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Managing Erasmus+ mobility can be a cumbersome, complex and costly process for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) initiative uses the latest digital technology to pave the way for Erasmus coordinators to manage mobilities more efficiently. This allows students and staff members to communicate and exchange all necessary information swiftly and securely.
Erasmus without Paper originated as a European project funded through Erasmus+ KA3 from 1/11/2015 till 30/10/2017 and again from 1/1/2018 till 31/12/19. It has now matured into an operational Network. Its chief goal still is to digitalise the administrative framework that underpins student mobility in Europe, enabling electronic data exchange and interoperability among diverse information systems. In March 2019 the European Commission announced that the use of EWP will be made mandatory from 2021 as part of the next Multi-annual financial framework (MFF) i.e. the next Erasmus programme. This was confirmed and elaborated in the Erasmus goes digital webinar on 5/3/2020.
EWP consists of two chief components: an electronic network that interconnects a multitude of student information systems (whether individual universities or third-party providers which represent multiple institutions) through the use of APIs (i.e. connectors between the Network and the users) and a Dashboard that provides a web solution for exchanging student data electronically for HEIs lacking the required SIS software. This Competence Centre focuses exclusively on the EWP network and the connection to it. The Dashboard is the subject of a different knowledge base (see the navigation on the left)
We have compiled useful resources, tutorial videos, presentations and other tools and material to support the transition to digital Erasmus and the management of student mobilities from 2021 onwards.
EWP support - capacity issues
Even though the EU funding for the EWP project officially ended on 31.12.2019, the Erasmus Without Paper Network and Dashboard will be maintained and further developed in the context of the European Student Card Initiative. The core project team remains active despite there being no direct funding at present for the EWP project, working to ensure that both the EWP Network and Dashboard remain available to more than 1 000 and 2 300 higher education institutions respectively. In 2020 we have also deployed new APIs and online services and ensured that the rapid increase in the number of connections to this infrastructure was achieved without difficulties. We also made a major effort to tend to more than 3 000 emails and support requests.
The rapid growth of EWP and the fact that personalized support to users is a very resource-intensive task means that we do not have the capacity to continue to operate this service to the desired extent for the time being, and would like to invite users to refer to the EWP Competence Centre, where most relevant information can already be found. In the meantime, we will continue to strive for resources to be allocated to enabling the kind of support that the Erasmus+ community undoubtably deserves.
The EWP teams remains strongly committed to the success of this initiative and the ESCI as a whole. We will continue to marshal our own resources and voluntary work to cover the costs of keeping the EWP Network, Dashboard and Competence Centre available and are currently exploring different possibilities to ensure a more sustainable funding.
Erasmus Without Paper Network - the functionality of the infrastructure underpinning digital Erasmus+ management - see a presentation here.
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Benefits of using Erasmus Without Paper
Erasmus Without Paper allows your higher education institution to digitalise Erasmus+ mobility management processes. The main principle behind Erasmus Without Paper is that you keep using your existing system for managing student mobility. This system needs to be connected to the Erasmus Without Paper network and information can be exchanged. Instead of printing a PDF or a paper copy of e.g. an Inter-Institutional agreement or a Learning Agreement, you will be able to approve the "documents online" and send them directly via your software system to your partner institution.
The mobility process cut into pieces
The Erasmus+ mobility for studies entails a whole set of processes that facilitate such mobility. Oftentimes in this process communication is needed between the sending (or home) higher education institution and the receiving (or host) higher education institution. In general one can describe the mobility flow as follows (sometimes steps are repeated/ordered somewhat differently):
Higher education institutions need to approve an Erasmus+ institutional agreement:
this process is currently supported via Erasmus Without Paper, see the comprehensive user guide on inter-institutional agreements published by the European Commission.Sending higher education institution nominates the student at the receiving higher education institution:
this process is currently in an early release phase, learn more about this early trial.Learning agreement needs to be worked out and signed by three parties (student, sending higher education institution, receiving higher education institution) before departure:
this process is currently supported via Erasmus Without Paper, see the comprehensive user guide on learning agreements published by the European Commission.Student arrives at the receiving higher education institution and receiving higher education institution needs to confirm the date of arrival:
this process is currently not supported via Erasmus Without Paper.Learning agreement might change. If so, it needs to be signed by three parties (student, sending higher education institution, receiving higher education institution):
this process is currently supported via Erasmus Without Paper, see the comprehensive user guide on learning agreements published by the European Commission.Student departs from the receiving higher education institution and receiving higher education institution needs to confirm the date of departure:
this process is currently not supported via Erasmus Without Paper.Receiving higher education institution sends transcript of records to sending higher education institution:
this process is currently in an early release phase, learn more about this early trial.
For each of the steps that require communication (or data exchanges) between the sending higher education institution and the receiving higher education institution Erasmus Without Paper comes into play. The processes above are translated into technical so-called APIs (Application Programming Interface) that facilitate system-to-system communication, allowing users to manage their part of the process in their own system and use the Erasmus Without Paper network whenever confirmation/approval/signatures are needed from the partner. In doing so Erasmus Without Paper replaces paper-based workflows by digital ones.