ECQA Project

Europe Wide Certification

The ECQA is the result of a number of EU supported initiatives in the last ten years where in the European Union Life Long Learning Programme different educational developments decided to follow a joint process for the certification of persons in the industry.
Through the ECQA it becomes possible that you attend courses for a specific profession in one country and perform a Europe wide agreed test at the end of the course. The certificate will then be recognized by European training organizations and institutions in 18 member countries.

Why is such a Certificate of Interest?

European work forces are highly flexible and need to work for industries across Europe (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, …). Imagine that you are attending a course in one country and that you perform and pass the test at the end of the course. The certificate will then be recognized by certifiers and trainming organisations in all European countries including large countries like France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Scandinavian countries, all Eastern European countries, etc. This will automatically lead to a higher recognition of the certificate and higher chances of working for customers in an open European market.

How to Cooperate with ECQA?

You find a description of the different roles and membersips in the organisation under membership.
You find guidelines, application forms, and agreement templates under guidelines.
You find the persons to be addressed under contacts.
You find details about related conferences and events in Europe under EU Cert conferences and EuroSPI conferences.

Open your mind and become a member of a Europe wide collaboration and strategy.

EU Projects that Helped Building the ECQA Platform Strategy

FP5 Project MM 1032 CREDIT: Development of skills portals, skills assessment functions, standards for skills sets in Europe (1998 - 2001).
E-Learning Project EPI: Development of new learning methods and portals integrating e-learning with skills assessment (2003 - 2005).
E-Learning Project PLATO: Application of EPI portals to new ways of certification delivery between universities and industry in placement schema (2006 - 2007).
LLP project EQN: Design of Europe wide valid quality criteria to empower a Europe wide quality control in course delivery and certification for courses in the LLP schema . These guidelines formed the basis to legally form the ECQA association with defined quality and certification guidelines (2005 - 2007).
LLP multilateral project EU Cert Campus: An online training campus has been established supporting skills assessment, online training, certification and a trainer pool (2008 - 2009).
LLP multilateral project DEUCert: Dissemination of ECQA and the EU Cert Campus takes place in all European countries and regional certification centers are being set up (2010 - 2011).

Art. 2 of Legal Statutes: Aims of the Association

(1) Activities of the Association will provide the organisation for certification and accreditation of new job roles (professions), training organisations, trainers and examination bodies and the co-operation of those entities on a regional, national, and transnational level, in order to

a) foster the accreditation, update and release of new job roles (professions) to be accepted into the job pool to achieve a higher qualification in the international labour market using an accreditation, test and certification system.

b) support regional and/or transnational skills assessment and testing by using an accreditation portal for Europe.

c) provide the backbone for the accreditation of training organisations, trainers, examination bodies and certificate issuance for all members.

(2) The Association will, through its activities, in general promote and support the certification and accreditation process of job roles for businesses and higher education institutions on a regional, national, and transnational level.

(3) The Association will support and validate new developments within the member network and beyond.

(4) The running of the skills assessment, test and accreditation portal for certification and examination bodies will lead to a higher level of trainings and trainers and better qualification of participants in Europe.

(5) The experiences will also be disseminated amongst other European partners(hips). Especially individual trainees will benefit from the outcome of the activities.