HEION

Higher Education Institutions Online for ECTS

Work Package 2 | Study of Current Practices in ECTS Learning Agreement Handling April 2013

Document Authors Contributions Approved

Report on ECTS Learning Agreement in handling in European HEI Rui Raposo (UA); Nesrin Kenar (SAU); Paul Leys (GhentU) zkan Canay (SAU) 25th of April

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1 2 3

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 3 METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 4 LITERATUREREVIEW ................................................................................................... 5

THEECTSHANDLINGPROCESS .......................................................................................................... 5 SOFTWARE ..................................................................................................................................... 8

4 5 6

QUESTIONNAIRE ....................................................................................................... 10 FOCUSGROUPMEETINGS ......................................................................................... 10 FINDINGS .................................................................................................................. 11

LITERATURE.................................................................................................................................. 11 ONLINEQUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................................................................ 13 FOCUSGROUPMEETINGS ............................................................................................................... 14

7 8 9

CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................... 16 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 18 ANNEXES................................................................................................................... 19

ANNEX1:RESULTSFROMQUESTIONNAIRE ....................................................................................... 19 ANNEX2:MINUTESOFFOCUSGROUPMEETINGFORHEIONPROJECTOFAVEIROUNIVERSITY ................ 30 ANNEX3:MINUTESOFFOCUSGROUPMEETINGFORHEIONPROJECTOFGHENTUNIVERSITY ................. 36 ANNEX4:MINUTESOFFOCUSGROUPMEETINGFORHEIONPROJECTOFSAKARYAUNIVERSITY .............. 41

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Introduction

Learning Agreements (LA) may probably be considered one of the core documents, if not the most important document, used within student exchange programmes. The LA is originally developed in order to provide a binding agreement before the mobility takes place among the home institution, the host institution and the student. It contains the list of courses, which the student plans to attend at the host institution, the courses identification code and their attributed European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credits. By signing the LA, the host institution agrees and commits to enrolling the incoming student in the courses listed in the official document and to providing the required learning activities. The home institution in return commits to granting recognition of the credits obtained at the host institution. There are, however, cases in which the study programme proposed through the LA may need to be modified after the student arrival at host institution. In such cases, the Learning Agreement must be amended as soon as possible and signed by the three parties (the home institution, the host institution and the student). Although this relatively simple formal process is clearly described in the ECTS Users Guide, a considerable number of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) adopt different practices. Moreover, as parts of this report will describe, many Erasmus students come across various problems due to the sometimes incorrect or partial application of what is suggested in the ECTS Users Guide. Within the HEION project focus will be placed upon work done with LA, and subsequent ECTS handling, within the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP)/Erasmus exchange programme. This report provides a detailed overview of work done in Work Package 2 (WP2), from the HEION project, which focuses on the Study of Current Practices LA and in ECTS Learning Agreement Handling. Lead by the team from Sakarya University1 staff members from two additional universities (University of Aveiro2 and Ghent University3) were involved in this work package dedicated to ECTS Learning Agreement handling in European HEI. Work done focused on the different ways HEI deal with the preparation, signing and dispatch of ECTS Learning Agreements in the context of the ERASMUS programme. The report starts with explaining the methodology used by the WP2 partners. A description of the tools used in data and information collection is presented accompanied by an overview of some of the literature about these issues. Literature review also included a brief analysis of some IT systems currently available, which

1 http://www.sakarya.edu.tr/en/ 2 http://www.ua.pt 3 http://www.ugent.be/en

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also tackle these issues, and a look at some on-going work and trends that seek to address the question of ECTS Learning Agreement handling. Main results and significance of the work is presented in the section of the report that resumes some of the findings come across. Towards the end of the report some conclusions drawn from work done in WP2 are presented and discussed. These conclusions include a reflection, by the authors, on the findings, including some interpretations and, where appropriate and sustainable, a SWOT4 analysis of the ECTS learning agreement handling practices and attitudes of stake holders based on the information collected. Annexes referred to though out the report are included in the last section of this document. 2 Methodology

