EU Mobility Business Logic & User Needs Workshop

1. Business logic & User needs of EU mobility ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI Ioannis Salmatzidis Information Technology Center Aristotle University of Thessaloniki RS3G – Mobility project Workshop Uppsala 16-17 November 2009

2. Agenda • Background • Definition of stakeholders • Mobility Business logic • Technical perimeter of the project • Objectives & user needs

3. Background of Aristotle • Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) is the largest Greek university (86,000 undergrads and 9,000 grads) • Teaching, research and admin staff exceed 5,000 • 42 departments organized in 8 faculties

4. EU Mobility background of Aristotle • Aristotle shares 50% of total student EU mobility in Greece (training & learning) • EU mobility (student, faculty, staff) keeps rising (LLP/Erasmus…) • Bureaucracy hinders mobility • Even more mobility means higher productivity through automated business processes, 24X7, One-Stop-Shop portals, etc • If processes were simpler or automated, student mobility could increase up to 100% and faculty mobility up to 400% per year.

5. EU Mobility figures of Aristotle Student Mobility incoming outgoing Faculty Mobility • From 2004, around 100 incoming and ~100 outgoing faculty members per year

6. MoU between Aristotle & CEDEFOP • CEDEFOP is the EU Center for the Development of Vocational Training located in Thessaloniki, Greece • CEDEFOP is responsible for Europass Mobility (for mobility experience records), Europass CV and Europass Language Passport • Aristotle & CEDEFOP recently signed an MoU for pilot implementation of the Europass Mobility document

7. EU Mobility stakeholders • The Student • The Sending Institution • The Sending National Agency • The Host Institution • The Host National Agency • CEDEFOP (EU Center for the Development of Vocational Training) as the trusted producer of mobility experience records

8. Mobility Business logic (1) Prior to initial admission of sending university • Student is informed about cooperation programs between her university and other EU institutions for possible placements (usually bilateral agreements) • Student is also informed by previous publicly available mobility experiences of other students • Submission of APPLICATION OF INTEREST, CV (e.g. Europass CV), TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDS, language certificates (e.g. Europass Language Passport) to sending institution. Application for Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC) if needed.

9. Mobility Business logic (2)Initial admission from sending university • Admission is based upon academic records, knowledge of language of host university, year of studies, accumulated ECTS credits so far, etc. • Generic conditions: (a) the duration of the placement under Erasmus program is 3-12 months. (b) the student has not been in an Erasmus / Leonardo Da Vinci placement before (c) the student has completed at least 1 year of studies at the beginning of the placement (d) the student has agreed with her home Department on the accreditation of mobility courses • Student is alerted when initial admission lists are publicly available on the web.

10. Mobility Business logic (3)After initial admission of sending university & prior to admission of host university • Submission of STUDENT APPLICATION FORM to host • Registration of courses by the student that formulates the initial LEARNING/TRAINING AGREEMENT setting out the study program to be followed, ECTS credits, responsibilities, tasks, outcome, etc. It has to be signed by the 3 parties (sending/host & student) • Optional submission of TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDS to host • Optional submission to host of formal letter that the student is participating in the LLP/Erasmus program (produced by the sending institution).

11. Mobility Business logic (4)After admission from host university • If required, student and sending institution sign an additional PLACEMENT CONTRACT/LEARNING AGREEMENT according to national legislation (e.g. accreditation issues) • Depending on host institution, submission of HOUSING APPLICATION FORM • Optionally, host appoints a mentor to the student • Host along with host National Agency arranges student’s Erasmus Intensive Language Courses (EILC)

12. Mobility Business logic (5)During the exchange program (3 to 12 months) • Student registration and enrolment in the host’s Student Information Systems at arrival • If needed, student submits amendments of LEARNING AGREEMENT to be signed by the 3 parties • If needed, student submits EARLY TERMINATION NOTICE to the host institution initially and afterwards to the sending institution.

13. Mobility Business logic (6)With the completion of the exchange program • Host produces the CONFIDENTIAL SUPERVISOR'S REPORT • Host produces the DURATION OF STUDIES AT HOST INSTITUTIONform • Host produces the TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDS for courses completed (mobility ECTS credits & grading) • For post graduate studies (master or doctorate) additional letter from host advisor/mentor

14. Mobility Business logic (7)On student’s return • Submission by the student of FINAL REPORT (on completion of the exchange program) back to sending institution • Sending institution records in its own SIS the credits gained and the learning/training period in the student’s DIPLOMA SUPPLEMENT • Sending institution populates experience website for future interested students • Student’s EUROPASS MOBILITY experience may be produced (the record is completed by home AND host institutions involved in the mobility project).

15. Immediate remarks on existing business logic • More or less the same business logic across European universities • ECTS credits and grading help but not suffice (course definition – course accreditation?) • Lots of data can be exchanged G2G, increasing security/integrity, not bothering the student • Repetitive information retyped by end users or staff in sending and host information systems • Data duplication

16. Define the technical perimeter • Secure submission of forms on the internet • Structured XML web-services (G2G) between institutions or Third parties (e.g. TRANSCRIPT OF RECORDS exchange for mobility courses attended, or CEDEFOP for “Europass Mobility”) • eSigning of documents (confidentiality, integrity, accountability, non-repudiation, etc.) • Lifecycle Management of Mobility data • Email alerting in the event of completion of a task or intervention needed

17. Some general objectives • Ensure connectivity with existing SIS (Student Information Systems) • Homogenize processes and simplify as needed (do we need all this repetitive business logic?) • Ensure interoperability between parties • Follow standardized and proven technologies • Use Open Source – Open Standard? • Prefer web services since they are simple and platform neutral (SOAP, XML) • Separate IdM from Mobility business logic (e.g. Shibboleth)

18. What users (students) ask for • User needs predominantly relevant to simplicity • One-stop-shop web interface, simple and self-explanatory • Training shouldn’t be necessary • Content should be understood by as many as possible without discrimination (Web Content Accessibility)

19. Thank you for your attention Ioannis Salmatzidis jsal@auth.gr