EMPASS: The Employment Skills Pass, a Quality Standard for Faster Transition from Education to Employment

The Consortium of 13 members from 4 different countries (BE, ES, GR, RO) and 3 different sectors (NGOs, educational institutions, Industry representatives) has been established to develop an employability micro credential program for the most-scarce soft skills in the labour market in order to address youth unemployment on the one hand and to speed up the achievement of the EEA on the other hand. To identify these sets of skills, the consortium will undertake a needs analysis within three countries: Greece, Romania and Spain. This analysis will be undertaken in close collaboration with industry/employability partners and the TVET sector, paving the foundations for inter-sectoral collaboration and the formulation of joint approaches towards a pressing challenge: a rising mismatch of labour supply and demand. The employability micro credential concept will be piloted with 500 participants in each of the 3 selected countries , for a total of 1,500 direct beneficiaries. The employability micro credentials will assess the skill level of the potential employees, giving reference to both the employers for the knowledge of the individual and the training needs for the VET institutions. This will be facilitated in two major ways: (1) by engaging industry/employment actors in designing the curricula and (2) by signing memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with employers for long-term collaboration and support throughout and beyond the implementation of the project. Impact will be tracked and measured and the employability program will undergo improvements before being spread to other countries. Sustainability of the employability micro-credentials and job placement program will be ensured with knowledge transfer to the local JA members as well as local TVET and employer/industry partners. The Consortium has structured its activities into 6 work packages (WP), scheduled to run for 36 months.