Work in WP2 was done according to an exploratory methodology in which the main goals to be met where: i) the summary of information available in current literature regarding current practices and trends in European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) handling and difficulties felt within the Learning Agreement (LA) process; ii) the collection of information and data regarding current practices related with ECTS and LA from the actual players in the process (incoming and outgoing students, international office coordinators and staff and department coordinators); iii) the drawing of conclusions and opinions concerning the issues addressed suitable for being used in the subsequent work packages. In order to meet these goals the WP2 team: Developed a literature review focused on documented policies, practices and trends; Designed and implemented an online questionnaire focused on obtaining information about the ECTS handling and LA process from current and former students taking part in the Erasmus mobility programme all over Europe; Organized 3 focus group meetings with participants in the ECTS handling and LA process, in each team members HEI.

The following sections of this report will describe the work done; difficulties come across, the results and some conclusions that may be drawn from what was achieved.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT)

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Literature review

The ECTS handling process Literature on the topic of the ECTS Key documents evolves from the late 1980s and early 1990s when the ECTS concept took root as a mechanism, in Europe, for recognition of studies carried out in a foreign country within the context of student mobility. Explanations and examples of the ECTS credit as a kind of European currency for student exchange are readily available and the pivotal role of the ECTS Key Documents as the legal instruments for ensuring the transfer of credits is very present. The literature lays heavy emphasis on problems of methodology of credit allocation and describing learning outcomes. As ECTS became implemented in more and more Higher Education Institutions (HEI), and the concerns of the European Commission, the Council and the European Parliament turned to improving lifelong learning opportunities and facilitating access to higher education, ECTS was recognized as a crucial instrument in achieving new goals. The literature naturally anticipates and accompanies the policy trends, very particularly at a time, from around 2000, when ECTS became widely recognized as a key instrument in lifelong credit accumulation and recognition of non-formal learning in the context of the Bologna Process. As a credit transfer mechanism, ECTS are now the common instrument in use in the European Higher Education Area. The system has been integrated into the legal systems of the European Union (EU) Member States and a considerable number of states beyond, providing the means to enable the full academic recognition of studies taken abroad by students in HEI. Yet it is believed and recognizable, in various instances throughout the European HEI network, that the technical implementation of ECTS in the student mobility context still faces serious difficulties, notably in terms of the administrative workload it involves for administrative staff, students and academic staff in HEI. Inherent difficulties felt in the ECTS handling process may, at a first glance, be largely attributed to the fact that a vast percentage of the administrative workload involved in ECTS Learning Agreements (LA) is still paper-based. This paper-based reality, not at all in consensus with current information and knowledge society trends, has lead, in the past and present, to situations in which LA are simply left unchanged when changes are required, in which documents are still left unsigned when signatures are necessary and unchecked for detail. An ECTS Learning Agreement may be understood, at its essence, as contract between two HEI and a student to define the content of a study programme abroad and to identify and agree upon the number of ECTS credits that the study programme is worth. It is, of course, the diversity of degree programme structures and contents, and the diversity of ways of presenting (or not) this information, that makes creating and handling a LA a less simple task than one would otherwise expect it to be. The percentage of student exchanges that take place without a correctly prepared ECTS Learning Agreement before the study period abroad or changed during the
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study period abroad, is unknown and this fact on its own must be considered a worrying issue in need of immediate attention. Few HEI in Europe are ready to apply for the ECTS Label and many have been unsuccessful in their attempts, as shown by the scarce number of HEI listed the latest ECTS Label booklet. This bears witness to the fact that the number of HEI truly employing the ECTS tools correctly is very small indeed. If we consider the description provided in the ECTS User Guide on preparing ECTS Learning Agreement, which is supposed to be the document of reference for HEI participating in the ERASMUS Programme, we might wonder why the preparation of such a clear, short and seemingly simple contract between two HEI should be the source of an excessive or complex administrative workload. However, professionals at International Offices and ECTS Departmental Co-ordinators around Europe are at odds to agree upon how to solve the many and varied practical problems that prevail. Literature providing analysis and evaluation of the usage made of ECTS key documents by students; mobility coordinators or administrative staff is not readily available in the public domain. A review of documents available evidence of how ECTS key documents are being used in HEI appears to lead to a conclusion that while the formal requirements of the ECTS key documents are indeed well documented, not least to mention in the ECTS Users Guide (2009), HEI have worked autonomously to develop methods of preparing and circulating the ECTS documentation, albeit in many instances with the assistance of ECTS counsellors and an ECTS Helpline. However, a simplistic attempt to outline the workflow followed by the vast majority, if not all HEI, would allow us to reach a result as illustrated in figure 1. A quick overview of this workflow enables us to understand that the process, although simple, in reality comes across several inherent challenges due to the number of tasks, people, communication media and the information exchanged.

