efficient and coherent way. The objectives are set out in the Decision and further detailed in the intervention logic (see Figure 10 in Annex II). Moreover, reasons for the success of Europass as well as possible limitations are identified.

4.1.1 Effectiveness

The general objective of Europass is to establish a comprehensive and interoperable European framework that supports the transparency and understanding of skills and qualifications experience, in particular for transnational employment and learning mobility purposes 40 . Three specific objectives contribute to this overall aim (please see section 2.1.2.2 Objectives).

This section reviews Europass achievements with respect to these objectives together with the impact of communication and promotion. It also looks at action to support the accessibility and user-friendliness of the platform, contributing to the effectiveness of Europass.

4.1.1.1Better integrating services for learners, jobseekers, workers, volunteers, employers and education and training providers to communicate skills and competences, with a focus on disadvantaged groups

4.1.1.1.1 Europass evolved from a document-based website into a one-stop-shop

The new Europass platform is a service-based one-stop solution, which brings together relevant EU tools and services to help its users communicate skills and competences.

The Commission’s decision to prioritise the development of existing tools to ensure the continuity of Europass services has had a positive impact on the effective implementation of the new platform. This is because some of the tools and services, such as the CV and Cover Letter editor, were already in place before the platform’s launch. Stronger cooperation with other EU initiatives to ensure interoperability also helped implementation. Examples include interoperability with EURES for the provision of job opportunities on the platform and collaboration with Cedefop for making EQF and NQF comparison tools available on Europass. The Jobs & Skill Trends tool 41 , released in June 2023, is expected to further strengthen the integration process of the platform with other initiatives and data sources.

However, some of the information on the Europass platform is not yet complete (information on qualifications and on learning opportunities). Learning opportunity databases do not exist in all Member States, and in most countries, several databases co-exist (different databases for higher education, PES training, initial VET, etc.). This creates complexity when linking the databases with Europass. In this context, the Europass platform is not yet fully connected in the area of education and training, and therefore it has not yet reached its full potential when it comes to providing as many opportunities as possible for learning in Europe. A dedicated project group was set up to clarify the scope of learning opportunities to share on Europass, and the work concluded in autumn 2022. This work should support countries in the publication process. Technical support is often needed and is currently provided by the Commission. The Commission also made it possible to delegate publishing learning opportunities to more than one organisation in a Member State since several organisations need to be involved. Some countries require funding to create a database and/or be interoperable with Europass.

Providing a one-stop-shop was mentioned in all stakeholder interviews carried out as part of the supporting study as one of the most positive outcomes of the new Europass. End users who were surveyed valued the possibility of accessing different tools and services on one platform.

4.1.1.1.2 Europass retains users and attracts new users

Several sources of evidence suggest that Europass users continue to use the platform and that new users are attracted to the platform.

According to the results of the user and non-user surveys conducted as part of the supporting study, it can be estimated that the majority (62%) of current registered Europass users, amounting to 4.5 million users at the time of the surveys, already used the platform before the launch of the new Europass on 1 July 2020.

The results of the surveys of education and training providers and employers also indicates that most respondents who were using Europass at the time were also doing so before 2020 (56% of education and training providers and 53% of employers).

Platform data shows a substantial increase in the number of registered users after the launch of the new platform (Figure 7). This suggests continuity and a retention of users as well as effectiveness in reaching new target audiences. An average of around 150 000 profiles were created every month between July 2020 and December 2022. There was a slight decline in the number of new Europass profiles (i.e. new registered users) in 2022. This could be linked to the fact that most users of the previous platform had already created their profiles in 2020 and 2021, therefore it could be assumed that the number of profiles created in 2022 were new users. Moreover, there was a recent decrease in the number of new profiles linked to the introduction of two-factor authentication in October 2022. However, the overall positive trend leads to the conclusion that the Europass platform is effective in attracting new users, which targeted communication and promotion activities certainly contributed to (see Section 4.1.1.4 Europass communication and outreach).

Figure 7 – Annual number of new profiles (new registered users) created on the new Europass platform

Source: External supporting study by Kantar – Europass user statistics. *For 2020, the grey colour indicates that only new profiles created after July are taken into account (when the new platform launched). Data for the full year is in blue for 2021 and 2022.

Since the launch of the new platform in 2020, the number of visits to the platform has also increased significantly. These are all visits to the platform, including registered users accessing e-Portfolios and profiles and non-registered users (who can also use certain Europass services). Between 1 July 2020 and 31 January 2023, the Europass platform received approximately 32.4 million unique visitors 42 and more than 261 million page views across 58.8 million sessions. This is a sharp increase compared to the number of page visits on the previous platform. As demonstrated in Figure 17, the increase in the number of page visits of the previous platform had never exceeded 10 million visits over a period of 3 years between 2005 and 2019. The analysis of the platform data concludes that there has been a relatively stable trend in the number of monthly unique visitors since the launch of the new platform in 2020, with approximately 1.23 million average unique visitors per month (Figure 8).

Figure 8 – Number of unique visitors per month (August 2020 to January 2023)

Source: External support study by Kantar – based on Europa Web Analytics data

4.1.1.1.3 Differences in the uptake of Europass tools and services

The user and non-user survey show that there are differences in the uptake of Europass tools and services. The Europass CV and Cover Letter are the best known and most frequently used Europass tools as confirmed by all the research tools. Most Europass users (76%) use the CV and Cover Letter often (38%) or sometimes (38%).

Europass tools and services are generally perceived as useful. The majority of the public consultation respondents (at least 80%) find the tools and services useful or very useful, whereas they appreciate most the Europass CV (90%). They consider particularly useful the tools that they are most familiar with (see Figure 14, specifying the level of usefulness of the different Europass tools and services).

Tools and services that are used less frequently are the tracking of applications, Supplement templates, the Digital skills self-assessment tool and the European Digital Credentials for Learning (respectively 37%, 31%, 28% and 28% of Europass users used these tools often or sometimes, according to the user and non-user survey). The platform’s tools are different in nature and have slightly different target groups, which may explain the differences in use.

However, respondents to the public consultation acknowledged that European Digital Credentials for Learning increase the visibility of skills as well as their comparability, which should boost an individual’s employability. Employers and education and training providers benefit from receiving trustworthy credentials and a proof of candidates and learners’ skills, qualifications and learning outcomes.

Furthermore, around a third of the surveyed users indicated that they use the platform to find information on qualifications frameworks (36% often or sometimes), job opportunities (33% often or sometimes) and guidance and lifelong learning (32% often or sometimes).

Among employers who responded to the survey, 66% are aware of Europass and 44% use it. For education and training providers, this is 66% and 40%, respectively. These stakeholders mainly use Europass as a tool to support mobility in the EU and present knowledge, skills and competences in a standardised way.

Among education and training providers who responded to the survey, 69% have used Europass within the last 3 years. Most of them provide diplomas and certificates (63%; 62 out of 98); however, Europass supplements and digital credentials are issued by their organisations more rarely (the supplements are issued by less than one third, and digital credentials are issued by 14%). So far, only 15% of those education and training providers surveyed indicated their intention to issue digital credentials in the future.

Public institutions have also made extensive use of Europass, in particular when implementing the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) Council Recommendation. All but three 43  EQF “referencing reports” (resulting from the process of referencing of National Qualifications Frameworks or systems to the EQF) mention using Europass tools and services to help recognise and validate learning outcomes, qualifications and skills at national level. The Europass Supplements (Diploma Supplement and Certificate Supplements) are also used to document NQF and EQF levels. Moreover, in the Commission’s Mobility Scoreboard 44 , all countries refer to some of the Europass tools and services. ReferNet 45 also makes references to the Certificate Supplement.

Public institutions have used Europass to improve the transparency of skills and qualifications and to document mobility outcomes under Erasmus+. The analysis of the Mobility Scoreboard 46  showed that Europass Mobility 47 is widely used at national level to recognise and validate learning mobility taking place as part of Erasmus+.

In this context, for education and training as well as the transparency of skills and qualifications, Europass remains more relevant to institutions than to individuals because the learning opportunities available have not yet reached their full potential. Information on learning opportunities and qualifications is not fully complete as some Member States and Europass countries have not started sharing the relevant information.

The evaluation supporting study added that ‘interviews with EU-level policymakers 48 confirmed that the Europass framework is particularly important when being linked with the existing EU mobility programmes. Embedding the Europass tools and services in the existing programmes facilitates targeted uptake by stakeholders involved in these programmes – education and training providers, youth organisations, social partners and policymakers’.

4.1.1.2Supporting the mobility of individuals for work and educational opportunities in the EU

The new Europass platform provides unique tools and services supporting individuals’ labour and learning mobility in the EU and facilitating cross-border standardisation. The web-based tools include the multilingual CV, supplement templates, Europass Mobility, a self-assessment tool for digital skills and the European Digital Credentials for Learning. These allow users to present personal information and document their skills, qualifications and learning outcomes in a standardised European format in up to 31 languages. Moreover, the platform provides information on job and learning opportunities, qualifications and qualifications frameworks (including a qualifications framework comparison tool) and country specific information, thereby facilitating mobility for career and educational purposes.

Replies to the user and non-user survey showed that individuals were more likely to use the Europass CV when they had participated in a mobility experience abroad, such as working, studying or a mobility exchange.

Interviews with EU and national stakeholders showed that they mostly perceive Europass as a platform that supports mobility for work and educational opportunities in the EU by providing access to tools and services. In this context, there needs to be more integration of such opportunities shared by Member States in Europass. This will help the platform to fully achieve its goals in the area of education and training as well as the transparency of skills and qualifications and to become more relevant to the public. EU level interviewees also found that Europass supports the implementation of other European policies and priorities (e.g. EU mobility programmes, such as Erasmus+).

The most used language in profiles is English (35% of profiles), which also points to active labour mobility across borders among Europass users. However, it could also suggest that international companies recruit local candidates using English as the recruiting language. Further information on language profiles can be found in Section 4.1.1.5.

The evidence above supports the conclusion that Europass is an effective tool supporting mobility across the EU and a solution for presenting knowledge, skills and competences in a standardised way.

4.1.1.3Fostering a common framework for the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications among Member States.

One of the specific objectives of Europass is to foster a common framework for the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications among Member States. This means that skills and qualifications from other countries are easier to understand, compare and are more visible, which leads to improved recognition of these skills and qualifications.

In the Europass intervention logic (Figure 10 in Annex II), the expected results stemming from this specific objective are: (i) better transparency and comparability of qualifications, skills and competences; (ii) a greater understanding of skills and qualifications (in particular the learning outcomes and achievements of formal, non-formal and informal learning, including those acquired through mobility); and (iii) standardised digital certificates for skills and qualifications (in particular with the Europass document templates and the digitally signed credentials).

