Europass CV: What It Is and How to Fill It In

When to use this

The Europass CV is a standard CV format from the European Union. Some European universities, scholarship programmes and employers ask for it by name. If an application or advert asks for a Europass CV, use it. If it does not, a normal academic CV is usually clearer for research jobs.

You build a Europass CV on the official Europass website. The site says you first create a Europass profile with your education, training, work experience and skills, and then build CVs from it. It also says you can create CVs in 31 languages and download them. The official Europass page is the final word on how the tool works.

The sections

A Europass CV usually includes:

• Personal information: name, contact details and, optionally, a photo and links
• Work experience: job title, employer, city, dates and main activities
• Education and training: degree, institution, dates, final grade and thesis title
• Language skills: a self-assessment of listening, reading, speaking and writing on the levels A1 to C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)
• Digital skills and other skills
• Optional sections: publications, projects, conferences, awards, volunteering

A fictional filled-in example

This example is fictional. The person and every detail are invented.

Personal information: Maryam Shah, Hyderabad, Pakistan, [email], [phone], [LinkedIn]

Work experience: Research Assistant, [University], Jamshoro, Pakistan (Sept 2024 to present). Collected and cleaned water-quality data from 40 sampling sites; built a dashboard used by the department for monthly reports.

Education and training: MS Environmental Science, [University], Jamshoro (2022 to 2024). CGPA 3.6/4.0. Thesis: "Arsenic levels in groundwater of [district]".

Language skills: Urdu and Sindhi (mother tongues). English: listening C1, reading C1, spoken interaction B2, spoken production B2, writing C1. IELTS Academic 7.0 (2025).

Digital skills: R, Python (pandas), QGIS, Microsoft Excel

Publications: [Author list] (2025). [Title]. [Journal].

How to adapt this

• Describe results, not duties, in the work experience section, just as in any CV.
• Assess your languages honestly. If you have a test score, add it next to the self-assessment.
• Remove empty optional sections so the CV stays short.
• Check the file after downloading: names, dates and accents (for example in European city names) should display correctly.

Common mistakes

• Using Europass when the advert asks for a different format.
• Rating every language skill at C2.
• Leaving default text or empty headings in the downloaded file.
• Sending a CV that runs to five or six pages because every section was kept.

Related: Academic CV template and Cover letter for a funded PhD position.