Your CV is the first thing a scholarship committee reads about you — and some programmes don’t accept just any format: they ask for a Europass CV by name.
What is Europass?
Europass is a set of online tools offered by the European Commission free of charge, in 31 languages, to help you manage your learning and career. It includes:
- Europass Profile: where you store your experience, education, language and digital skills, projects and volunteering.
- CV editor: you pick a design, then choose which information from your profile appears.
- Cover letter editor.
- Europass Library: where you store diplomas and reference letters.
Who asks for a Europass CV?
Examples from official programme pages:
| Programme | Requirement |
|---|---|
| MARIHE (Erasmus Mundus, 2027 intake) | CV in Europass format, English template, no photo, uploaded as a PDF |
| Neurasmus (Erasmus Mundus) | Europass CV required |
| DAAD EPOS scholarships at TH Köln | Europass CV mandatory, reverse chronological, no unexplained gaps |
Rule of thumb: if the programme says “Europass”, use it. If not, any clear academic CV works — you can build one with the ForsaEdu CV builder.
Creating it step by step
- Create a profile on the Europass website — the CV is built from it.
- Fill in the relevant sections (see the table below).
- Choose a design.
- Select what appears: not everything, only what serves this programme.
- Choose the CV language — usually English for international scholarships.
- Download the CV, store it in your Library or share it.
What goes in each section?
| Section | Tip |
|---|---|
| Education | Most recent first: degree, field, university, dates, and grades if strong |
| Experience | Jobs, internships, research — with a concrete achievement for each |
| Language skills | Your CEFR level (A1–C2), plus certificate and score if any |
| Digital skills | Software and tools you actually use in your field |
| Projects, volunteering, achievements | Research, competitions and volunteering — key for leadership scholarships |
Europass’s own tips
The Europass page sums up its advice in five points:
- Present your experience clearly.
- Tailor your CV to the programme.
- Make it readable.
- Use reverse chronological order.
- Polish it before sending.
Example: writing an experience entry
Instead of: “Worked as an intern at a software company.”
Write: “Software development intern – Company X, Cairo, June–September 2025: built an order-management interface used by a team of 12 and wrote its English documentation.”
The difference: a clear role, place and dates, and a concrete result — exactly what Europass means by “present your experience clearly”.
The Europass cover letter
Europass also offers a cover letter editor. If the programme asks for one, make it specific to that programme and link it to your CV without repeating it word for word.
Checklist before sending
- Does the programme ask for Europass by name? In which language and template?
- Did you remove the photo if the programme asks you to?
- Is everything in reverse chronological order, with no unexplained gaps?
- Is your language level written in CEFR terms, with the certificate?
- Is the file in the required format (usually PDF), with a clear name such as “Name_CV_Europass.pdf”?
Mistakes that get applications rejected
- Adding a photo when the programme asks for none (e.g. MARIHE).
- Unexplained gaps, explicitly mentioned by the DAAD scholarship page at TH Köln.
- Wrong format: a standard CV when Europass is required.
- Wrong file type: if PDF is requested, don’t send Word.
- One CV for every programme: committees notice when a CV isn’t tailored.
FAQ
Is Europass free? Yes. The European Commission offers it free in 31 languages.
Do I need to be European to use it? Europass presents its tools to anyone managing their learning and career, and Erasmus Mundus programmes ask for it from applicants worldwide.
Should I add a photo? Follow the programme’s instructions; MARIHE, for example, explicitly asks for a CV without a photo.