EMPASS: The Employment Skills Pass, a Quality Standard for Faster Transition from Education to Employment is a project co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ Forward Looking program, implemented by a consortium of 14 international partners.

The project focuses on developing a framework for training and certification of youth soft skills to meet the needs of employers. The consortium, made up of members from Belgium, Greece, Northern Macedonia, Romania and Spain, brings together national JA organizations, companies as well as technical and vocational education (TVET) providers.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE

The EMPASS project aims to develop a new micro-credential to help young people gain and validate essential employability skills and at the same time address the evolving demands of employers across Europe.

A micro-credential is the record of the learning outcomes that a learner has acquired following a small volume of learning. The learning experiences leading to the delivery of a micro-credential are designed to provide the learner with specific knowledge, skills and competences that respond to societal, personal, cultural or labor market needs (according to the National Qualifications Authority).

PROJECT CONTENT

• Development of a needs analysis on the soft skills that employers in Europe prioritize;
• Development of a training content for technical and vocational education (TVET) students and of a system to certify the soft skills acquired;
• Preparing TVET institutions to act as test centers;
• Piloting the program and delivery of micro-credentials to young people.