Europass fosters this common framework for the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications by hosting a set of European transparency tools: the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) tools and information, the databases of qualifications and learning opportunities, the Europass supplements and the European Digital Credentials for Learning.

The European Qualifications Framework referencing reports are presented on the Europass platform, and a specific European Qualifications Framework to National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) comparison tool was designed for Europass users. The EQF and NQF levels are all part of Europass documents, including the CV editor and Europass profiles. Furthermore, the supporting study states that ‘the analysis of the EQF referencing reports showed that national authorities are using the Europass tools to standardise the presentation of skills and qualifications at the national level’.

The visibility of skills and qualifications on the Europass platform facilitates comparability between countries, a feature mostly used by professionals.

Surveyed education and training providers who had used Europass to retrieve information on qualifications frameworks and the EQF were either very satisfied (18%) or somewhat satisfied (36%). Among individuals (respondents to the user and non-user survey) who had used Europass to retrieve information about qualifications frameworks and the EQF were either very satisfied (40%) or satisfied (37%) with the information.

The publication of learning opportunities and qualifications information also contributes to the transparency and common understanding of skills and qualifications in Europe. However, as mentioned in Section 3.2, the information is not complete as only some countries have provided it to Europass. According to the interviews at EU and national levels with NECs, there is a lack of pertinent data on learning opportunities and qualifications. They consider that this missing and incomplete information affects people’s perception of Europass, considering it to be limited and fragmented. More effort is required by Member States to make learning opportunities and qualifications available on Europass, which would help the platform reach its full potential.

The Europass Supplements set out a common structure and template for diploma supplements, certificate supplements, and Europass Mobility. The templates of each document used in Europass countries are all accessible on the Europass platform. The supplements make it easier for e.g. employers or education and training providers to understand qualifications and their learning outcomes. They are usually available in the original language of the qualification and other useful languages (in most cases at least English). Thanks to their standardised format in presenting learning outcomes and learning achievements (for the diploma supplement), they improve the transparency and comparability of qualifications in an international context.

As for the European Digital Credentials for Learning, users consider that the standards and tools improve the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications. The supporting evaluation study concludes that ‘further uptake of the European Digital Credentials for Learning will strengthen Europass efforts in fostering a common framework’ for the transparency of skills and qualifications (see Figure 21 with an overview of the number of EDCs issued). In the public consultation, 48% and 36% of the respondents considered the European Digital Credentials for Learning to be either very useful or useful, respectively.

4.1.1.4 Europass communication and outreach

4.1.1.4.1 Europass communication and collaboration with other EU initiatives

Since the launch of the new platform, communication activities are targeted at specific groups (end users, stakeholders and facilitators) as set out in the Europass communication strategy developed by the Commission. The Commission developed communication products (such as the Europass brand, a promotional toolkit, leaflets, infographics and factsheets, videos, social media products and press material) and put them at the disposal of the NECs. The Commission created synergies with other EU initiatives in the area of education and training, youth and labour mobility (e.g. Eurodesk, EURES and Erasmus+) in order to multiply messages and reach out to their respective target audiences. Other EU communication channels included the Europass platform and the Commission’s website and social media channels.

At national level, NECs have used online events and social media campaigns as promotional tools since the launch of the new platform. They targeted students, jobseekers, employers and education and training providers, with young people at the centre of their communication efforts. Other communication activities included conferences, fairs, seminars, mutual learning activities and the distribution of promotional materials.

According to the supporting study, these activities resulted in end users and stakeholders successfully engaging with Europass. Communication activities have been mainly carried out on social media channels since the launch of the platform in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

End users’ engagement on social media channels differed in terms of volume of Europass mentions, frequency and content shared. Social media analysis showed that three platforms (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) accounted for 68% of the online conversation about Europass.

The supporting study states that ‘according to Digimind 49 , between January 2020 and November 2022, the topic of ‘Europass’ received a total of 27 726 mentions across all 12 sources screened 50 . Social media posts about Europass were produced by both user and institutional accounts, reaching more than 2.4 million people and obtaining 257 414 interactions.’

Figure 9 shows the number of social media posts about Europass between January 2020 and November 2022. The conversations about Europass peaked around major events or updates to the Europass platform (e.g. in July 2020 when the new platform was launched). Moreover, the mentions sharply increased in January 2022, reaching 1 767 posts that month, shortly after the launch of the new Digital skills self-assessment tool in December 2021. Social media posts increased again after Europass became available in Ukrainian in May 2022 to support those fleeing the war in Ukraine. In addition, more structured collaboration amongst the NECs regarding social media presence started in September 2021, which also had an impact on the number of Europass mentions.

Figure 9 – Number of Europass mentions by month (2020-2022) (N= 27,726)

Source: External supporting study by Kantar – based on Digimind data. Social media data were collected using  Digimind from 1 January 2020 to 30 November 2022 (35 months).

4.1.1.4.2 Awareness of Europass

According to the results of the three surveys of users and non-users, education and training providers, and employers, there is a good level of awareness about Europass. This also suggests that communication activities have been overall effective (see previous section).

As shown in the general population survey 51 results, the share of respondents who have heard about Europass is 53% (2 137 out of 4 040). According to the three surveys conducted, platform data and the public consultation, the Europass CV is the most well-known and widely used Europass tool.

Based on the general population survey, 49% of people who were aware of Europass (1 041 out of 2 137) associate the platform with the Europass CV template. 46% of them (978 out of 2 137) perceive Europass as a platform providing different tools and services that support the transparency of skills and qualifications.

Most employers who were surveyed (66% or 72 out of 109) were aware of Europass. 44% of those who were aware of Europass (32 out of 72) have used the platform at least once.

As regards education and training providers who were surveyed, most respondents (66% or 65 out of 98) were aware of Europass. 40% of those who were aware of Europass (26 respondents out of 64) have used the Europass platform or received documents generated using Europass.

There are differences in awareness of the platform among countries. Based on the user-and non-user survey to the general population carried out in 10 countries, Portugal, Romania, and Croatia are the countries where awareness of Europass is the highest: 88%, 79% and 77% of respondents to the general population survey, respectively, were aware of Europass. The two countries where Europass is known less according to the general population survey are France and Germany (24% and 19% respectively). The study report suggests that the different levels of awareness and usage of Europass could be due to different degrees of institutional commitment across countries as well as the availability and use of alternative national tools.

4.1.1.4.3 Geographic distribution of Europass users

According to the supporting study, based on platform data and 2022 Eurostat statistics on the EU population, most Europass users from EU Member States are in Italy, Portugal and Romania (in total numbers). These countries also host higher shares of users when compared to the total population. The percentage of Europass profiles per country (out of the total population) for Portugal, Romania and Italy is 4.5%, 1,9% and 1.8% respectively. The Europass CV is mandatory for certain types of job applications in these three countries (for example, public sector jobs). There are also relatively high percentages of users (out of the total population) in Malta, Croatia, Slovenia and Latvia. Countries with relatively lower percentages of Europass profiles (out of the total population) include Denmark, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, France and Ireland. Please see Figure 22 “Share of Europass profiles across Member States over their total population” in Annex VII with further details for all Member States.

4.1.1.5Europass usage and accessibility

4.1.1.5.1 Socio-demographic profile of Europass users

Most Europass users are relatively young (72% are under 35 years). Almost half (44%) are aged between 25 and 35 and more than a quarter (28%) are under 24 years. Europass could therefore be further promoted to people aged over 35 as the tools and services offered on the platform also target this age group.

There is a slight under-representation of women among Europass users. 44% of Europass users identify themselves as female, whereas 48% identify themselves as male, and 8% of users decided not to indicate their gender.

With respect to education and training, only 7% of Europass users indicate an EQF level on their profile 52 . Among those that did, 10% of them report levels between 1 and 3, whereas the remaining 90% indicate an EQF level of 4 or above. The most common EQF levels are 4 (22% of users), 6 (25%) and 7 (27%).

Most Europass users have some level of work experience. Although 16% of users do not indicate any previous work experience, 84% indicate having at least 1 year of work experience. Of those users with some working experience, 23% have up to 2 years of experience; 25% have between 2 and 5 years of work experience; 24% have between 6 and 10 years of work experience; and 28% have more than 10 years of experience.

In terms of Europass profile languages, the most-used language is English (35% of profiles), followed by Italian, Portuguese and Romanian with 22%, 12% and 6% respectively. The remaining languages are less represented (all below 6%). These findings are in line with the results of profiles per country, where Italy, Portugal and Romania have the highest shares of profiles (see section on Geographic distribution of Europass users).

4.1.1.5.2 Accessibility and user-friendliness of the platform

The Commission put an emphasis on the platform’s accessibility in the early stages of its development. It carried out an accessibility and usability test before the launch of the platform in 2020 to check compliance with the Europa Web Guide 53 and the Accessibility Directive 2016/2102. Several technical issues were identified that limited accessibility for people with motor, vision and cognitive disabilities. Some of them were addressed as part of different platform releases (such as keyboard and screen-reader accessibility issues).

While improvements to the platform’s accessibility were achieved over time, the perceptions of end users and stakeholders draw a mixed picture.

Half the stakeholders contributing to the public consultation (51%) believe that all groups of users can easily access the tools and services on the Europass platform. Overall, stakeholders believe that the Europass platform can serve a diverse group of users (56%).

Looking closer at the different categories of people, some limitations have been observed for some stakeholder groups. A lack of digital skills is seen as the main barrier in relation to accessibility (32% of the public consultation participants stated that the platform is not accessible at all or not accessible for people with lower digital skills). One third (34%) considers that it is difficult for older people to use the platform; only 13% believe that this is the same for long-term unemployed people. As regards people with disabilities, only one third (30%) of stakeholders considered the platform to be inclusive. Some suggestions for improvement include the development of more features for people who are blind, accessibility for keyboard users and optimisation of descriptive text supporting assistive technologies.

Two thirds (65%) of the public consultation participants considered that the platform is easy to use, while only 6% of respondents expressed concerns in this respect. However, respondents also raised issues about the complexity of the platform, which according to them makes the platform less user-friendly and intuitive (see Section 4.1.2.2 Simplification of the platform).

When looking at the user and non-user survey results, the accessibility and user-friendliness of Europass tools are positively assessed by end users (see Figure 25). The Europass CV and Cover Letter appear to be the most accessible and user-friendly tools, followed by the Europass profile.