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Figure 1 - Outline of a simplistic, yet widely adopted, LA process workflow.

Quality control of the ECTS documentation produced along, and as a result of this workflow, is generally carried out at an institutional level, through internal Q&A mechanisms; at national level, through national agency audits; and, for ECTS Label applicants, at a European programme coordination level. However, documented

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evidence available suggests that, according to quality control criteria, the use of ECTS key documents generally represent a formality which has been implemented in a top-down manner across Universities in Europe, where the monitoring of ECTS is restricted to the extent to which University conform to the formal requirements of the ECTS key documents (i.e. ECTS Key Documentation as products, not processes). Coordination among HEI in Europe on how to process the ECTS key documents has been scant, which means, it has been limited to a small number of University Networks that provide the only evidence of an attempt to achieve some kind of consensus regarding the methods used to ensure quality in ECTS Document usage. Oftentimes the workload is borne by students, who are expected to gather the signatures on their ECTS Learning Agreement. Other times, the task of filling agreement and collecting signatures is let to the technical support staff at the International Office. Less often, it seems, do ECTS Departmental Co-ordinators see it as their duty to oversee and ensure the correct fulfilment of the ECTS Learning Agreement requirements. Literature does not, however, establish any basis for a generalised claim that ECTS Departmental coordinators are falling back in their duties. It does, in fact, lead to the recognition that what is often lacking is a clear understanding of what the procedure actually is, how it should be executed and by whom and, most importantly, the importance of action such as: having the Learning Agreement signed by 5 people, at different physical locations; and the importance of signing the Changes form. ECTS documents, and various versions thereof, go back and forth by snail mail throughout Europe constantly, and in some cases, in more than one version of the same document. One may say that there are too many paper-based documents being produced and shifted around in a procedure, which at its core is relatively simple and straightforward. In the literature available, there is recurring reference to the obstacles to mobility, in which administrative obstacles(EHEA Ministerial Conference 2012 Report from the Mobility Working Group) appear to vaguely hint at poor quality ECTS documentation handling as being problematic. Nevertheless a number of sources (Euro student, ESU), apparently attempting to give a view of ECTS from below, fail to appreciate the coordination problems of ECTS Key Document handling, and hence fail to recognize the problem as an obstacle to student mobility. Software The use of specific software, built and orientated towards the management of international relations inherent tasks is, according to the review done, a growing trend but still far from general adoption by European HEI. In many cases HEI have chosen to develop their own online solutions, capable of aiding particular tasks such as filing in LA or presenting the lists of courses available in English. These solutions have been able to improve the LA and ECTS handling process, but have done so at a local level. This means that these practices are capable of improve activities at a local level, but in many cases fall short of total success due to the fact that the same practices are not implemented at other partner home and host HEI. However, there

