The Studying Abroad pilot of the DE4A project aims at demonstrating in practice the benefits for different European higher education area stakeholders of realizing across borders the principles of once only and digital-by-default. By the combination of three use cases (application to public higher education, applying for study grant, and diploma recognition) it will prove the optimal process/procedure for students of the participating three Member States (Belgium, Slovenia, and Spain) for registration and eventually applying for a student grant as well as for studies recognition.
The first deliverable relating to the Studying Abroad pilot, defines its scope, establishes its functional boundaries, includes pilot main objectives, sets specific pilot technical and business goals, and presents a preliminary identification of corresponding pilot success criteria suitable to assess them. A detailed specification of the three use cases and corresponding (functional and non-functional) requirements has been defined. Additionally, an overview of the infrastructures and initiatives relevant for the pilot, e.g. the eIDAS infrastructure, European digital credentials infrastructure, or European Blockchain Services infrastructure (EBSI), showed what already exists in the participating Member States and which building blocks and other initiatives’ results will be explored for reuse by the pilot. For each use case, the relevant actors have been identified and the required and available data for evidence exchange has been analysed.
Apart from the project partners from the three participating countries, the procedures require other data consumers and data providers to be involved, for example regional governments, ministries, regional agencies, institutions involved in the diploma recognition procedure, etc. Analysis also shows little overlapping of the mandatory and optional data required by the procedures between the participating Member States and even between different regions in one Member State. Ministries and higher educational institutions are the main sources of identification and academic data of the students, while examples of evidence necessary for the three procedures include diploma and diploma supplement, data on completion of secondary education, certificate of language proficiency, and data on income and household situation.
The use cases are described through (a) user journeys presented from a student point of view, (b) preconditions, main-flow steps, and postconditions, and (c) a list of functional and non-functional requirements. Specifics of the existing procedures in Belgium, Slovenian, and Spain are also provided. The three use cases have different levels of complexity and can be implemented by various communication patterns. While the selection of the appropriate patterns for applications to higher education and applications for study grants will be decided later in collaboration with “Work Package 2 – Architecture vision and framework”, it is currently envisioned that self- sovereign identities, preferably based on EBSI, will be validated in the diploma recognition use case. As recognized diplomas and other credentials for qualification recognition are required evidence for the other two procedures, linkage of the use cases will also be explored.
Several political, legal, technical, and organizational issues still need to be resolved before the three procedures can be validated in production environment. Examples of such challenges include lack of notified identification schemes in Slovenia, required changes of operation of institutions that are not part of the DE4A project, maturity of the building blocks and relevant infrastructures, such as EBSI, and necessary changes in national legislations.
The results constitute the basis for the next Studying Abroad pilot planning phase, providing information relevant for a pilot management plan and coordination of the different pilot partners involved in each use case. They will also serve as major input to other DE4A activities, in particular Work Package 2 – Architecture vision and framework (requirements are a starting point for joint development of project start architecture, underlying blockchain support framework and later towards technical architectures and interoperability solutions toolbox), Work Package 3 – Semantic interoperability solutions (requirements feeding semantic interoperability framework and corresponding semantic solutions - components/tools- needed to support the pilot), and Work Package 5 – Common component design & development (requirements relevant for identification of features for products and components and later for their technical design and common specifications). The identified legal and organisational barriers are also relevant to Work Package 7 - Legal and ethical compliance and consensus building and Work Package 6 - Sustainable impact and new governance models.
The Studying Abroad pilot of the DE4A project aims at demonstrating in practice the benefits for different European higher education area stakeholders of realizing across borders the principles of once only and digital-by-default. By the combination of three use cases (application to public higher education, applying for study grant, and diploma recognition) it will prove the optimal process/procedure for students of the participating three Member States (Belgium, Slovenia, and Spain) for registration and eventually applying for a student grant as well as for studies recognition.
The first deliverable relating to the Studying Abroad pilot, defines its scope, establishes its functional boundaries, includes pilot main objectives, sets specific pilot technical and business goals, and presents a preliminary identification of corresponding pilot success criteria suitable to assess them. A detailed specification of the three use cases and corresponding (functional and non-functional) requirements has been defined. Additionally, an overview of the infrastructures and initiatives relevant for the pilot, e.g. the eIDAS infrastructure, European digital credentials infrastructure, or European Blockchain Services infrastructure (EBSI), showed what already exists in the participating Member States and which building blocks and other initiatives’ results will be explored for reuse by the pilot. For each use case, the relevant actors have been identified and the required and available data for evidence exchange has been analysed.
Apart from the project partners from the three participating countries, the procedures require other data consumers and data providers to be involved, for example regional governments, ministries, regional agencies, institutions involved in the diploma recognition procedure, etc. Analysis also shows little overlapping of the mandatory and optional data required by the procedures between the participating Member States and even between diff