Stop Press - January 2009
The UK National Europass Centre (UK NEC)
The Uk National Europass Centre (UK NEC) is responsible for the coordination, management and promotion of all UK activities related to Europass and its documents.
Europass is the European initiative designed to help people make their skills and qualifications clearly and easily understood and to move around Europe (European Union, EFTA, EEA and candidate Countries).
FIve documents are available to help achieve this purpose:
- Europass CV;
- Europass Language Passport;
- Europass Diploma Supplement;
- Europass Certificate Supplement;
- Europass Mobility.
Click here to access the UK NEC website.
What is the Diploma Supplement?
The Diploma Supplement is an initiative of UNESCO-CEPES, council of Europe, and the European Commission, which takes the form of a document attached to a higher education diploma. Its purpose is to improve the international 'transparency' of qualifications, as well as to facilitate in their academic and professional recognition. It has been designed to provide a description of the nature, level, context, content and status of the studies pursued and successfully completed by the individual named on the original qualification to which this supplement is appended.
It should be free from any value-judgements, equivalence statements or suggestions
about recognition, and it should be issued in a widely spoken European language. With this in mind, it is important to note that the Diploma Supplement is neither a Curriculum Vitae, nor a substitute for the original qualification. Furthermore, the Diploma Supplement does not guarantee recognition of the qualification.
It has been agreed that the objective is that all students who graduate from higher education on or after 2005 should be automatically issued with a Diploma Supplement free of charge.
Please click here to download a Higher Education Description for England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Please click here to download the Diploma Supplement Diagram
Please click here to see a Diploma Supplement specimen
More information can be found on the UK NEC website at:
http://uknec.org.uk/index.asp?page=90
Certificate Supplement?
The Certificate Supplement has been developed by the European Forum on Transparency of Vocational Qualifications. It forms part of the initiative of the European Commission to ease recognition of qualifications across Europe.
The Certificate Supplement provides a detailed description of an individual vocational qualification including; the awarding body, accrediting body and level of the qualification. It also includes information regarding routes to obtaining the qualification, the entry requirements and the possible progression to further education.
In addition to this information, the Certificate Supplement includes details
of any skills and competences acquired and details of occupations the holder
is qualified to perform. Furthermore, the Supplement includes the addresses
of the National Reference Point.
The Certificate Supplement is not a substitute for the original qualification,
but can be used alongside it. The Supplement is not guaranteed to be recognised
everywhere, as it is up to the individual country, institution or employer
whether to recognise the qualification.
More information can be found on the UK NEC website at:
http://uknec.org.uk/index.asp?page=91
Europass CV?
The Europass Curriculum Vitae is a recent initiative of the European Commission
and has been developed by the European Forum on Transparency of Vocational
Qualifications. The document provides a standardised overview of an individual's education
and occupational qualifications, enhancing the recognition of education and
training throughout Europe.
The information about an individual contained in the European CV includes;
language competences, work experience, education and training qualifications
and other skills and competences gained outside formal training schemes.
The European CV has been developed alongside the Certificate
Supplement and is frequently used across Europe. Versions of the CV are available in 13 languages.
More information can be found on the UK NEC website at:
http://uknec.org.uk/index.asp?page=88
Changes to the NQF
The National Qualifications Framework has been revised increasing the number of levels to allow the Framework to be more closely compatible with the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications. The new framework is described in greater detail here.
Information for Individual Enquiries
The number for individuals who require comparability information is
The UK NARIC
now has a new technical support phone number for members.
The new number is