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are cases in which the concern with providing solutions that promote shared practices has lead HEI to purchase and use the same online software. Some of these software solutions, such as moveon5 and Mobility-Online by SOP6, have been able to deconstruct and understand to great extent: work flows, tasks and variables involved in international relation activities. They have, to an even deeper extent, been capable to pinpoint almost every expected outcome and usage expected from work done within the softwares context of use. It is interesting to see that the scope of the software presently available does not limit its potential users exclusively to one or two types of users. Students, Teachers, Staff, Interns, Staff of the International Office, Departmental coordinators, Institution coordinators and even enterprises; are accounted for in many of the solutions provided. However, what does draw some attention is the fact that software, as the above-mentioned examples, does not use the same discourse when presenting themselves or the type of problems they can help solve. While the moveon solution directs its description to a module based structure concerned with international management activities and what the software proposes as key features for each of these modules; the solution provided by SOP although sharing some common benefits and capabilities, as they are referred to, tend to mix the functional and the technological aspects of what it has to offer. With this said about the obvious distinctions among these examples, attention should be directed to what they share is common, in other words, what challenges have this type of software set out to meet in the mobility context. Some characteristics that jump to ones attention are: the fact that the software is available online; that much of the activities are done in real-time; and in an easy and error and effort reducing manner. This only leads to the belief that paper is not, and should not be, the dominant part of the equation in current practices. It is also enables the conclusion that workflows in various areas such as: mobility and exchange applications; partner agreement management; academic and international office management; have already been outlined, critical moments within their flow have been predicted and solutions for eventual problems are provided by anticipation. From a technical point of view, besides the online and real-time nature of the software, by proposing highly flexible solutions with multiple choices as to import and export files and data formats, it is clear to see that interoperability is a key quality in these solutions. By guaranteeing high standards of interoperability technical incompatibility with already existing information systems and databases may be drastically reduced. This means that when HEI decide to integrate these tools in their practices technical difficulties, information system reviewing and redesigning will be at the bottom of their list of concerns. However, it is still interesting to notice that with all the data and information produced and managed, the reporting done still has room to grow and paths to explore. Reporting is, to some extent, still seen as the task of
5 6

http://www.qs-unisolution.com/en/portfolio/solutions/moveon/about.html http://www.sop-at.com/en/products/mobility_online/

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reporting final results to someone or to some organization. The software review did not enable us to reach any conclusions as to what it allowed in terms of searching and analyzing information according to multivariable correlation and configuration, nor was there any mention to the solutions provides in terms of information visualization. However, as expected in common reporting actions, bar and pie charts as well as single and multiline graphs are the most common InfoViz methods provided. 4 Questionnaire

There is no better way to understand how students handle the whole LA and ECTS handling process than asking the students themselves. With this is mind the three project partners involved in this WP2 conducted an online questionnaire7 as a part of the work plan outlined for this particular work package. The questionnaire was targeted to Erasmus students from all over Europe and was distributed by the WP2 partners, who also asked the other partners of the HEION project to share the questionnaire with their students. The questionnaire was answered by incoming and outgoing students, which either participated (2011-2012) or are currently participating in the Erasmus program (2012-2013). WP2 leaders chose to only include mobile students of the current and the previous academic year as students from earlier years (before 2011-2012) would probably have addressed problems that may have already been solved. The questionnaire was disseminated by email and posted on the projects Facebook page8. In the questionnaire students were asked about the following topics: personal profile, institutional background; the completion of the first LA and the difficulties faced; the collection of obligatory signatures; their need for original documents/signatures; their need for changes in their original LA after arriving at the host HEI; whether they used the right procedure to change the original LA; who was responsible for the completion of the LA; their opinion about the use of an online tool as a mean to facilitate the process; what features and functionalities such an online tool should include. A copy of the questionnaire may be found both online and in Annex 1. 5 Focus group meetings

