Qualiopi Indicator 3: publishing your CFA's completion and job placement rates via InserJeunes

For a French apprenticeship training center (CFA), Indicator 3 of the National Quality Standard is one of the few built on a legal obligation that exists independently of Qualiopi itself: publishing your training results every year — results calculated not by you, but by the government. Many CFAs discover this requirement only at audit time, unsure where to find the data or how to use it. Here is the full method.

What Indicator 3 actually requires

The National Quality Standard places Indicator 3 under the first criterion, on public information conditions. For every apprenticeship program it runs, a CFA must make public:

• the completion rate for the targeted diploma or certification;
• the continuing-education rate (students moving on to further study);
• the dropout rate during training;
• the 6-month job placement rate;
• the establishment’s added value, when available.

This is not a mere auditor recommendation: it flows from Article L. 6111-8 of the French Labor Code, which requires the annual publication of these indicators for every CFA whose headcount statistically allows it. Qualiopi simply verifies that this legal obligation is actually met and made visible.

InserJeunes: the single source of the data

You do not calculate these rates yourself. They are produced by InserJeunes, jointly run by the DEPP (Ministry of Education statistics office) and the DARES (Ministry of Labor statistics office), based on payroll declarations and post-training exit surveys. Results are available on the official portal inserjeunes.education.gouv.fr, program by program, CFA by CFA.

The release calendar follows a set rhythm: for a cohort of apprentices who left training in year N, 6-month placement data is published in the fall of N+1, then updated at 12, 18 and 24 months in later waves. In practice, a CFA must check the platform at least once a year to confirm the figures shown on its website and sales materials match the latest available vintage — a rate from 2023 still displayed in 2026 is an easily spotted non-conformity for an auditor who checks InserJeunes directly during the audit.

Where and how to publish these rates

Indicator 3 does not impose a single format, but auditors look for information that is effortlessly accessible to a prospective apprentice:

1. Website program pages: each apprenticeship program must display its own rates, not a CFA-wide average across all programs.
2. Catalog and sales brochures: the same figures, with the same source and the same vintage as on the website.
3. Pre-enrollment information materials, for a candidate who has not browsed the website.

Consistency across these three channels is systematically checked. A figure that differs between the printed brochure and the website triggers an immediate question during audit.

Statistical confidentiality: the main exception to know

For small cohorts, French data protection rules impose a minimum-headcount threshold below which InserJeunes displays no rate at all, to prevent an individual outcome from being reconstructed. This is common for a young CFA or a low-enrollment program. Do not leave the program page blank in that case: state explicitly that “this program’s headcount does not allow InserJeunes to publish a rate (statistical confidentiality)” and, if you have one, add an internal tracking record of the cohort. A new entrant to Qualiopi with no track record yet should likewise describe the process it will put in place once the first cohort’s data is released.

Mistakes that fail Indicator 3 during audit

Mistake	Why it gets flagged
Omitting the dropout rate	Often removed voluntarily as unflattering, even though it is legally mandatory just like the others
No source or vintage stated	An undated figure cannot be verified and is presumed non-compliant
Sector-wide average shown as the CFA’s own result	Conflates a national statistic with the center’s actual performance
Programs missing from the publication	Every apprenticeship program needs its own rate, not just the most flattering ones
Data not refreshed after a new InserJeunes release	Auditors check the platform live and compare it against your materials

The link with Indicator 29: figures consistent with your actions

Indicator 3 is limited to the transparency of the display. A low placement rate is not, by itself, a non-conformity: what is, is the absence of any link between that result and the corrective actions the CFA takes elsewhere, assessed under Indicator 29 on apprentices’ job placement — mobilizing the business network, supporting apprentices searching for a contract, managing apprenticeship contract terminations. An auditor who sees a placement rate declining two years in a row, with nothing about it in your continuous improvement plan, reads that as a cross-indicator non-conformity.

This logic — publishing an outcome measure to inform users’ choices, not just to tick an administrative box — echoes a well-established finding in the economics of education. A study by Figlio and Lucas, published in 2004 in the American Economic Review, shows that publishing school performance grades (“school report cards”) in the United States measurably changes families’ choices and how schools are valued, well beyond its original administrative purpose (see the study on Google Scholar). Along the same lines, Hastings and Weinstein, in a study published in 2008 in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, show that making school performance information easier to access concretely changes families’ school-choice decisions (see the study on Google Scholar). For a CFA, the practical takeaway is direct: well-displayed InserJeunes rates are not just an audit formality — they genuinely weigh on the decisions of future apprentices and their employers.

A 4-step method to get compliant

1. Check InserJeunes for each of your apprenticeship programs and note the vintage of the available data.
2. Update your materials (website, brochures, pre-enrollment documents) with the rates, their source and their year.
3. Document the exceptions: programs with no published data (statistical confidentiality) or new entrants with no track record yet.
4. Link these figures to your action plan whenever a rate deteriorates, in line with Indicator 29 and your continuous improvement process.

For a full overview of the 33 indicators and how they interact, our Qualiopi indicators table is a useful starting point before preparing a CFA audit.

Take action

The Complete Kit Certif (€297, 14-day guarantee) includes ready-to-use program page templates and the InserJeunes tracking table to document Indicator 3 without starting from scratch. Setting up your CFA and don’t have a first published cohort yet? The ebook “Create your training organization in 30 days” (€67) covers the administrative basics from your activity declaration onward, and the Complete Pack (€347) bundles both resources. Browse all our CFA-focused articles to prepare for every indicator in the standard.