When you decide to become a certification body and register a certification with France Compétences, you are faced with two possibilities: RS or RNCP?
It’s not always easy to choose… Let’s take stock!
1- Why two categories?
France Compétences has chosen to create two directories, because they correspond to two different types of certifications.
The National Directory of Professional Certifications (RNCP) is dedicated to certifications that prepare for a profession as a whole. It includes:
- THE diplomas issued in the name of the State, under the responsibility of the ministries and social partners. These diplomas are registered there by right.
- THE professional titles, issued by organizations in their own name. Training organizations must apply to be registered. This must be validated by the Professional Certification Commission to ensure that it meets all the criteria.
- THE professional qualification certificates (CQP), issued by the professional branches in their own name. These certificates meet the specific qualification needs identified by the professional branches. They are registered there on request, just as for the OFs, after having received a favorable opinion.
The Specific Directory of Certifications and Authorizations (RSCH or RS) is dedicated to three types of certifications:
- Authorizations or certifications resulting from a legal and regulatory obligation, necessary for the exercise of a profession or professional activity on the national territory (filed by ministries only)
- Certifications of transversal skills, that is to say a homogeneous and coherent set of skills, independent of a particular professional context, but nevertheless essential for the exercise of many professions (e.g.: IT or language certifications)
- Certifications of complementary skills to a profession, relating to techniques or methods applied to a profession
Thus, the RNCP is centered around learning all the skills related to a specific profession, while the RS is centered around learning skills that revolve around one or more professions.
2- Focus on the RNCP
The RNCP is therefore focused on a specific profession. The certification must allow someone who follows it to do this profession later, with a decent salary and all the necessary skills.
The certification is therefore composed of several activities (that the professional carries out), the skills necessary to do these activities. The activities and skills are also organized by 'blocks', a block representing several activities which, put together, constitute one of the main components of the profession.
The certification training is generally quite long, because it must take the time to cover all aspects of the profession.
It is possible for an RNCP to cover several professions, but these professions must be close and correspond to the reference framework. It will be necessary to explain why several are targeted.
3- Focus on the RS
Conversely, the RS is not intended to certify the skills of a profession. It is aimed at professionals who need additional skills. These skills can be transversal (IT, languages, etc.) or truly complementary to a specific profession, i.e. skills that allow it to add a new activity to its range for example, or to adapt to new customer demands.
The RS reference does not consist of blocks and does not show activities. It shows all the skills needed to carry out the activity targeted by the RS.
These are generally fairly short training courses.
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