Credentials, certificates and micro-credentials
A credential is only worth as much as others trust it. Paper certificates can be forged, PDFs even more easily; digital credentials under open standards carry their proof of authenticity with them and can be verified in seconds.
The articles in this section explain the terms and standards — from micro-credentials under the Council Recommendation through W3C Verifiable Credentials and Open Badges to Europass and the EQF and DQR qualifications frameworks — and show what issuers and verifiers should look out for.
Micro-credentials: what they are and what they must contain
Under the Council of the EU's Recommendation of 16 June 2022, a micro-credential is the record of learning outcomes someone has acquired after a small volume of learning, assessed against transparent and clearly defined criteria. The Recommendation lists mandatory elements such as learning outcomes, workload (in ECTS where possible), level, type of assessment and quality assurance, so that micro-credentials become comparable and recognisable across Europe.
ReadMicro-credentials for companies: issue your own, build them well
Yes, companies may issue micro-credentials themselves: the Council of the EU's Recommendation of 16 June 2022 expressly names employers and industry as providers. For a company micro-credential to follow the European approach, it needs learning outcomes assessed against transparent criteria, the eleven mandatory elements of Annex I and a stated type of quality assurance. Recognition or credit does not follow automatically — that is decided by whoever receives the credential.
ReadVerifiable Credentials: digital records under the W3C standard
Verifiable Credentials are digital records under an open W3C standard that an issuer signs cryptographically, a holder keeps and a verifier can check for authenticity, integrity and revocation without contacting the issuer. Version 2.0 of the data model has been a W3C Recommendation since 15 May 2025 and underpins education credentials such as Open Badges 3.0 and European digital credentials.
ReadChecking a certificate's authenticity: how the QR code works
A QR code on a certificate leads to the issuer's verification page, which uses an unguessable code to show whether the credential is authentic, valid and not revoked. It is important that the page really belongs to the issuer, that the data shown match the document and — for signed credentials — that the cryptographic check succeeds.
ReadOpen Badges or Verifiable Credentials? The standards compared
Open Badges is an open standard for digital badges and certificates in education; W3C Verifiable Credentials is a general standard for signed, machine-verifiable records of any kind. Since version 3.0, Open Badges are themselves built as Verifiable Credentials, so the question is usually not "either or" but which profile of the shared data model fits.
ReadDigital certificates: what the law says and what tech can do
Whether a digital certificate replaces paper depends on the certificate: in Germany, university certificates are governed by state law and examination regulations, while employment references may be issued electronically with the employee's consent under section 109(3) of the Trade Regulation Act. Technically, digital certificates convince when they are signed or sealed and verifiable via a verification page or as a Verifiable Credential.
ReadEuropass and European Digital Credentials explained
Europass is a free EU service for CVs, skills and qualifications, legally based on Decision (EU) 2018/646. It includes the European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC): a multilingual format for electronically sealed learning credentials, for which the Commission provides tools to issue, store, share and verify them.
ReadCompetence passport: making skills visible and portable
A competence passport collects a person's evidence of competences — from school, university, work and training — in one place owned by that person. It becomes valuable when the individual records are verifiable, for instance as Verifiable Credentials, and when the holder decides who sees which information.
ReadTraining records for audits: what auditors want to see
In audits and regulatory inspections, what counts is whether an organisation can show that the right people were trained at the right time on the right content. Audit-proof records show person, content, date, result and validity, link to a training plan and can be checked for authenticity.
ReadEQF and DQR: the eight levels explained simply
The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) places qualifications on eight levels by knowledge, skills, and responsibility and autonomy; the German Qualifications Framework (DQR) applies this to the German education system, also with eight levels. For example, the bachelor's degree, master craftsman and Bachelor Professional are on level 6, the master's degree and Master Professional on level 7 and the doctorate on level 8.
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