Job ticket to Europe

Advanced vocational training qualifications will now also be clearly and easily understood across Europe. Europass certificate supplements are also available for advanced training occupations for everything from ‘audiologist’ through to ‘woodwork and building protector’. This complements and expands the current range of Europasses. The certificate supplements provide a brief description of the knowledge, skills and competencies acquired in the advanced vocational training and supplement the advanced vocational training certificate. The Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) have jointly developed the certificate supplements for dual training occupations following consultation with the federal states and social partners.

Europe stands for diversity - and this also applies to systems of education and training, to training courses and to courses of study. EU member states created the Europass in 2005 and with it an instrument which makes qualifications comparable and which citizens are able to use to make their qualifications easily understood throughout Europe. The widening of the Europass to include advanced training occupations now means that overall it covers more occupational profiles and also specialised occupational profiles. In addition to the traditional qualifications, those qualifications can now also be compared which are acquired as a subject-related addition to the training qualifications and which help to further develop individual know how.

So, for example, anybody wishing to apply to another European country as an initial and continuing training specialist, IT consultant or senior tourist clerk should take a look at the relevant certificate supplements. This is also the case for anybody wishing to find out more in general about possible advanced training occupations. More than 70 certificate supplements for advanced training occupations are currently accessible online. In the long term, around 120 are expected.

The Europass supports cross-border learning and working in Europe and consists of five documents. These are the Europass, the Language Passport, the Europass Mobility, the Europass Certificate Supplements and the Europass Diploma Supplement. The Europass certificate supplements enable third parties - in particular abroad - to understand what the qualifications shown in the certificate mean in terms of vocational qualifications and competencies. They set out concisely the training pathway, the competence profile of a qualification, possible occupational fields and what is required to access the next level of training. This key information and the guidelines provided mean that the certificate supplements support recognition of the vocational qualification abroad and also provide support when entering the European job market. They therefore act as a “Job ticket to Europe”.

Further information on the Europass parts and its documents is available at https://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/.

The BIBB has made Europass certificate supplements for dual initial and advanced training occupations available in German, English and French at www.bibb.de/zeugniserlaeuterungen

The Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder are responsible for preparing the certificate supplements for vocational training and continuing education and training qualifications regulated under federal state law. The certificate supplements available in this case can be viewed in German, English and French at www.kmk.org/themen/berufliche-schulen/schulische-berufsausbildung/europass-zeugniserlaeuterungen.html.

The contact partner for questions relating to the Europass is the National Europass Center (NEC), which is based in the National Agency “Education for Europe” (NA) at the BIBB.

Contact partner in the National Agency at the BIBB:
Isabel Götte

Specimen copy requested if printed.