4.1.2 Efficiency

4.1.2.1 Evolution of the cost-effectiveness of Europass

Since the entry into force of the 2018 Decision, the Commission has allocated EUR 21.6 million to developing and implementing Europass. Starting with EUR 2.8 million in 2018, the yearly budget increased by nearly 50% in 2019 for the IT planning and development of the new platform. In 2020 the budget remained relatively stable (increasing by 2%), and in 2021 it almost doubled (by 91%) for the launch of the platform in July 2020 and the development of additional tools after the launch. Finally, in 2022 the Europass budget was reduced by almost 77% compared to 2021 as most tools had been developed. The European Digital Credentials for Learning infrastructure still requires some additional developments.

Since its launch in July 2020, the platform has seen a rapid increase in adoption by end users. Assuming that costs remain stable in the coming years (which is likely due to the platform’s maturity and the completion of most tools), the significant growth in new users should guarantee a reduced cost per Europass profile in the long term. This would lead to a long-term improvement in cost-effectiveness as digital platforms tend to have low marginal costs for additional users. Increased cost-effectiveness can be expected in the future as long as the number of new users continues to increase.

The average cost per additional user profile created has fluctuated since the platform’s 2020 launch. The current cost per additional profile is the lowest it has been since the launch given that it increased from EUR 2.63 in 2020 to EUR 4.45 in 2021 before dropping to EUR 1.22 in 2022. As users of the old platform have already moved to the new platform, future growth will rely more on new users. In this regard, growth will most probably remain positive but may slow, which could increase the cost per additional profile.

The efficiency of Europass can also be viewed from the Commission’s perspective in managing the platform. An important aspect is the need to make the platform more user-friendly in terms of simplicity (ease of use) and its technical performance (for example, making it easy to recover passwords or register as a new user). Stakeholders recognise that a lot of work has been put into improving the user-friendliness of Europass and that past technical issues have been addressed. This includes a significant reduction of bugs reported by end users in the second half of 2022 and first half of 2023. However, stakeholders believe that more focus should be put on fixing the platform’s technical issues rather than further developing new tools. This would help make the platform more functional, visible and easy to use. Otherwise, there is a risk that the Europass platform could become too complex and difficult to use. In addition, some of its basic components (CV, Cover Letter, etc.) could be ignored or become unusable.

The role and activities of Member States also affect Europass. Many countries have assigned their Europass-related obligations set out in the 2018 Europass Decision to their respective National Europass Centres (NECs). The Decision significantly broadened the role of Member States. They have new tasks to reach out to the target audience and promote the new tools and services at national level. NECs’ responsibilities and tasks were increased without a corresponding budget increase, which could be seen as an improvement in cost-effectiveness. On the other hand, the varying output of the different NECs creates a less clear picture. Overall, the Commission granted around EUR 6 million to NECs for both periods before and after the platform’s launch in July 2020 (i.e. 2018-2020 and 2021-2023). As a result, financial resources remained the same after the launch. Stakeholders and NECs expressed the need for more resources. NECs are also co-funded by the participating Europass countries. 54

Furthermore, Member States’ contribution to implementation has been mixed. Tools and services require input and contributions from Member States, such as the pilot of the European Digital Credentials for Learning. However, there have been differences in participation by countries and the number of staff allocated, which could hamper those tools’ efficiency in the future (other national stakeholders took part in the EDC pilot).

4.1.2.2 Simplification of the platform

Another aspect of efficiency is simplifying the delivery of the platform’s services and tools. This means how easily and seamlessly users can access and navigate the tools and services without encountering major issues or difficulties. Europass has evolved from a web page providing downloadable templates into a service-based platform providing various tools and services under the Europass brand. Since July 2020, the Europass platform has been providing a number of web-based tools and information (see tables in Annex VI). While the Europass label is still very much associated with the Europass CV, the platform has reached a significant number of users in almost 3 years (close to 5 million in May 2023). These users, often directed to the platform by the Europass CV feature, can now discover the additional tools and services available. The increase in the number of users since the launch of the platform in July 2020 is expected to lead to economies of scale and efficiency gains over time. This is because digital platforms tend to have low marginal costs for additional users (as described in Section 4.1.2.1).

There is a strong consensus on the value of the new platform, since it is one single digital environment, which in turn leads to simplifying the delivery of services. The vast majority of users welcome the additional services available. The user experience of the platform could be considered positive and tools and services are easy to use: on average, only 19% of users have experienced difficulties using the different Europass tools and services. However, respondents also raised issues about the platform’s complexity (see Section 4.1.1.5), and participants using the platform for the first time found the Europass CV and Cover Letter easier to use compared to other tools and services. The main difficulties encountered are due to:

·authentication issues, especially the mandatory two-factor authentication, which was necessary from October 2022 to April 2023 for registering and accessing the platform’s e-Portfolio;

·technical problems in developing the CV or cover letter (downloading, formatting or saving), navigating through the platform, tracking applications, filling in the My Skills and My Interests sections;

·the lack of practical information on how to use the European Digital Credentials for Learning, supplement templates and the digital skills self-assessment tool.

The platform’s more regular users have reported a positive experience given that they are more familiar with the features of Europass tools and services. This familiarity seems to be the main reason why regular Europass users do not tend to encounter difficulties when using the platform.

On information search, users seem satisfied with the platform in helping them find information on qualification frameworks and learning and job opportunities across Europe. Only a small share of users has issues finding information on qualification frameworks, learning and job opportunities (12% on average, with no significant difference across the three main types of information).

Lastly, most of the platform’s other stakeholders, mainly employers and education and training providers, are satisfied. Only 3% of employers have faced problems using the platform. The main difficulties encountered by education and training providers are navigating the platform to find information (22%) and a lack of practical information on using tools and services (19%).

Overall, the creation of a one-stop-shop platform delivering tools and services for skills recognition and transparency has resulted in a simplified user experience. It has helped users navigate the platform and discover, access and use its tools and services in a seamless and user-friendly way.

4.1.2.3 Governance

On the efficiency of the Europass governance model in steering Europass, additional responsibilities have been given to Member States under the 2018 Europass Decision. These are the coordination and promotion of Europass at the national level (see section 3.1).

Some of these activities are carried out by the NECs, which also provide user support and promote skills and qualifications documentation.

As a result, Europass governance now has a more solid multi-level structure where roles and responsibilities are not only split between the Commission and Member States but also across multiple organisations. At EU level, an Advisory Group was created to oversee the implementation of Europass, bringing together all the parties involved.

The Europass Advisory Group is an EU-level consultative body composed of stakeholders combining EU Member States, other Europass countries, EU social partners, civil society representatives and other public bodies at the EU and international level (Cedefop, Council of Europe, the European Training Foundation and UNESCO). Its remit is to develop a strategic approach to the implementation of Europass and to advise on the development of web-based tools, including through testing, and information provided through the platform.

The role of the Advisory Group is the following:

·improving the communication and coordination in the Europass community, boosting collaboration among participating countries;

·advising the best solutions on Europass developments (from a strategic point of view rather than technical) while considering implications at national level;

·exchanging experience, peer learning and best practices across countries;

·looking for synergies to create with other policy initiatives at a strategic level; 

·fostering Europass policymaking at EU level and facilitating international cooperation to improve the visibility and use of Europass.

The Europass governance allows for a more efficient distribution of responsibilities: the Advisory Group reflects the views of all relevant parties and ensures a broad representation while the NECs can more effectively engage with users in their respective countries and support national implementation more efficiently. This broadened role of the NECs, which is the structure closest to users, seems to reflect well the needs stemming from the new Europass in terms of assigning roles and responsibilities.

However, differences among countries (in terms of governance structures, administrative decentralisation and political commitments) are often a challenge to ensure efficiency. Complexity arises from the NECs’ different governance structures as some of them operate within the Erasmus+ National Agencies, others refer to national ministries (of labour or education) and others are independent bodies, such as public agencies in the field of education and qualifications. NECs are aware of the importance of keeping national governance structures consistent with the EU structure. In addition, Member States are putting efforts into improving the governance structures that steer Europass in their countries.

Furthermore, this multi-level governance structure of Europass requires effective exchanges of information with stakeholders at both the level of the Europass Advisory Group and the NECs to support implementation of Europass, including at national level. This system is considered a structured part of the Europass governance. It is important for promoting better communication and exchanges of information and good practices. Suggestions made in the consultation with NECs as part of the Europass Evaluation include:

·hosting more regular meetings, training and events between NECs and the Commission on an agreed schedule and covering topics such as the European Digital Credentials for Learning and interoperability issues;

·more timely updates on upcoming improvements to the platform and new developments;

·more regular exchanges of information on statistics and analytics;

·more support to fix the platform’s technical issues; 

·more coordination with other networks (Eurodesk, Euroguidance, EQF-National Coordination Points).

The new Europass governance since 2018 seems to be more efficient than before. This is due to the more solid multi-level structure and the wider distribution of responsibilities and tasks from the Commission to the Member States and across multiple organisations at EU and national level.

4.1.3 Coherence

The coherence criterion investigates how well policy measures works, both internally and externally. External coherence focuses on consistency with other EU action in the field of education, skills, digitalisation and employment. As regards internal coherence, the evaluation looks mainly at how well the Europass activities and the tools and services complement each other.

Given its focus on employment and education and training, Europass mainly contributes to policies in employment, the digital transition, education and training, and skills and qualifications. In this context, Europass and its activities directly support the European Skills Agenda, the European Education Area, Europe’s Digital Decade and the European Pillar of Social Rights.

In particular, the 2016 European Skills Agenda formed the basis for the adoption of the Europass proposal, and the 2020 European Skills Agenda explicitly mentions Europass as a tool to support people in their lifelong learning pathways (Action 11). Europass also contributes to other objectives of the 2020 European Skills Agenda. It aims to strengthen skills intelligence (Action 2), promote vocational education and training through information provision (Action 4) and establish individual learning accounts (Action 9). For instance, since June 2023, Europass has made a Jobs & Skill Trends tool available. The publication of learning opportunities in Europass includes VET courses, thus contributing to Action 4 of the European Skills Agenda. Micro-credentials (Action 10 of the European Skills Agenda) 55  will also be published in Europass once they are included in national learning opportunity platforms connected to the QDR. If they are included in NQFs and in national registers for qualifications, they can also be mapped to Europass. The standards elements to describe a micro-credential as defined in the Council Recommendation 56 are included in the European Learning Model, and the European Digital Credentials for Learning infrastructure makes it possible to issue micro-credentials as digital credentials. Moreover, the Individual Learning Accounts Council Recommendation makes a clear reference to Europass and publishing training offers on the platform.

In addition, Europass contributes to the priorities of the European Education Area by offering a free user-centric platform to help identify, access and apply for learning opportunities and facilitate access to quality education.

