During 2022-2024, the European Commission explored the development of a European Digital Skills Certificate (EDSC). The certificate would help people have their digital skills quickly and easily recognised by employers, training providers and more.

This initiative was meant to offer a quality label for digital skills certification across Europe, based on the European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp).

Read more about the Digital Competence Framework (DigComp)

Following a feasibility study and a pilot project with several EU countries, the European Commission concluded that such a quality label would not bring enough added value to European citizens.

Outcomes of the feasibility study and pilot project with EU countries

A feasibility study carried out between September 2022 and January 2024 concluded:

• The demand for an EDSC in the EU is limited.
• Digital skills certificates should be better adapted to labour market needs.
• There is a moderate level of readiness for an EDSC across EU countries indicating that substantial effort would be needed to implement and reap the benefits from an EDSC.
• An EDSC would entail significant implementation and permanent operational costs.

The study recommends updating the DigComp framework with learning outcomes. This will support stakeholders in their activities related to the education, training, assessment and certification of digital skills.

During April-December 2023, an EDSC pilot project took place with national authorities from several EU countries (Austria, Finland, France, Romania and Spain). The Commission asked these authorities to contribute to defining the content and scope of the EDSC by exploring, assessing and evaluating its relevant building blocks.

The pilot showed diverging views on digital skills certification, namely:

• supporting digital skills development is of greater need than certifying them.
• the focus should be on comparability and transparency of digital skills rather than on the mutual recognition of their certification

Based on the outcomes of both the study and the pilot project, the overall conclusion is that the costs of putting in place an EDSC quality label would outweigh its benefits.

Way forward

In 2024, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) started developing a set of indicative learning outcomes for each DigComp competence together with stakeholders.

These will be accompanied by practical information for their implementation, thereby contributing to improving the transparency of certified digital skills in Europe.

Timeline

More information on the Digital Competence Framework (DigComp) can be found below:

• brochure
• video
• Joint Research Centre webpage

Get further information about the Digital Competence Certification on All Digital.

Funding

This action received funding through the Erasmus+ programme.