The European CV (Europass): how to create one for your study application

Many European universities ask for a CV alongside your documents. Europass is the EU's official, free CV format and is recognised across Europe. In this guide you will learn to build an organised, professional academic CV.

What is Europass?

Europass is a set of free EU tools available on the official website europass.europa.eu. One of them is an online CV editor: you build a profile and it creates your CV in the standard European format, which you can download as a PDF.

Main CV sections

1. Personal information: name, email, phone and city. Unnecessary details like marital status are not needed.
2. Education: newest first; school or university, field, years and, if strong, your grades.
3. Work experience: including part-time work, internships and volunteering.
4. Language skills: Europass uses CEFR levels (A1 to C2); mention your language certificate too.
5. Digital and other skills: specific and relevant to your field.
6. Projects, certificates and awards.

Writing tips

• Keep it short and relevant; one to two pages is usually enough for a study application.
• For each item, describe a specific achievement, not just a duty.
• A photo is optional in Europass; leave it out if the university did not ask.
• Your CV should match your motivation letter and documents; see the motivation letter guide.
• Use a professional file name such as Firstname-Lastname-CV.pdf.

Europass or a simple CV?

If the university explicitly asks for Europass, use it. If no format is specified, a clean one-page CV with the same sections is perfectly acceptable. What matters is clear, accurate content, not the format.

Common mistakes

1. Too long and full of irrelevant details.
2. Spelling mistakes and messy formatting.
3. Exaggerating language or skill levels.
4. Dates that do not match your documents.
5. The same CV for every programme without adjusting it.

Checklist before sending

• Contact details are correct.
• Language level matches your certificate.
• Dates match your documents.
• The CV has been proofread.
• It is converted to PDF and the file opens.

Frequently asked questions