If your institution is evaluating how to issue verifiable digital credentials, you have almost certainly encountered two names that dominate the conversation: Europass and Open Badges 3.0. Both are legitimate standards, both enable competency verification, but they are not the same — and choosing one or the other (or both) has direct implications for how your graduates are recognised by employers and institutions across Europe and the rest of the world.

This article explains the real differences between both formats, without unnecessary jargon, so that you can make an informed decision. And there is one fact that changes the conversation entirely: organisations already exist that issue in both formats simultaneously, eliminating the need to choose. EASEC, for instance, issues every soft skills certification in dual format — Europass EDC and Open Badges 3.0 — covering both the European and global ecosystems from a single assessment.

What is Europass and what are European Digital Credentials (EDC)?

Europass is the European Commission’s platform for skills and qualifications transparency. Within Europass there is a specific component: European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC) — the official EU standard for verifiable, tamper-evident digital credentials across education and professional training.

To date, over 760,000 European digital credentials have been issued through the Europass platform (European Commission / Europass, 2025).

EDCs are not simply a PDF with a stamp. They are digital records that:

Stored in the student’s Europass wallet — accessible for life, independent of the issuing institution. Cryptographically sealed with a Qualified Electronic Seal (QSeal) under the eIDAS regulation — any modification after sealing is immediately detectable. Any employer or institution can verify them in real time without contacting the issuer. Available in all 29 Europass languages for international mobility.

Official source: Europass Platform — European Commission

What is Open Badges 3.0?

Open Badges is an open standard originally created by the Mozilla Foundation and currently managed by 1EdTech (formerly IMS Global). Version 3.0 represents a significant leap because it aligns with the W3C Verifiable Credentials standard, meaning that badges are no longer simple images with metadata: they are verifiable credentials with a robust technical structure.

Open Badges 3.0 is the predominant format outside Europe. It is the standard recognised by LinkedIn, used by platforms such as Credly, Badgr and Canvas, and adopted by universities in North America, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.

Europass digital credential vs Open Badges: the differences that matter

This is where most articles remain superficial. These are the real differences that affect your decision:

When to use Europass EDC

Europass is the right choice when your institution needs:

Formal recognition in Europe. If your graduates seek employment or mobility within the EU, a Europass credential speaks the language that European employers, employment agencies and accreditation bodies already recognise. It connects with EURES and national qualifications frameworks.

Evidence for accreditation processes. Europass credentials aligned with ESCO and EQF serve as direct evidence for quality reviews by bodies such as QAA, ENQA, ANECA or ANVUR. No additional preparation required — the format itself meets the requirements.

Legal certainty. The eIDAS seal is not a technical detail: it is legal backing. It means the credential has legal validity across all 27 EU Member States, equivalent to a qualified electronic signature.

When to use Open Badges 3.0

Open Badges is the right choice when:

Your audience is global. If your graduates compete in markets outside Europe — North America, Asia-Pacific, Latin America — Open Badges is the format that employment and recruitment platforms already understand.

LinkedIn is a key channel. Open Badges 3.0 has native integration with LinkedIn, allowing the credential to appear directly on the graduate’s profile with automatic verification. According to a Stanford and Coursera study (2024), professionals who add verifiable certifications to LinkedIn are 6% more likely to find employment within 12 months.

Technical flexibility. As an open standard, Open Badges allows customisation and issuance from multiple platforms without relying on centralised infrastructure.

The third option: issue in dual format

This is where the conversation changes. You do not have to choose.

EASEC issues every transversal competency certification simultaneously in Europass EDC and Open Badges 3.0 format. This means a single assessment process generates two credentials:

The Europass credential is deposited directly into the student’s personal Europass wallet — sealed with QSeal, verifiable across Europe, aligned with ESCO and EQF, available in 29 languages.

The Open Badges 3.0 credential is compatible with LinkedIn, Credly and any global credential platform — shareable with a single click, recognised by recruiters worldwide.

As Andrea Gray, Institutional Development Officer at EASEC, explained in an interview with Cantabria Económica: “Universities and training centres need to transform their programmes into internationally measurable and recognisable experiences. Accrediting soft skills is not just a quality seal — it is a common language between education and the labour market.”

Dual issuance eliminates the dilemma. Your institution does not need to build its own infrastructure: EASEC manages the entire EDC issuance process as part of the certification service, with no systems to install or integrate.

What happens in practice? A real example

When Formación Universitaria — with over 300,000 students trained across Spain and Latin America — signed its agreement with EASEC to certify students’ soft skills, media coverage was immediate. The agreement was published in outlets including Cantabria Económica, Mundo Corporativo and other specialist portals, precisely because it represented a real shift: moving from claiming that students develop competencies to proving it with verifiable European credentials.

Similarly, the EASEC and Perzon.ai partnership — covered by El Debate and Gaceta del Turismo alongside pilots with LinkedIn Mexico and Randstad — demonstrates that dual format already operates within real HR ecosystems where European and global standards coexist.

The credential travels with the person. Not with the institution that issued it.

How this affects your institutional strategy

If you are responsible for quality, employability or educational innovation at a university or training centre, these are the questions you need to answer:

Where do your graduates work? 

• If primarily in Europe → prioritise Europass. 
• If globally → you need Open Badges. 
• If both → dual format.

Do you need evidence for accreditation? If you undergo reviews by QAA, ENQA, ANECA or similar, Europass EDC aligned with ESCO and EQF provides ready-to-use evidence without additional work.

Do you have infrastructure to issue credentials? If not (like most institutions), you need an authorised issuer such as EASEC that manages the complete process — from psychometric assessment to deposit in the student’s Europass wallet.

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In summary

Europass and Open Badges 3.0 do not compete with each other: they complement one another. Europass provides legal validity, European institutional recognition and alignment with ESCO/EQF. Open Badges provides global reach, LinkedIn integration and technical flexibility.

The intelligent decision is not to choose one — it is to issue in both formats from a single process. That is precisely what dual issuance enables: one assessment, two credentials, recognition worldwide.

Sources and official links

• Europass — European Commission
• European Digital Credentials for Learning
• Open Badges 3.0 — 1EdTech
• W3C Verifiable Credentials
• eIDAS Regulation — European Commission
• EASEC — Europass & Digital Credentials