EMREX Rolling out data transfer services for mobile students in Nordic countries and beyond Cape Town, 19.05.2016

Agenda What is EMREX How it works Current state Future Demo User scenario Data standard and platform Current state Field trial, solution Evaluation Future Other use scenarios Call for cooperation Demo

What is EMREX? EU Erasmus+ project (2015-2017) Ministry level initiative Increase student mobility (20%) Recognition of previous studies Electronic and secure transfer of student data between HEIs Field trial and evaluation of impact Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Sweden Key requirement was to involve at least three ministry-level participants to be eligible for funding EU2020 target to increase student mobility to 20% “Field trial on the impact of enabling easy mobility on recognition of external studies”

Host CountryResults Service How it works? Country A Country B Home country HEI SIS Host CountryResults Service Oodi Oodi Oodi HEI SIS Student Mobility Plug-in National Contact Point ELMO (XML) Platform Registry NCP (National Contact Point) – one per country SMP (Student Mobility Plug-in to local SIS) Authentication Student returning home can retrieve his achievement data electronically

Current state – field trial Institutions in live field trial All HEIs from Norway and Sweden All HEIs from Finland for incoming, 4-10 HEIs for outgoing students All universities from Denmark, incoming (NCP, June) Two HEIs (Verona and Siena) from Italy (Polish internal mobility next year, several HEIs) Common data format and solution EMREX-ELMO ver. 1 posted on GitHub Example NCP/SMP on GitHub Info material and support (also in national languages) Newsletters and info on www.emrex.eu Live production systems in the Nordic countries and Italy. Poland not officially part of field trial, but has own system for national mobility All code open source and freely available in GitHub Field trial has started, with 50+ unique users (SWE-NOR-FIN)

Current state – evaluation Administrative data – statistics on the number of outgoing and incoming students for each HEI in partner countries were collected. Qualitative research Positive response to digital system for academic records’ transfer. Could significantly speed up the recognition process. Scepticism on short-term impact on students mobility. Surveys EMREX evaluation, survey part of the system EMREX users are asked to rate their experience “Very quick and straightforward to use” “Wow, can I find results from all European countries?” Survey regarding the recognition process Over 500 completed questionnaires so far Only 47% got their transcript before leaving for home Fast and reliable service most important Administrative data – statistics on the number of outgoing and incoming students for each HEI in partner countries were collected. Qualitative research Respondents are optimistic about the prospect of having a digital system for academic records’ transfer. They anticipate that EMREX could significantly speed up the recognition process. Interviewees are sceptical about EMREX’s short-term impact on students mobility, i.e. increase in number of exchange students caused by EMREX. Surveys SMP evaluation A short survey for SMP evaluation has started. EMREX users are asked to rate their experience after they use the SMP. Recognition process evaluation A longer survey regarding the recognition process has been launched in Finland and soon it will disseminated in other countries. There are over 450 completed questionnaires so far.

Future – other scenarios Other use scenarios – EMREX a building block Internal national mobility Admission to educational institutions Recruitment for jobs Validation of degrees and diplomas Informal learning Further steps Expand to other countries More automatization of recognition, admission, recruitment, certification etc. Issues to be worked out in a broader perspective Long-lived authentication services for students leaving academia Common eID for EU Other possible issues Software reuse (open source) Scalability

Future – call for cooperation Pre-conference workshop on paperless student mobility at EUNIS 2016 in Thessaloniki Co-operation with other projects (e.g. ERASMUS Without Paper, On-line Learning Agreement) Needed: European organization responsible for automatization of administration processes behind mobility

Additional information EMREX website: www.emrex.eu EMREX-info mailing list, e.g. monthly reports GitHub: https://github.com/emrex-eu/ Survey for mobile students on recognition https://ankieter.mimuw.edu.pl/en/surveys/81/ EUNIS pre-conference workshop „Informal evangelist meeting on paperless student mobility” https://www.auth.gr/en/node/20219

Demo A demo of the EMREX solution