CEF Professional is a project that was funded by the Leonardo da Vinci programme during 2005 - 2007. Its aim: to devise professional field-specific language proficiency profiles.

These CEF Professional Profiles are based on the CEF and on needs analyses carried out in co-operation with professionals in the following fields: technology, business, health and social care, and law.

The profiles provide a solid empirical basis for curriculum planning in the secondary vocational sector and the tertiary sector. They can be used both in Vocationally-Oriented Language Learning (VOLL) on the (upper-) secondary level and in LSP (Language for Specific Purposes) on the tertiary level of language learning and teaching, providing a foundation for tailor-made language courses for each field.

The primary outcomes of the two-year project consist in the CEF Professional Profiles and the Guidelines for their application in course planning. Full details can be found in the Handbook, which also contains a number of articles on the theoretical and practical aspects of needs analysis and brief reports on the experiments conducted during the project period.

The project partnership comprised partners from Finland, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Germany.