Furthermore, Europass is directly aligned with Europe’s Digital Decade, which aims to make digital transformation work for people and businesses and make use of digital opportunities in a human-centred, sustainable and more prosperous digital future. This is because Europass improves the transparency of individuals’ skills when applying for jobs and training. This helps improve matching candidates with jobs. Europass has evolved from a portal with five document templates to a modern platform, providing a set of digital tools and services in the areas of career management and lifelong learning.

Lastly, Europass focuses on employment, education and training, and skills and qualifications, and provides people with tools and services to access job and training opportunities and acquire skills that can increase their employability. As a result, Europass contributes to the social targets set out in the European Pillar of Social Rights action plan. These targets are for at least 78% of people aged 20 to 64 to be in employment and at least 60% of all adults to participate in training every year by 2030.

The role of Europass to deliver on EU employment, skills, and education and training policies is to be strengthened by the Decision on a European Year of Skills (EYS) 57  adopted on 10 May 2023. In particular, Europass supports the objectives of the EYS to strengthen skills relevance and match people’s aspirations, needs and skill sets with labour market needs and opportunities. This can be done by promoting learning opportunities and facilitating the recognition of qualifications. The recognition process is supported by the standardisation of documents (in particular Europass Supplements) and the European Digital Credentials for Learning (which are tamper-evident and are a rich source of data, for example on learning outcomes). The NECs contributed to the EYS by organising and participating in dedicated events 58 and promoting and reporting on the EYS via their social media channels.

Europass also makes it possible for other high-level EU policies and their tools and instruments to benefit end users directly. For example, although the EQF has its own legal basis and governance, EQF information and tools (comparison tool, interconnection of national qualifications registers) are integrated into the Europass platform and tools, and the different reports are published on the Europass platform. Europass also promotes the EQF terminology. The link between Europass and EQF further promotes the Europass policy objective of supporting the transparency and understanding of skills and qualifications.

Europass is aligned with the priorities adopted by the von der Leyen Commission: ‘A Europe fit for the digital age’ and ‘An economy that works for people’. Europass directly relates and contributes to these two priorities as a concrete policy instrument intended to harness and further digital capabilities and support a people-driven economy.

In particular, Europass directly addresses the aim of closing the digital skills gap as set out in the ‘A Europe fit for the digital age’ priority as it provides a concrete means of identifying and improving digital skills, such as the Digital skills self-assessment tool, which allows users to easily assess their digital skills.

Besides the broader policy context, there are strong synergies as well as technical interoperability between Europass and other EU initiatives, such as EQF, NQFs, EQAVET, EURES, ESCO and Erasmus+ and EQAR 59 . This cooperation strengthens the impact of each framework and tool and helps achieve greater benefits for learners, jobseekers and labour mobility in general.

Several Europass tools and services have been connected to those initiatives. For example, the EURES network and Europass are linked together to promote a skilled and trained workforce and job mobility in Europe. In practice, Europass delivers tools for EURES members to support jobseekers (for instance, assistance with drawing up job applications and CVs). Furthermore, the 2018 Europass Decision set the objective of establishing a comprehensive and interoperable framework of tools and information, in particular for transnational employment and learning mobility purposes. The Decision also set out that synergies and cooperation between the Europass and EURES portals could strengthen their impact. As a result, to ensure compatibility, the Commission introduced the HR XML standard for the Europass profile and CV based on the same technical standard as the EURES data model. Improved synergies between EURES and the Europass platform include the following: 1) Europass users can publish their CV in a EURES candidates database, making it available for EURES job matching services; 2) Europass users can find EURES jobs on Europass and move to EURES to view the full job vacancy; and 3) EURES users can use the information in their online CV to create a Europass profile.

On labour and learning mobility, ESCO is used in the Europass system to support the delivery of career guidance (providing a taxonomy with detailed descriptions of the skills needed to apply for jobs) and learning development solutions. It is also used in the creation of CVs, skills and interests profiles as well as skill-assessment tools.

In addition, the Europass platform offers a tool that allows users compare national qualifications frameworks and their levels by using the EQF reference framework as a translation tool. Moreover, national qualifications registers are connected to the Europass platform, providing information on qualifications. Furthermore, the Europass Mobility document is used in the Erasmus+ programme and other mobility programmes by end users and stakeholders. Higher education institutions use the Diploma Supplement to describe skills and qualifications obtained by learners. Overall, stakeholders interviewed in the supporting study see these links as ensuring the external coherence of Europass.

Therefore, as indicated in the findings of the supporting study on the alignment of Europass with EU policies, Europass is consistent with broader EU initiatives and tools in the field of employment, education, training and guidance. The study also shows that further improvements can be achieved, aiming at increased and improved synergies with tools and services linked to job opportunities and guidance services. In this context, it could be effective to increase synergies and interoperability between Europass, the European Youth Portal and EURES to create a single support and guidance system, in particular to benefit the most vulnerable groups of young people. Synergies could be created with EU and national platforms that provide tools and services similar to those on Europass. Examples of such platforms are skills intelligence platforms, job search engines and services with information on career guidance, education and training and employment (including skills mismatch). Finally, synergies with data spaces initiatives, such as the Data Space for Skills, could be further explored.

In terms of internal coherence and as indicated in the supporting study, the new platform brings together tools that existed already and new ones in a coherent way. This benefits labour and learning mobility as well as the transparency of skills and qualifications. This allows individuals to access information previously considered as only relevant to policymakers. For example, information on qualification frameworks was only available to practitioners in the field, whereas now the Europass platform displays this information and helps individuals use it according to their needs.

In addition, as clearly stated in the 2018 Europass Decision, a clear objective of Europass is better coordination and integration of services supporting guidance and mobility within Europe. Achieving this objective is expected to improve not only external but also internal coherence.

4.2.How did the EU intervention make a difference and to whom (EU added value and impact)?

The main EU added value of Europass lies in making unique tools available that facilitate standardisation across countries and give access to information on job and learning opportunities and qualifications in the EU. This could not be achieved by Member States acting alone.

Standardised CVs based on a structured template ensure that candidates can present information on their skills and qualifications in a clear, consistent, comparable and transparent way. This allows employers and education and training institutions to easily understand and compare the educational and professional background of candidates, which facilitates recruitment processes and matching skills and job requirements.

By providing a set of portable standardised documents and tools, Europass can, on the one hand, support labour and learning mobility and facilitate the recognition of qualifications and validation of skills across borders. In terms of labour mobility, in 2021 13.9 million EU and EFTA nationals lived in another EU country, including around 10.2 million of working age 60 . On the other hand, Europass can contribute to giving equal opportunities to job applicants.

These equal opportunities were confirmed by participants in the qualitative observations, who agreed that Europass contributes to a unified way for candidates to compete in the European labour market. According to participants, this is particularly true for young people transitioning from education and training to the labour market, who are reflecting on how to market their profiles, experience, skills and qualifications to potential employers.

Linked to standardisation, one of the main benefits of Europass is its support to cross-border mobility in Europe for work and learning purposes. According to stakeholders interviewed at national level, Europass allows individuals to be more mobile across the EU, providing them with more learning and job opportunities. The user and non-user survey showed that individuals were more likely to use the Europass CV, when they had participated in a mobility exchange, studying or work experience in another country.

In some national contexts, e.g. in Italy or Spain, where labour market policies differ between regions, Europass also plays an essential role in standardising tools and services within the same country. This was confirmed by interviewed stakeholders, who mentioned that this standardisation was only possible through a common European framework, such as Europass.

In certain countries, Europass fills gaps in the market (e.g. Latvia), where according to stakeholder interviews, no equivalent public alternatives are available. Even where alternative national and international solutions comparable to Europass exist, the platform is the only European solution which is free of charge and multilingual. This has been recognised by stakeholders, who are aware of the advantages of Europass and consider that the EU should continue its efforts to support its implementation. Most public consultation respondents (77%) consider the main advantage of Europass to provide free services. This is followed by the standardised templates and multilingual features of the platform (66% and 65% of respondents respectively). Moreover, 76% of respondents to the public consultation stated that they have never used other platforms or tools for the reasons they used Europass. This illustrates users’ trust in the Europass platform and in services provided by the Commission.

According to recommendations from public consultation respondents, the added value of Europass could be further improved through tailored information and tools based on national situations as well as specific sectors and industries. Other suggestions concerned the improvement of the interoperability of the platform with other EU initiatives and national portals. Moreover, public consultation respondents shared the need for access to matching and search tools to improve upskilling and employment.

According to survey results, more than half of the users consider Europass tools to be unique as they are not provided by other solutions (on average 57% of respondents). For these respondents, the unique tools in Europass are the Supplement templates (61% stated this tool is not provided by other solutions or to a lesser quality), the Digital skills self-assessment tool (59%), the European Digital Credentials for Learning (58%) and My Skills and My Interests (57%).

Further tools and services will be integrated into the Europass platform to provide more guidance to users, e.g. a tool recommending vacancies to jobseekers and education and learning opportunities to learners.

4.3.Is the intervention still relevant?

This section examines how well the objectives of Europass still address current and future needs and if any adjustments are necessary. The available evidence collected through the supporting study and the public consultation suggests that the broad needs identified at the time of the adoption of the Decision and outlined in the intervention logic (see Figure 10 in Annex II –Intervention logic of Europass) are highly relevant to stakeholders and likely to remain relevant in the future. The objectives and focus of Europass address the problems underpinning the intervention.

The digitalisation of the labour market is changing the way individuals present information on their acquired skills and qualifications. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated developments in digitalisation. The new Europass platform has evolved to respond to new needs in this context, offering users the possibility to present their skills and qualifications with the help of different online tools and services.

Europass is particularly relevant to younger people, who use the platform’s tools and services during their transition from education to the labour market, given that they are often unsure how to structure their CVs and cover letters. For users who are already advanced in their career, Europass has more added value in a mobility context, when they are looking for a job or learning opportunities in another country.

Most public consultation respondents (80% of 1 920 respondents) expressed that Europass tools and services are either very important or important to them. It can therefore be concluded that these tools and services address their specific needs. This positive appreciation applies, in particular, to information and guidance on job opportunities and information on guidance and skills required by the labour market (respectively 83% and 85% of respondents found these aspects very important or important).

4.3.1 Need for information and guidance on job and learning opportunities and skills required by the labour market

4.3.1.1 Information and guidance on job opportunities

The Europass platform responds to the need for information and guidance on job opportunities by giving access to the EURES job search tool and a link to the EQF comparison tool of national qualifications frameworks. EURES supports jobseekers in finding jobs and employers to recruit them from all over Europe. Stakeholders who participated in the public consultation valued the synergies between Europass and EURES. Both platforms work towards supporting job applications and mobility, and providing EURES services through the Europass platform can be considered as very relevant. Stronger interoperability and alignment of information provision between Europass and EURES could therefore strengthen the impact of both platforms and benefit users. In addition, the Europass platform provides country specific pages and pages with different types of related content (e.g. language skills) as well as links to other EU initiatives and national services.

