Education on a CV: How to Present Degrees and Training

What Should Your Education Section Include?

Give the exact qualification or course title, institution, dates and completion status. List recent education first, followed by earlier qualifications. Add a relevant module, project or specialism when it helps explain what you can bring to the role.

All examples in this article are fictional, including the institutions and study histories. Adapt the wording to your own education.

Your situation	Example wording
Qualification completed	BSc Computer Science — Example University, Bristol — 2021–2024, awarded 2024
Degree in progress	BSc Computer Science — Example University, Bristol — 2024–present, expected completion 2027
Study without a degree award	First-year study towards a BA in Economics — Example University, Bristol — 2022–2023

For a completed qualification, the award year can be enough for a short entry. For current study, label the completion date as expected. If you have finished the course but are waiting for the outcome, use “results pending”. Keep any predicted grade clearly separate from an awarded grade.

If you left a course, highlight relevant modules and projects you worked on. Add “first year passed” if that is accurate; otherwise, “first-year study” describes attendance without claiming an award.

Should Education Go Before or After Work Experience?

Put the strongest relevant evidence first:

• Student or first job: lead with education if it provides the clearest evidence for the role. A directly relevant placement or apprenticeship may be a stronger opening.
• Relevant employment history: lead with work experience and place a concise education section afterwards.
• Career change: bring recent training forward if it explains your preparation for the new field. Existing transferable work experience may still deserve first place.

The National Careers Service suggests placing education early for people with little work experience and considering work history first for those with more.

A Short Entry or More Detail: Which Works Better?

A single line can be enough. If your work history already demonstrates the relevant skills, an education entry can simply identify your qualification.

Short version:

BSc Computer Science — Example University, Bristol — awarded 2024

For a first software role, a project can show how you apply what you learned.

Too vague: “Completed a programming project at university.”

More useful, expanded version:

BSc Computer Science — Example University, Bristol — 2021–2024, awarded

• Final-year group project: a demonstration room-booking application using Python and SQL.
• Personal contribution: wrote SQL queries to identify booking conflicts and added validation messages so users could choose an available time slot.

The detail connects a technical skill to a practical outcome and makes the applicant's contribution clear. Select one or two details relevant to the role: a module, dissertation or project.

An awarded classification can also strengthen the entry, particularly early in your career: for example, “BSc Computer Science, First-class honours”, where that is your actual award. For a relevant dissertation, include its topic and mark if the mark helps demonstrate the quality of your work.

Our CV with no experience guide explains how to fit these projects alongside other evidence from a short background.

Which Older Qualifications Should You Keep?

Keep qualifications that help explain your suitability. Prioritise those requested in the vacancy and those that add evidence beyond your work history.

• Your main relevant qualification usually deserves a line, especially if the employer asks for it.
• School qualifications can be useful early in your career or where the employer explicitly requests a subject or grade. Later qualifications may make a full subject list unnecessary.
• Intermediate stages of the same course can often be condensed when the final award explains the progression.
• An older specialist qualification deserves space when it supports a skill or knowledge area needed for the role.

You do not need to list every school you attended. Our guide to what to include on your CV helps you make similar choices across the rest of your background.

Short Courses, Certifications and Attendance Certificates

Use the exact description of the document you received: a degree, professional certification or certificate of attendance. For a certification, give its title, training provider, award date and awarding body if different from the provider; include its validity period where relevant.

For qualifications covered by the register, the GOV.UK regulated qualification service helps you check recognition in England or Northern Ireland. It also points to separate services for Wales and Scotland. If an official qualification level helps explain an unfamiliar award, add the verified level alongside its exact title, using the relevant framework for that country.

For a short course, show a skill you practised or something you produced:

Excel workshop: pivot tables — Example Training Centre — 2026, 14 hours

Certificate of attendance. Practice exercise: created a monthly sales summary from a supplied dataset.

A separate Certifications or Professional Development section can keep several relevant courses from crowding your academic history. Our certifications and continuing education guide covers how to choose and present them.

Retraining and Overseas Education

For a career change

Describe the skills you practised during training and your contribution to projects. For a group website project, you might write: “Built the booking form and its error messages.” That identifies your role in the team's result.

Name the outcome accurately: qualification, certification, attendance certificate or course studied. Make it clear if you are still preparing for an assessment.

For an overseas qualification or exchange

Give the original qualification title, institution and country. Add a short English explanation where useful. Use an official UK equivalence only where that comparison has been established.

Present an exchange semester as a period of study within the degree you are pursuing, with the host institution and dates. Relevant modules, a project or the language used for study can help explain the experience.

Common Mistakes in the Education Section

1. Listing a qualification in progress as already awarded: distinguish expected completion, results pending and an actual award.
2. Treating attendance as certification: use the description on the document you received.
3. Expanding every qualification equally: save detail for education relevant to this application.
4. Leaving unfamiliar abbreviations unexplained: write out the title at least once where it may be unclear.
5. Inventing grades or commercial experience: describe academic projects and your contribution accurately.
6. Listing courses unrelated to the vacancy: select those that demonstrate the knowledge and skills needed for the role.

Add Your Education to Your CV

Check each entry's title, dates and completion status, then keep the qualifications that support this application. Adjust the detail to your background: a short entry to identify an award, or a project or specialism to demonstrate a relevant skill.

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