I.I.S. Castelli - International Castelli- Cross-cultural activities

Europass Portfolio

(click here to read the Italian version)

1. What is it?

Europass portfolio is a virtual repository for documents adopted by the European Union in 2004 in Decision n. 2241/2004/CE.

It was created to facilitate the geographic and professional mobility of European citizens by showcasing the theoretical and practical competences that they have developed over the course of their lives.

2. Why?

The free movement of citizens, namely the ability to live, work, and study anywhere in the European Union, is one of the fundamental principles of the EU. This principle led to two requirements:

-The need to facilitate the movement of those who want or need to study or work in a country other than their country of origin.

-The need to deepen the relationship between education and training and the labor market; specifically, the need to translate educational systems and the meanings of titles, and how they can be used in the labor market.

To respond to these demands, the EU developed a series of instruments designed to render more visible and transparent the competences, titles, and qualifications of European citizens. Among these instruments is the Europass Portfolio.

3. Which documents does it comprise?

a. Two documents that the individual must fill out:

i. The Europass Curriculum Vitae: This is a CV template that is valid in the entire EU that enables European citizens to present their titles, qualifications, and competences in an unambiguous, transparent, and legible way. It can be filled out in all of the languages of the EU.

ii. The Europass Language Passport: This document, which can be downloaded and filled out, allows individuals to describe the linguistic skills that they have acquired through both formal study (foreign language courses with exams and certificates earned) and informal experiences (extended periods of work or study abroad, self study).

b. Three documents released by educational and training entities:

i. The Europass Certificate Supplement (ECS): This is a document that accompanies diplomas and professional qualifications with the purpose of making them more comprehensible to both Italian and foreign employers. The document provides information about the abilities, competences, types of professional activities, and the EQF level of the qualification. The EQF system (European Qualifications Framework) is a reference framework used for comparing and clarifying the qualifications and knowledge acquired in different countries. (European site: https://ec.europa.eu/ploteus/en). The ECS concerning professional training qualifications is released by regions and autonomous provinces, while the ECS concerning the course of instruction in technical, professional, and high schools is released by the school.

ii. The Europass Diploma Supplement (EDS): This document is a supplement to the official diploma conferred at the end of an academic or non-academic secondary or post-secondary course of study (University, AFAM, ITS). The EDS is only valid if it accompanies the original certificate, and it contains detailed information, in Italian and English, about the knowledge and competences acquired by the student who was earned the diploma. It is a personal document that must be released by the abovementioned entities.

iii. Europass Mobility: This is a personal document that confers visibility and transparency to the periods spent abroad (EU, EFTA, SEE and candidate countries). This makes it possible to document the competences and abilities acquired by an individual during a mobility experience abroad, upon completion of formal (courses of instruction and training) and informal (work, volunteering) experiences. It is released by the National Europass Centre (NEC) of the applicant’s country of residence. The planning of the mobility project entails a partnership between an organization that sends an interested individual (partner in the country of origin) and a host organization (partner in the host country). The two organizations agree on the project’s written objectives and content, duration, activities, monitoring of the acquired competences, and languages used in order to fill out the Europass Mobility. Then, the partner in the country of origin requests the issuing of the document in electronic format to the NEC.