Users and stakeholders find the access to information and guidance on job opportunities very relevant: 83% of public consultation respondents believe that information and guidance on job opportunities is either very important or important. Stakeholders are interested in finding a job in another country, detecting career paths matching their skills and qualifications, and understanding labour market demand and trends. They also look for information on country specific qualification requirements and choosing an education/career path aligned with a country’s labour market demand or qualification requirements. This underlines the need for Member States to finish providing information on learning opportunities and qualifications so that Europass can reach its potential and fully support people in choosing the appropriate education/training paths.

End users’ main needs relate to job searches, and they consider Europass particularly relevant in the context of mobility within the EU. Results from the qualitative observations carried out in the context of the supporting study showed that participants interested in seeking job opportunities across Europe found Europass relevant, as it offers access to job opportunities and country specific information on one platform. However, those participants wishing to stay in their countries or having a specific destination in mind would rather consult national-level platforms.

The qualitative observations also highlighted that the need for information and guidance on job opportunities is particularly relevant to recent graduates or people in the early stages of their career who need to access information and record their skills and experience and qualifications in a single platform. This was confirmed by the user and non-user survey, where specifically younger users as well as users from non-EU countries (EEA, candidate and potential candidate countries 61 ) stressed the importance of information on job opportunities.

Employers surveyed for the supporting study appreciate particularly the information about job opportunities across Europe. 92% of them consider it helpful for the provision of guidance to candidates preparing applications. Information about how to present national qualifications in another European country is equally important for employers (87%) as they often encounter difficulties in understanding candidates’ profiles.

For most of the education and training providers surveyed as part of the supporting study, information about job opportunities is either very important (43%) or somewhat important (38%). This stakeholder group stressed the importance of the learning opportunities database as a tool to help potential candidates find a relevant learning opportunity.

Interviewed social partners and public consultation respondents pointed out that the tools and services should be more specific to professions and industries in order to increase the attractiveness of Europass.

At EU level, Europass can be relevant to address skills and labour shortages through guidance on skills and occupations. The new Jobs & Skill Trends tool launched in June 2023 helps users identify the occupation groups most in demand in a certain EU country. It also provides users with information on EU countries where an occupation is most in demand as well as the most relevant skills associated with the respective occupation.

The use of artificial intelligence and the analysis of data in Europass profiles could contribute to providing personalised recommendations on relevant job opportunities for users in line with their skills, learning and career history and preferences.

4.3.1.2 Information on lifelong learning and transnational mobility for learning opportunities

The need for access to information on lifelong learning and transnational mobility for learning purposes is perceived as very relevant by users and stakeholders. The platform provides country specific information and links as well as access to a database on learning opportunities and qualifications. However, Europass depends on Member States and Europass countries to provide information on qualifications and learning opportunities and populate this database; currently 19 countries 62 have published their qualifications and 10 countries 63 their learning opportunities.

Most respondents of the user and non-user survey carried out in the context of the supporting study (81% of respondents) find it either very important (44%) or somewhat important (37%) to get information on lifelong learning and transnational mobility for learning purposes across Europe. Younger respondents and respondents from non-EU countries (EEA, candidate and potential candidate countries 64 ) tend to give higher importance to information on this topic. Education and training providers feel more strongly about information on learning opportunities compared to employers. 46% of education and training providers consider this information as very important, compared to 26% of employers. The public consultation results are in line with these findings. 80% of public consultation respondents believe that providing information on this topic is either important or very important. As explained earlier, this underlines the need for Member States to finish providing information on learning opportunities and qualifications.

Participants from the targeted qualitative observations carried out in the context of the supporting study highlighted a need for more information on terms and conditions to apply for learning opportunities all over the EU. They found the search tool for learning opportunities more effective for getting an overview of learning opportunities all over the EU than for searching within a specific country. For opportunities in a specific country, the participants would rather search national sources or education and training provider specific sources.

At national level, in order for the qualifications and learning opportunities information to be relevant, all Member States and other Europass countries need to provide their related data to the Qualifications Dataset Register (QDR).

To support the recognition of qualifications at EU level, access to information on qualifications is particularly relevant as it helps create a shared understanding of learning outcomes.

4.3.1.3 Information and guidance on skills required by the labour market

Information and guidance 65 on skills required by the labour market are considered to be very relevant by users and stakeholders. 85% of public consultation respondents consider these services as very important or important.

The platform provides tools that allow users to reflect on their skills and interests. The ‘My Skills’ tool offers an overview of users’ skills based on information added to their profile, whereas in the ‘My Interests’ tool, users can describe their interests and goals. Moreover, the platform provides a section with information on how users can self-assess their language skills, based on the Common European Framework for Languages (CEFR) 66 .

To respond to guidance needs in the area of digital skills, the Commission launched the Digital skills self-assessment tool on the Europass platform in December 2021. Even though users and stakeholders consider this tool very important or important (78% of respondents to the public consultation), participants in the targeted qualitative observations pointed out a need for further guidance on the use of the self-assessment test results to support their career or learning outcomes, e.g. on how they could acquire the digital skills they lack. Moreover, they noted that the questions were based on knowledge and notions that could easily be searched online instead of testing the skills using a “problem-based” approach.

While national stakeholders interviewed see the tool as positive, at least one of them believes that it might compete with national alternatives.

The need for more customised guidance on skills has been addressed through the new Jobs & Skill Trends tool. Stakeholders interviewed and education and training providers responding to the public consultation suggested using artificial intelligence or data mining to further improve the tool’s relevance. The platform does not currently contain links to relevant EU-generated information such as the Cedefop skills forecast 67  and the European Inventory for Lifelong Guidance.

4.3.2 Need for improved transparency and comparability of qualifications and skills

The need for greater transparency and comparability of qualifications, skills and competences is very much valued by end users and other stakeholders.

59% of surveyed employers and 61% of surveyed education and training providers found it sometimes difficult or often difficult to verify the authenticity of qualifications or experience provided by candidates. Comparing skills and qualifications acquired by a candidate in another country compared to other candidates proved often difficult or sometimes difficult to 54% of surveyed employers and to 59% of surveyed education and training providers. This shows that there is a need for specific transparency tools, such as the EQF, the common templates (Europass CV, Cover Letter, the Diploma and Certificate supplements, and the Europass Mobility) and digitally signed credentials to support stakeholders in these verification processes.

The transparency and comparability of qualifications relies on the EQF. While the EQF is a different policy instrument to Europass, information on the EQF, NQFs, the national qualifications databases and registers and the qualifications framework comparison tool are hosted on Europass, in line with Article 3(2)b of the Europass Decision.

83% of the public consultation respondents found it very important or important to have a shared understanding of skills and qualifications, and 81% found it very important or important to have a greater comparability of qualifications, skills and competences. Information on the EQF, the EQF comparison tool of national qualifications frameworks, the links to NQF websites, and links to the Cedefop platform (e.g. the NQF Inventory) is relevant in this context.

On EQF, 87% of surveyed education and training providers found it very helpful or helpful to have information in all European languages on how to compare national qualifications levels across Europe in a European platform. In addition, for most user and non-user survey respondents (79%), it was either very important (43%) or somewhat important (36%) to have information in any European language about their qualification level across Europe in a standardised way through the European Qualifications Framework on a European platform.

48% of the surveyed employers and 52% of surveyed education and training providers found it sometimes difficult or often difficult when hiring new recruits/selecting applicants to understand the skills and qualifications acquired by the candidate through working and learning experience, including through mobility and volunteering. Therefore, there is a strong need from stakeholders for increased transparency. The current platform provides relevant information (EQF, information on qualifications and learning opportunities) document formats (CV and Cover Letter), document templates (Europass Mobility, Diploma and Certificate Supplements) and tools (European Digital Credentials for Learning). All the documents included in the e-Portfolio (CV, cover letter), the Europass documents (Europass Mobility, Diploma and Certificate Supplements) as well as the references to the EQF are well-established services available on the Europass platform.

In the interviews, EU-level stakeholders (the Commission and EU agencies) emphasised the role of EQF in increasing the transparency of qualifications, in particular by focusing on the skills and contents of the qualifications. National organisations stated that the current Europass improves the comparison of qualifications across Member States. They also added that further transnational mobility can be promoted. Social partners added that international and intercultural skills are well recorded through Europass, which, in their view, facilitates mobility (both for learning and working).

4.3.3 Need to reduce the fragmentation between different skills, qualifications and labour mobility tools

Before the launch of the new platform in July 2020, Europass was a document-based website providing a set of downloadable document templates (CV, Cover Letter, Europass documents) hosted on the Cedefop website. Information on the EQF was hosted on the Learning Opportunities and Qualifications Portal (LOQ) of the Commission and ESCO terminology was not integrated in the platform.

Through the integration of several previously standalone skills and qualification tools as well as the introduction of new tools, the new Europass platform has contributed to reducing fragmentation in this area. In particular, the 2020 platform includes a link to the EURES job search, uses ESCO terminology in several sections of the e-Portfolio, and integrates information on the EQF, NQFs, learning opportunities and validation (see Section 4.1.2.2 Simplification of the platform). The development of the European Learning Model as data model to share information and data on qualifications, learning opportunities and accreditation and to issue, store, and verify European Digital Credentials for Learning aims to overcome this fragmentation by providing a single vocabulary in Europe. Moreover, a new Digital skills self-assessment tool was added in 2021.

When asked about the current level of integration of Europass with other EU instruments (a question only for stakeholders, not individuals), 44% of respondents of the public consultation indicated that Europass was very well or quite well integrated with the EQF. 35% of respondents shared this view on the integration with ESCO, and 36% of respondents believe that Europass is very well or quite well integrated with EURES.

On links with other EU instruments and initiatives, most public consultation respondents would like to see interoperability with the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform (74% of respondents), the European Education Area Portal (66% of respondents), the Regulated Professions Database (65% of respondents), Euraxess (62% of respondents) and the European Youth Portal (59%).

The need to bring different skills, qualification and labour mobility tools and services together under one European platform has been confirmed by around 80% of the respondents to all three surveys of the supporting study to users and non-users, employers, and education and training providers.

When users and non-users were asked for their opinion on bringing together different services through Europass, the vast majority found it very helpful or helpful to include additional tools and services.

·84% of surveyed users and non-users found it either very helpful or helpful to include a digital skills self-assessment tool.

·82% found it either very helpful or helpful to create a personal record in any European language of all a user’s skills, qualifications and experience to reflect on their skills and to understand their needs and interests.

