Employers should soon be able to quickly identify the range of skills and competencies gained by applicants with foreign vocational qualifications and make an informed decision on appointing the right person.

This follows the launch of the first Europass Certificate Supplement this week by City & Guilds.    The Certificate Supplement, part of the Europass initiative,1 provides employers with additional information on City & Guilds qualifications including Beauty Therapy.

Valid only with the original certificate, the Certificate Supplement describes the skills acquired by the applicant, the range of occupations available to them as well as the level and entry requirements of the qualification.

The Certificate Supplement is free of charge and available to learners who have successfully completed a City & Guilds qualification and wish to provide full details of their certificate to prospective employers. 

Keith Brooker, Director-General of City & Guilds confirmed that City & Guilds is the first body in the UK to launch the Certificate Supplement and highlighted the important role of vocational education and training in enabling mobility.     ‘The Certificate Supplement is a valuable tool for evaluating applications.    Employers cannot take a chance at second guessing what skills applicants from overseas have acquired as it could be detrimental to their business.    It helps employers choose the best candidate for the job.

He added:  ‘City & Guilds is committed to helping remove the difficulties and barriers commonly associated with moving from one country to another to work or to study.  We are delighted to be the first UK awarding body to provide a tool which will help learners to become more mobile and employers to identify the best individuals for the job.’

Further details on the Europass Certificate Supplement can be found on www.cityandguilds.com/europass.

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Media queries:
Oksana Higglesden
City & Guilds
Tel: 020 7294 2556
Email: oksana.higglesden@cityandguilds.com

Note to editors:

1 The Europass initiative  (http://europass.cedefop.eu/ ) was established by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union to create a single framework for the transparency of qualifications and competencies.    In the UK, the UK National Europass Centre (http://www.uknec.org.uk/ ) is responsible for the co-ordination, management and promotion of all activities related to Europass.

About City & Guilds (http://www.cityandguilds.com/ ) is the expert and leading authority in vocational education and training - both in the UK and beyond. 
• In operation for the last 130 years, City & Guilds is the UK’s leading awarding body for work-related qualifications.  Twenty million people in the UK have City & Guilds qualifications, and the organisation awards a further 1.5 million qualifications to learners every year.  
• City & Guilds also enables people to develop essential leadership and management skills through its Institute of Leadership and Management, which is the largest provider of management qualifications in Europe.
• City & Guilds creates prosperity from skills for individuals, business and nations within and beyond the workplace