I am applying for a postgraduate programme in France and I have been asked to provide my “Europass Diploma Supplement” and information about my undergraduate qualification. I’m not sure how to go about doing that. Could you help?
As an EU citizen, you will find there are free supports available to help ensure your qualification is more easily understood in another country.
Europass (europass.eu) is one of these initiatives and is made up of a web-based platform with online information resources and the facility to create a personal Europass profile.
The Europass Diploma Supplement is a standard supplemental set of information about a qualification which was developed jointly by Unesco and the Council of Europe.
Higher education institutions issue this diploma supplement free of charge to graduates to help them when they move to another country to work or do further study.
It contains details about the qualification, the status of the awarding body making the award, its level on our 10-level National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) and the level on the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning along with details of the programme content.
This information can assist admissions officers and employers to make decisions on access requirements for a role or college place. Contact the college where you secured your undergraduate qualifications for more information.
‘Personal profile tool’
In further education and training, a certificate supplement is also available from Quality and Qualifications Ireland (qsearch.qqi.ie)
The European Commission recently revamped the Europass platform and the "personal profile tool" is worth checking out. It was launched in July 2020 and over 1.5 million Europass profiles have been created by individuals across Europe. It was the most visited website of all European Commission web platforms.
Additional features and resources are also planned, including using digital technology to record information and data for an individual and their credentials securely. There is a facility to share these digital credentials with potential employers or education and training institutions.
Another useful information resource is the National Academic Recognition Information Centre (naric.ie) which offers free advice on foreign qualifications, comparing them to a similar award type and level on the Irish NFQ.
The website lists comparability statements for more than 1,400 qualifications from more than 140 countries which can be downloaded online and provided to a college or employer and included in their Europass profile. Any individual can access a free comparability statement for their own qualification from the website.
Qualifax.ie also offers information about all programmes offered across the Irish education and training system, while the Irish Register of Qualifications (irq.ie) offers information about qualifications, providers and their programmes.