·80% found it very helpful or helpful to provide authentic certification of skills and qualifications using digital credentials instead of relying on paper documents. 

·Moreover, the vast majority found it helpful to include additional information, in particular on the EQF (82% found it either very helpful or helpful) and on lifelong learning, qualifications, and learning opportunities (83%). 

·82% found it very helpful or helpful to have information on job opportunities across Europe.

Therefore, there is a strong demand for an integrated platform. On the stakeholder side, the surveyed employers and surveyed education and training providers share the same views.

·87% of surveyed employers found it very helpful or helpful to include a tool in a European platform to certify the authenticity of a candidate’s skills and qualifications using digital credentials instead of relying on paper documents.

·77% found it very helpful or helpful to provide a tool to document the learning outcomes of qualifications in any European language.

·83% of surveyed education and training providers found it very helpful or helpful to include a tool in a European platform to certify the authenticity of a candidate’s skills and qualifications using digital credentials instead of relying on paper documents.

·86% of them found it very helpful or helpful to provide a tool to document the learning outcomes of qualifications in any European language.

·80% of them also found it very helpful or helpful to provide a tool to create a personal record in any European language of an applicant’s skills, qualifications and experience to reflect on their skills and to understand their needs and interests.

·In addition, most of the education and training providers surveyed found it very helpful or helpful to have a European platform providing information in all European languages that helps compare national qualifications levels across Europe (87%), information about lifelong learning, qualifications and learning opportunities across Europe (85%), and information on job opportunities across Europe (84%).

Therefore, there is a strong desire from stakeholders to have an integrated platform and not to have fragmented tools in the field of skills, qualifications and labour and learning mobility.

From the evidence collected, it can be concluded that on the one hand, the integration of the different tools in one platform was perceived as positive by users and stakeholders. On the other hand, they also commented on the complexity of the platform (see Section 4.1.2 Efficiency). Therefore, a balance in this respect needs to be ensured so the platform is not overloaded with different initiatives. The information on the platform needs to be organised and presented in a way that makes all initiatives, services and tools visible. Moreover, separate sections and entry points to the platform could be created for different stakeholders (e.g. for users, employers, education and training providers) to better cater to their specific needs.

4.3.4 Need for a shared understanding of skills and qualifications and an EU infrastructure for digital credentials (EDC)

The integration of different tools in one platform (as discussed in Section 4.3.3) would contribute to addressing the need for a shared understanding of skills and qualifications. An infrastructure for digitally signed credentials in the field of skills and qualifications was developed as envisaged in the Europass Decision 68 .

In the public consultation, 79% of the respondents considered an EU infrastructure for digital credentials for skills and qualifications as either very important or important.

In the user and non-user survey, half the respondents indicated that this service is not provided by other solutions/initiatives or is provided with less quality (26% of respondents fully agreed, 32% tended to agree and 21% did not know).

Most surveyed users and end users declared that it is either very helpful (43%) or somewhat helpful (37%) to have a European platform that certifies the authenticity of one’s skills and qualifications using digital credentials instead of relying on paper documents. Younger respondents and respondents from non-EU countries tend more to find such a tool important.

In the employers’ survey, their needs in the area of understanding skills and qualifications were found to be linked to the challenges in understanding the skills and qualifications acquired by candidates through work, learning and volunteering experience, including in the context of mobility (39% considered it sometimes difficult, 9% often difficult). Understanding candidates’ profiles may have an impact on hiring decisions and, as a result, the organisation of work in companies. 46% of surveyed employers noticed a mismatch between a new recruit’s expected skills (based on their work and learning experience) and the skills demonstrated in the workplace.

Moreover, employers face difficulties when verifying the authenticity of candidates’ qualifications or experience (59% of them consider this process to be sometimes difficult or often difficult). Verifying the authenticity of a candidate’s qualifications is very important for employers when it comes to hiring (71% of respondents consider it very important or somewhat important). Slightly more than half of them (54%) consider receiving digitally certified documents proving qualifications to be important.

Surveyed education and training providers encounter similar problems when selecting candidates, understanding their skills and qualifications acquired and verifying the authenticity of these qualifications and skills (considered sometimes difficult or often difficult by 52% and 61% respectively). Compared to employers, this stakeholder group noticed a greater mismatch between students’ expected skills and the skills shown during education and training activities (52% declared some mismatch, 10% a great mismatch). Providing authentication of learning outcomes with digital credentials is considered very important for 68% of the survey respondents.

In consequence, employers and education and training providers appreciate initiatives to make verification processes to compare national qualification levels across Europe more efficient, such as the European Digital Credentials for Learning or the EQF.

According to some interviewed stakeholders at EU level, although at an early stage, EDC has a potential to become a relevant tool to a wide range of stakeholders. Some national stakeholders value common standards and really see EDC as a tool for the future, while others are hesitant to introduce new standards if their public organisation is not ready for such a step yet.

5.1.Conclusions

Most of the Europass tools, services and information, required under the 2018 Europass Decision, were implemented and made available on the platform when launched in July 2020. Since then, these tools and services have been regularly updated and further improved. Following the launch, the Commission prioritised the development of existing tools to ensure the continuity of Europass services. Other tools have been implemented more recently (the Digital skills self-assessment tool was launched in December 2021 and the Jobs & Skill Trends tool in June 2023). The information on learning opportunities and qualifications is not fully complete as some Member States and Europass countries still need to share that information. By the end of 2022, 10 Europass countries had completed this task for learning opportunities and 19 for qualifications. This underlines the need for Member States to finish providing information on learning opportunities and qualifications. This will enable Europass to fully achieve its goals for education and training as well as the transparency of skills and qualifications and become more relevant to the public.

Member States are implementing the tasks set out in the Europass Decision mostly through the National Europass Centres (NECs). From 2018 to 2020, they focused mainly on implementing new tools, involving stakeholders and strengthening the awareness of Europass and guidance on careers and mobility. From 2021 to 2023, NECs’ attention was focused on promoting Europass, giving guidance and involving stakeholders.

Overall, Member States have effectively implemented the Europass Decision from 2018 to 2020. Most countries have adequately carried out most of the tasks. However, there is still ongoing work in areas, such as the sharing of information about learning opportunities and, to a lesser extent, qualifications. While NECs have promoted cooperation among various public stakeholders at EU, national and regional levels, there is scope for further cooperation and engagement with national players in the field of employment, vocational training and adult education. NECs could play a key role in reaching out to labour market stakeholders and intermediaries.

5.1.1 Effectiveness

Making the new Europass platform a one-stop shop bringing together skills, qualification and labour mobility tools has been appreciated by users and stakeholders. The Commission’s decision to prioritise the development of existing tools (e.g. the CV and Cover Letter builder) to ensure the continuity of Europass services positively affected the effective implementation of the new platform. Some Europass features are not yet complete (information on qualifications and on learning opportunities). The Jobs & Skill Trends tool, released in June 2023, is expected to further personalise information available to the users.

The number of registered users substantially increased following the launch of the new platform, which points to continuity, a retention of users and effectively reaching new target audiences. The strong appeal of Europass to young people who are at the start of their careers is a particular strength that should be built on.

There are varying levels of uptake of the different Europass tools and services. The Europass CV and Cover Letter are the best known and most frequently used Europass tools as confirmed by all data collection tools in the supporting study. Other functionalities, such as the tracking of applications, Supplement templates, the Digital skills self-assessment tool and the European Digital Credentials for Learning, are used to a lesser extent. This suggests that the different usage rates should be examined more closely and any issues addressed. It also suggests that the different Europass tools need to be better integrated into an improved data analysis system. This will help optimise the platform for end users and institutional users. Such a data analysis system would exploit the data coming from users’ interactions with the different Europass tools. Europass tools and services are generally perceived as useful. The majority of the public consultation respondents (at least 80%) find the tools and services useful or very useful, whereas they appreciate most the Europass CV (90%). They consider particularly useful the tools that they are most familiar with.

Public institutions have made extensive use of Europass, in particular when implementing the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) Council Recommendation. For instance, most of the referencing reports contain references to Europass.

Integrating Europass in existing EU mobility programmes, including but not limited to Erasmus+, is particularly important to ensure a targeted uptake by those programmes’ stakeholders (education and training providers, youth organisations, social partners and policymakers). Further integrating the use of Europass by all Erasmus+ beneficiaries is still essential to attract users and provide targeted mobility services.

Europass is an effective tool to support mobility and a solution to present knowledge, skills and competences in a standardised way. Individual were more likely to use the Europass CV, when they had participated in a mobility experience abroad, such as working, studying or a mobility exchange. The most used Europass profile language is English, which points to active labour mobility across the EU among Europass users or local recruitment by international companies.

Europass is effective for fostering a common framework for the transparency and recognition of skills and qualifications among Member States. This relies on several elements: the link with EQF, the publication of information on qualifications and learning opportunities (although work in this area is still in progress), the common supplement templates, and the European Digital Credentials for Learning. Optimising the interaction with these tools for end users and institutional users will increase these tools’ impact.

Although strongly anchored in a young user base, Europass aspires to be a tool supporting lifelong learning. This requires all Member States to share information about learning opportunities. It also requires information on validation and career guidance opportunities.

A process is in place for Member States to share information on learning opportunities, but this is not yet the case for validation and career guidance.

Communication with end users and stakeholders about Europass took place at EU and national levels by the National Europass Centres (NECs) and was successful in engaging with them. Communication activities took place mainly online between 2020 and 2022 during the pandemic. The Commission created synergies with other EU initiatives in the area of education and training, youth and labour mobility (e.g. Eurodesk, EURES and Erasmus+) in order to reach out to their respective target audiences. NECs’ communication activities mainly targeted students, jobseekers, employers and education and training providers, with young people at the centre of their efforts. There were different levels of engagement with end users through social media channels in terms of the volume of Europass mentions, frequency and content shared. Three platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) accounted for 68% of the online conversation around Europass.

Awareness of Europass differs between countries. Based on a user and non-user survey to the general population of 10 selected countries  69 , Portugal, Romania, and Croatia are the countries where the awareness of Europass is the highest. Two countries where Europass is known less are France and Germany. Most Europass users are in Italy, Portugal and Romania (in total numbers). This is driven not only by high mobility intentions in these countries but also by making Europass a part of public sector recruitment processes. These countries also host higher shares of Europass profiles compared to the total population. Please see Figure 22 “Share of Europass profiles across Member States over their total population” in Annex VII, which displays further details for all Member States. The Commission and NECs could take more action to promote Europass in those countries where it is known and used less, focusing also on employers.

