What is an RNCP certification?
An RNCP certification is a professional qualification listed on the Répertoire National des Certifications Professionnelles, the official register kept by France compétences, which records certifications recognised by the State. Before being listed, a certification is assessed and approved by France compétences, which checks that it meets genuine needs of the labour market. The listing therefore attests that the certified skills correspond to identified occupations.
Who lists a certification on the RNCP, and what it attests
The RNCP is an official database managed by France compétences, the public body that keeps the register. A certification is never listed straightaway: it must first be assessed and approved, which is what sets an RNCP listing apart from a simple title chosen by an institution.
This assessment focuses on one specific point, the one that gives the certification its whole meaning: do the skills taught meet genuine needs of the labour market? Once the answer is confirmed, the listing attests that the skills acquired correspond to identified occupations, which is not quite the same thing as an academic level, since the RNCP is based on professional skills rather than years of study, even though the register is also organised by levels, from level 3 to level 8.
Excelia Business School's qualifications are among the certifications listed on the RNCP: their listing attests that the skills they confer correspond to identified occupations. The programme-by-programme detail lives on dedicated pages, more complete than this definition can cover: Excelia Business School's programmes and their certification level and RNCP levels and the Excelia Business School qualifications listed on them.
What an RNCP record says, and why it changes
Every certification listed on the register has a public record, freely available in France compétences' register, which states the level assigned and the period for which the listing remains valid.
Because the listing is never permanent: it is valid for a limited period, up to five years, before being reviewed and renewed. This limit is not an arbitrary administrative constraint, it ensures that a certification stays in step with the occupations it prepares people for, since the skills expected in a sector evolve faster than a qualification lasts. This is also why a title or a record number can change from one year to the next, and why it is better to rely on the register than on a brochure or a dated document.
Since titles and record numbers evolve, where can you find up-to-date information on a specific Excelia Business School programme? Request the brochure for the programme that interests you: it contains the full, up-to-date detail.
This national framework is also aligned with the European qualifications framework: this is what makes the level of a French qualification legible abroad, without this amounting to an automatic equivalence with a qualification obtained elsewhere. And if the question is less about the certification than about the school that awards it, how to check that a business school is state-recognised answers that specific question.