Benefits

Benefits of using Erasmus Without Paper

Erasmus Without Paper allows your Higher Education Institution (HEI) to digitalise their Erasmus+ mobility management processes. Depending on the way you currently manage Erasmus+ mobilities at your institution, this page will offer an overview of the different scenarios. The main principle behind EWP is that you keep using your existing system for managing student mobility and that this system is connected to the EWP network. 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 sign the "documents online" and send them directly via your software system to your partner institution which will also digitally sign them.

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) HEI and the receiving (or host) HEI. In general one can describe the mobility flow as follows (sometimes steps are repeated/ordered somewhat differently):

1. HEIs need to approve an Erasmus+ institutional agreement (see practical guidelines implementing digital inter-institutional agreements);
   
2. Sending HEI nominates the student at the receiving HEI;
3. Learning agreement needs to be worked out and signed by three parties (student, sending HEI, receiving HEI) before departure (see practical guidelines implementing digital learning agreements);
4. Student arrives at the receiving HEI and receiving HEI needs to confirm the date of arrival;
5. Learning agreement might change. If so, it needs to be signed by three parties (student, sending HEI, receiving HEI);
6. Student departs from the receiving HEI and receiving HEI needs to confirm the date of departure;
7. Receiving HEI sends TOR to sending HEI.

For each of the steps that require communication (or data exchanges) between the sending HEI and the receiving HEI EWP 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 EWP network whenever confirmation/approval/signatures are needed from the partner. In doing so EWP replaces paper-based workflows by digital ones.