Most of the platform’s users are relatively young (72% are under 35 years). There is a slight under-representation of women among Europass users. With respect to education and training, only 7% of Europass users indicate an EQF level on their profile 70 . Among those users who do, most have an EQF level of 4 or above. Most Europass users have some level of work experience. In terms of profile languages, English is the most used language followed by Italian, Portuguese and Romanian.

Improvements to the platform’s accessibility have been made since its launch. However, the views of end users and stakeholders are mixed, and there are some issues for different groups of people, including people with lower digital skills, older people and people with disabilities. A lack of digital skills is seen as the main accessibility barrier. Therefore, more analysis could be carried out to identify further accessibility improvements.

The Commission intends to intensify its efforts to connect Europass with the labour market and make it a tool for lifelong learning. An important part of this effort will be the further use of data science, artificial intelligence and interoperability. Another aspect will be providing more services for those in the middle or the end of their careers. Achieving synergies with key labour market tools, such as EURES, is a way to increase the use of Europass by those involved in the labour market and intermediaries. This will provide the platform’s users with a better understanding and management of their skills and more tailored opportunities for working and learning in Europe. It will help employers find candidates who are a better fit for their vacancies.

5.1.2 Efficiency

In terms of budget allocated to developing and implementing Europass, the significant increase in new users since the launch of the platform in July 2020 and the expected stability of costs in the coming years should guarantee a reduction in the cost per Europass profile in the long term. This would lead to a long-term improvement in cost-effectiveness as digital platforms tend to have low marginal costs for additional users – increased cost-effectiveness can be expected in the future as long as the number of new users continues to increase. Expanding the user base is therefore a key objective for improving cost-effectiveness.

As recognised by stakeholders, a lot of work has been put into improving the user-friendliness of Europass and addressing technical issues. This includes correcting various bugs that were encountered and reported by end users; the number of bugs was significantly reduced in the second half of 2022 and first half of 2023.

The overall aim is for Europass to be functional, visible and easy to use. There is a need to find a balance between integration with other initiatives and portals and ensuring that the platform and the navigation between the different tools and services does not become too complex or confusing for users. This could lead to some of the basic features (CV, Cover Letter, etc.) being ignored or becoming unusable. Therefore, focus should be put on fixing the platform’s technical issues rather than developing new tools. A clearer guide to using the tools and services should also be prepared (e.g. the European Digital Credentials for Learning, Supplement templates and the Digital skills self-assessment tool).

The role of Member States has been significantly broadened with new tasks, including reaching the target audience and promoting the new Europass tools. Many Member States have made their NECs responsible for carrying out these new tasks. As a result, stakeholders and NECs expressed the need for more resources. This is because the new platform provides more tools and services than the previous one, and NECs lack certain skills, such as technical knowledge of more recent tools. Carrying out the additional tasks with a budget similar to the one before the launch of the platform in July 2020 should be seen as an improvement in cost-effectiveness. However, there were different levels in NECs’ output and contribution to the platform’s implementation, which could hamper the efficiency of Europass tools. To increase effectiveness, NECs need to reach out and engage with other national bodies in the use and promotion of Europass. This requires further engagement and interoperability with national guidance providers, educational and training consortia, employment services and other labour market actors.

In relation to the above and with regards to the new Europass governance, it seems that since 2018, governance has become more efficient due to the more solid multi-level structure and the wider distribution of responsibilities and tasks both from the Commission to the Member States and across multiple organisations at EU and national level. This is despite differences among countries (in terms of governance structures, administrative decentralisation and political commitments), which are often a challenge to ensuring efficiency. Given its positive outcomes, this governance system should be maintained, and close cooperation and relations with Member States should continue to be a core element of Europass.

5.1.3 Coherence

The coherence of Europass with the broader policy context is strong. In particular, the Europass platform directly supports the European Skills Agenda, the European Education Area and Europe’s Digital Decade. Many of the initiatives in the European Skills Agenda rely on Europass for their practical implementation at EU level, e.g. skills intelligence. In addition, Europass contributes to the priorities of the European Education Area, which are to improve quality, equity, inclusion and success in education and training for all and to make lifelong learning and mobility a reality for all. Lastly, the evolution of Europass from a platform that consisted of five document templates into a one-stop-shop digital solution is directly aligned with Europe’s Digital Decade.

Europass also makes it possible for other high-level EU policies and their tools and instruments to directly benefit end users. Europass is strongly linked to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), given that EQF information and tools (comparison tool, interconnection of national qualifications registers) are integrated into Europass, which also promotes the EQF terminology.

Europass is aligned with the priorities adopted by the von der Leyen Commission: ‘A Europe fit for the digital age’ and ‘An economy that works for people’. Europass directly contributes to these priorities as a concrete policy instrument intended to harness and further digital capabilities and support a people-driven economy.

There are also strong synergies and technical interoperability between Europass and other EU tools and initiatives in employment, education, training and guidance (such as EURES, ESCO and Erasmus+). For example, Europass delivers tools that help EURES members support jobseekers and has aligned its technical standards with the EURES data model. ESCO is used in Europass to support the delivery of career guidance and learning development solutions as well as creating CVs, skills and interests profiles and skill-assessment tools.

Additional synergies could be created between Europass and EU and national platforms that provide tools and services similar to those on Europass (for example, skills intelligence or forecasts, job search, career guidance information, education and training information and labour market information). In this context, increased and improved synergies or integration with EURES could prove to be more effective: a single support and guidance system could provide more integrated services to jobseekers and help employers find candidates that are better informed about and more suitable for their vacancies. On top of creating synergies and economies of scale, such cases would eliminate the risk of duplication of efforts and services between EU and national initiatives offering similar tools and services.

5.1.4 EU added value and impact

Overall, the stakeholders consulted recognised the EU added value of Europass, which could not have been achieved by Member States alone. Europass provides unique, multilingual and standardised tools and services free of charge as well as access to information on job opportunities and learning opportunities and qualifications. The standardised tools enable employers and education and training providers to better understand and compare candidates’ educational and professional backgrounds and match their skills with the requirements of the job.

As a result, Europass supports learning and the labour mobility of candidates and thereby helps address labour and skills shortages in the EU. In addition, the standardised tools and services of Europass contribute to giving equal opportunities to job applicants.

In some countries, Europass fills gaps in the market where no equivalent public alternatives exist.

Currently, Europass is used as a standard part of public sector applications in several European countries (e.g. Portugal, Romania and Italy). Standardisation leads to more consistency and comparability of skills across European countries. As a result, promoting the uptake of Europass could help it become an EU standard for employment, education and training profiles and for documenting career advancement. Further promoting its use by public administrations in other EU countries would be key to such efforts. Mainstreaming Europass use among beneficiaries of EU programmes (e.g. ESF+, Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, European Solidarity Corps) could be a key enabler in this context. This would further contribute to transparency and mobility for working and learning in Europe.

Moreover, Europass can play a role in the standardisation of tools and services within the same country where labour market policies differ between regions. It would also enable better information sharing between the education and training sectors and the employment sector.

5.1.5 Relevance

Europass and its online tools and services are perceived as very relevant by users and stakeholders. Europass is likely to remain relevant in the future due to the continued and even greater need to understand people’s qualifications and skills in a European context and in view of developments in digitalisation and mobility across the EU. In this regard, it would be important to further develop the data analysis system of Europass. This will make it possible to use user interaction data from the platform’s different tools to improve tailoring suggestions for working and learning in Europe.

Information and guidance on job opportunities is highly relevant to users and stakeholders. Users can access job vacancies via the EURES job search tool as well as country specific information on both EURES and Europass. More synergies between EURES and Europass and more sector or industry specific information could further increase the attractiveness and relevance of Europass tools.

Information on lifelong learning and transnational mobility for learning purposes remains relevant to users and stakeholders. Europass depends on Member States and Europass countries who need to provide this information on qualifications and learning opportunities. This conveys a strong message that Member States need to provide related information or keep it up-to-date.

Information on job opportunities and learning opportunities are both perceived as particularly relevant by younger people who are beginning their careers as well as people from non-EU countries.

The Europass platform provides several tools that respond to the need for information and guidance on skills required by the labour market. These are considered to be very relevant by users and stakeholders. More customised guidance could further increase their relevance.

Europass can be relevant to address skills and labour shortages by providing guidance in the area of skills and occupations, e.g. through the recently launched Jobs & Skill Trends tool. EU agencies working in the fields of skills and labour shortages (Cedefop, Eurofound, ELA) are important partners for future developments and could contribute to improving Europass services through more efficient data sharing. Personalised recommendations on job opportunities could also help address skills and labour shortages. Lastly, more information on career guidance at national level could be provided to end users. For all the above, Member States need to make further efforts to provide country specific information. The Commission also needs to improve the platform’s data analysis system.

Europass supports a broad range of policy areas (labour and learning mobility, employment, education and training, skills). It is an essential tool for individuals’ career management and lifelong learning. In particular, Europass supports the validation and documentation of skills and recognition of qualifications in a single platform and gives access to information on learning offers and qualifications in Europe. Stakeholders can use the Europass platform, for instance, when providing guidance, in particular to access information. Lastly, recognition professionals can use the platform to find information on qualifications and learning opportunities to help them with their assessments. Therefore, Europass continues to be relevant to ensure transparency, a common understanding of skills and qualifications, and comparability.

With the integration of several previously standalone skills, qualification and labour mobility tools as well as the introduction of new tools (e.g. the Digital skills self-assessment tool), the new Europass platform has helped reduce fragmentation in this area. Stakeholders would like to see interoperability with other EU instruments and initiatives. Further efforts could be made to increase interoperability with new partners in the labour market and in the area of education and training, focusing on guidance and vocational education and training providers. This would allow people across the EU access the many opportunities for working and learning that exist around Europe based on Europass standards and tools.

While the integration of the different tools in one platform was perceived as positive by users and stakeholders, they also commented on the complexity of the platform (see Section 4.1.2 Efficiency). Therefore, a balance in this respect needs to be ensured so the platform is not overloaded with different initiatives. Information on tools and services needs to be organised and presented in a way so that all initiatives are visible.

The shared understanding of skills and qualifications and the need for an EU infrastructure for digital credentials is viewed as highly relevant by both stakeholders and end users. Employers and education and training providers face challenges related to understanding skills and qualifications acquired by candidates and verifying the authenticity of candidates’ qualifications or experience. Digitally signed credentials in the field of learning are being used more and are quickly becoming more important. 79% of respondents to the public consultation considered an EU infrastructure for digital credentials for skills and qualifications to be either very important or important. EU standards ensure interoperability and avoid fragmentation in this area still in development.

5.2.Lessons learned

Europass supports the objectives of the European Year of Skills to strengthen skills relevance and match people’s aspirations, needs and skill sets with labour market needs and opportunities. Information and guidance on skills required by the labour market are considered to be very important by users and stakeholders. Europass provides tools that help users reflect on their skills and interests, like the My Skills tool or the Digital skills self-assessment tool. The evaluation exercise revealed the need for more guidance on using the self-assessment test results to support careers or learning outcomes as well as more tailored guidance on skills. The latter need has been addressed by the new Jobs & Skill Trends tool, for which it was suggested to include artificial intelligence or data mining to further improve its relevance.

Europass already has links with several EU initiatives that can be further developed (EURES, ESCO, EQF, ELM, EQAR). In addition, the interoperability of Europass with other EU initiatives (e.g. the Digital Skills and Jobs Platform, the European Education Area Portal, the Regulated Professions Database, Euraxess or the European Youth Portal) and national portals could be further explored. This would let Europass users share their profiles and documentation on other portals, making them more visible to potential employers. Moreover, closer cooperation between Europass, the European Youth Portal and EURES could be further analysed to improve support and guidance. This could be of particular benefit to the most vulnerable groups of young people. In addition, the need for more guidance on Europass could be addressed through interoperability with certain national guidance services, giving people access to such services based on Europass standards. Finally, synergies with data spaces initiatives, such as the Data Space for Skills, could be further explored.

Europass is relevant to jobseeking and responds to the need for information and guidance on job opportunities by giving access to the EURES job search tool, which helps people find jobs and employers to recruit from all over Europe. Both platforms work towards supporting job applications and mobility, so making EURES services available through the Europass platform can be considered to be very important. At the same time, end users’ main needs relate to job searches, and they consider Europass particularly relevant in the context of labour mobility. Stronger synergies and interoperability between Europass and EURES could therefore strengthen the impact of both platforms and be beneficial for all users.

Member States and Europass countries need to make further efforts in developing qualification and learning opportunity databases and registers. These would link to the Europass platform via the Qualifications Dataset Register, so the information is available to Europass users.

Stakeholders’ adoption of Europass as a standard profile tool for learning and jobs in the EU would contribute to more transparency and comparability of skills as well as more mobility across European countries. Moreover, it would ensure an increase in the use of Europass tools and services, thereby creating economies of scale. Such an increase would be particularly supported by further synergies with EURES, focusing on tools like a common profile and CV builder. This would further strengthen the relevance and impact of Europass, given that such an adoption by a large number of stakeholders contributes to a shared understanding as well as better awareness and recognition of the platform and its tools. Further uptake of Europass could be promoted in the context of related EU initiatives and mobility programmes, such as Erasmus+, the European Solidarity Corps and the ALMA (Aim, Learn, Master, Achieve) initiative targeting young people not in any kind of employment, education or training. Moreover, in terms of geographical coverage Europass promotional activities could focus on countries where Europass is known and used less. While the attractiveness of Europass to young people is a particular strength to build on, promotion activities could also focus on people aged over 35.

A balance needs to be ensured between further integration of new EU initiatives into Europass (leading to more complexity) and the user-friendliness of the platform. The platform structure and main menu could be reviewed to give better visibility to all the available tools and services. The creation of specific sections with separate entry points for users and stakeholder groups (e.g. employers, education and training providers) could be considered to better cater to their needs.

For Europass to reach its full potential as a platform for career management and lifelong learning, information on career guidance, validation opportunities and the recognition of qualifications could be improved, given that the current information on the platform remains general. This would particularly require stronger links to national services and institutions. This information is becoming even more important in the context of the twin green and digital transitions.

The use of Europass is particularly effective in the context of mobility for labour and learning purposes across the EU, as a solution to present knowledge, skills and competences in a standardised way. This is because Europass provides tools, services and information particularly relevant to mobility.

There is a clear need to complete the EDC infrastructure and leverage the European Digital Credentials for Learning standards to support Member States in their digital transformation of credentials and ensure interoperability between national credential platforms at EU level. Some national stakeholders value common standards and really see EDC as a tool for the future, while others are hesitant to introduce new standards if their public organisation is not ready for such a step yet.

The use of data analysis and artificial intelligence in Europass could be further developed and play a role in addressing skills and labour shortages in Europe. Through the recently launched Jobs & Skill Trends tool (in June 2023), users can identify the occupation groups most in demand in a certain EU country as well as countries where a certain occupation is in most demand. Users can also see what are the most relevant skills associated with the respective occupation. Personalised recommendations on job opportunities in line with skills indicated in users’ Europass profiles could further help address skills and labour shortages.

To improve the user-friendliness of the Europass platform, it is important to give priority to fixing technical issues over developing any new tools. This would make the platform more functional and visible and easier to use.

Future developments for Europass could be implemented through an ‘accessibility by design’ approach. This means that tools and services are designed in a way that ensures they are accessible to as many people as possible, including those with lower levels of digital skills, older people, long-term unemployed people and people with disabilities (e.g. people with visual impairments). Accessibility should be considered during the initial design stages. This process could be supported by user testing with individuals from the above-mentioned groups to get their feedback and identify potential barriers to accessibility. By implementing these principles, Europass could contribute to promoting inclusiveness and equal opportunities.

To measure the impact and use of Europass, the development and implementation of a data monitoring plan to systematically collect information at the level of tools and services could be put in place. A deeper analysis of users’ behaviour would help better understand how Europass could accompany them in their learning and career paths. Moreover, regular user satisfaction surveys could give greater insights into the impact of Europass in supporting users find jobs and learning opportunities.

Organisation and timing

DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) is the lead DG for the evaluation of the Decision (EU) 2018/646 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 April 2018 on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and repealing Decision No 2241/2004/EC.

The call for evidence and public consultation have been published on the European Commission’s “Have your Say” portal 71 on 06 December 2022. The evaluation has been carried out with the support of the Inter-Services Steering Group chaired by DG EMPL to which the following DGs were invited: SG, GROW, EAC and JRC.

The group met six times:

·18 February 2022 - Evaluation timeline, consultation strategy and terms of reference for the external study

·15 June 2022 - Kick-off meeting with the contractor in charge of preparing the external study

·26 July 2022 - Inception meeting for the external study

·30 November 2022 - Meeting on the draft interim report of the external study

·06 March 2023 – Meeting on draft final report of the external study

·27 June 2023 – Meeting on the draft Staff Working Document (SWD)

Exceptions to the Better Regulation Guidelines

The Commission’s Better Regulation Guidelines 72 were followed to carry out the evaluation without deviations.

Use of evidence

The external study was carried out by Verian Group (former Kantar Public) 73 . The study has been conducted in line with the request for services and the agreed inception report. It includes all agreed components and is based on relevant qualitative and quantitative data although less targeted stakeholder interviews were carried out than planned in the technical specifications (72 instead of 80). As agreed, these have been compensated with 16 targeted qualitative observations of non-users. The analysis and conclusions are sound while methodology and limitations are clearly outlined. The lessons learnt are relevant.

The study applied a mix of evaluation methods including desk research, data analysis (platform user data and social media analysis), a public consultation, targeted surveys, interviews with stakeholders and qualitative observations of non-users.

The Europass Advisory Group, gathering representatives from Member States, was regularly informed of and consulted on the study development and findings.

1. Intervention Logic

The Intervention Logic of Europass derives from the general objectives of Europass as set out in Decision (EU) 2018/646 (Europass Decision). These objectives refer to the provision of a new EU-wide online platform offering online tools and information to support people in their lifelong learning and career management. As stipulated in Article 1 of the Europass Decision, the platform can be used by individuals such as learners, workers, jobseekers and volunteers to communicate and present their skills, qualifications and experience clearly and consistently across Europe. In this context, Europass aims to address needs of citizens and other stakeholders in the areas of learning, working or volunteering, for accessing information and guidance on what opportunities are available, on how to assess skills, and on ways of presenting information about skills and qualifications. The Europass Decision, in its recital (34), clearly states the general objective of Europass: Since the objective of this Decision, namely the establishment of a comprehensive and interoperable framework of tools and information, in particular for transnational employment and learning mobility purposes, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of the effects of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective. This broad objective can be further broken down into three objectives, namely:

·supporting the mobility of individuals for work and education opportunities in the EU;

·better integrating services for learners, job seekers, workers, volunteers, employers and education and training providers so as to communicate skills and competences with a focus on disadvantaged groups; and

·fostering a common framework for transparency and the recognition of skills and qualifications among Member States.

In terms of inputs, Erasmus+ and ESF+ financial instruments and programmes contribute to supporting Europass activities at EU level. NECs are co-funded also by the individual countries that contribute financially to these activities. With the support of the above-described inputs, the activities planned for Europass can be grouped into EU level activities and national level activities. EU level activities include:

·the development and maintenance of the platform and its tools;

·communication and information provision;

·links and synergies with other services and tools in the field of skills and qualifications and labour and learning mobility;

·engaging with Member States and relevant stakeholders;

·coordinating the Europass Advisory Group and NECs;

·monitoring and evaluating progress and implementation.

Activities at national level include:

·supporting the use of Europass tools via awareness raising and promotional campaigns;

·promoting services offering guidance, career development, lifelong learning opportunities and qualifications;

·disseminating learning opportunities and qualifications, recognition practices and national services on Europass through other national organisations (EQF NCP, Euroguidance, agencies at ministerial level, PES, etc.);

·facilitating cooperation between public and private stakeholders;

·supporting the Europass tools and services by issuing Europass Mobility and running a Europass Mobility Database;

·developing national inventories of Certificate Supplements.

Combined, these activities should lead to the following expected outputs:

At EU level:

·further development and maintenance of the platform;

·availability of tools and interoperability with other platforms;

·open standards;

·EU level external communication and engagement;

·end users, employers and education and training providers’ uptake of Europass and its various tools and services.

At national level:

·national learning opportunities and qualifications shared on Europass;

·communication activities carried out by EU, national and support networks;

·cooperation with national stakeholders;

·stakeholders reach and uptake of Europass and its various tools and services;

·sharing of good practices across NECs.

As a result, Europass is expected to address the needs identified earlier and, more generally, to have the visibility of its tools and services to end users and stakeholders increased, both at EU and national levels, thus facilitating access to opportunities for working and learning. A better understanding of skills and qualifications is also expected to lead to better integration of the labour market. The identification of skills, the access to information on learning opportunities and possibly the access to skills intelligence tools and guidance, validation and recognition of skills are expected to support the increase of upskilling and reskilling, in line with the Porto targets set for 2030.

The overall impacts enable citizens to move across Europe by using Europass to document and present their experience and skills transparently. Furthermore, Europass supports the progress of education policy at EU level towards common objectives and represents a tool used for enrolment in the education, training and labour market.

The above elements of the Europass Intervention Logic are presented in the below Figure:

Figure 10 Intervention Logic of Europass