When asking for problems within the LA and ECTS handling process all parts involved should have a chance to speak their mind. In order to collect these different perspectives each of the WP2 partners organized a focus group at their university. Prior to this focus group meeting, the methodology that would be used was discussed and agreed on. The general profile of the stakeholders they wanted to
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGhHRTNnTmVmbzJnbGRlYWFROVRyT Wc6MQ#gid=0 8 http://www.facebook.com/heionproject
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invite was discussed and agreed on and resulted in the following list of participants: at least one departmental/Erasmus coordinator, some members from the International Relations Office (IRO) staff, at least one incoming student and at least one outgoing student. In some cases the focus groups, which should ideally be made up of about 7 participants, included more than one incoming and outgoing student. A script used for structuring the discussions held was set in advance in order to allow an easier comparison between the answers given by the participants. Regarding current practices at each HEI, four main phases of the LA and ECTS handling process were identified and discussed about: 1. Filling in LA, sending it to the Host HEI and receiving confirmation and acceptance; 2. Arriving to the Host HEI, reviewing LA and making some changes; 3. Leaving Host HEI and receiving by snail mail the final results at the Home HEI; 4. Grades and ECTS transferred to the Home HEI local system. The following questions were asked in relation to each of these phases: What problems did you/students face? How were these problems solved? In your opinion how could these problems be eradicated? Could an online tool help to eradicate these problems and how?

The summaries of the transcripts from each of the focus group may be found in Annexes 2, 3 and 4. 6 Findings

The following pages will provide and overview of the findings came across during work done in WP2 according to each of the tasks developed. In general, according to results and information retrieved, through the literature review, questionnaire and focus group meetings, all Erasmus students and staff involved in the process researched face the same problems or similar ones. Moreover, the way they deal with these problems, and their proposals about how an online tool could help to eradicate them, are also similar. Literature After the review of current available literature, it is clearly viewable that any literature related to the LA handling process, and with the usage of ECTS key documents, is not available in the public domain. The ECTS Users Guide (2009) is, according to what was analysed, the most detailed document available, which provides relatively detailed information regarding the formal requirements of the ECTS key documents on the issue.

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When looking for additional information there is not an extent list of documents available related with the usage of ECTS key documents in HEI. The previously mentioned ECTS Users Guide is still the main reference document. However, it is worth noticing that in 2013 an Ad-hoc Working Group was formed with the goal of revising the ECTS Users' Guide. This may, to some extent, be related with the upcoming changes in the mobility programs structure and the need to look back on recent practices in order to fine tune and improve them. This is a comprehensible effort when it is clear that, in terms of how LA and ECTS are dealt with, there is an inconsistency in the European HEI landscape regarding the methods used of preparing these documents. It is a fact that, the administrative workload involved in LA and ECTS handling is still fully or partially paper-based in a vast majority of HEI. In some cases this may, for instance, involuntarily enable a lack of control over documents produced and changed throughout the process. As a result HEI and students still run into situations in which: LA are left unchanged when changes are required; documents are still left partially unsigned when a well known list of obligatory signatures are essential; and course unit codes and ECTS credits are left unchecked by students and staff at various stages of handling process. As the information collected in the questionnaire will prove further on in this report, there is a still considerable percentage of students that handle their ECTS Learning Agreements without correctly preparing them before the mobility occurs or reviewing them during the mobility period. So, consequently, success in getting the ECTS Label is sometimes sabotaged due to this fact worth looking into. However, according to the description linked to the ECTS Learning Agreement in the ECTS User Guide, LA seem a clear, short and simple contract between two HEI. It shouldnt be the source of an excessive or complex administrative workload for International Offices and ECTS Departmental Co-ordinators, but in reality it can turn into a very complex process. After scanning ECTS key documents and the LA handling process of various HEI in Europe, it was clear that only portion of HEI have attempted and succeeded in achieving consensus regarding the methods used to ensure quality in ECTS Document usage. Other examples of current literature do not entirely point out the problems faced in mobility as the Report from the Mobility Working Group - EHEA Ministerial Conference 20129, which analyse the administrative obstacles on ECTS documentation handling, and the European Students Union (ESU)10 publications do not mention coordination problems of ECTS Key Document handling, and hence fail to recognize the problem as an obstacle to student mobility.

10

Final Report by The Working Group on Mobility, EHEA Ministerial Conference, Bucharest 2012. http://www.esu-online.org

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Online questionnaire ECTS Users Guide is the official guide for handling LAs in HEIs. As already described in this guide, a standard LA has to include a planned course list, the students signature, the home HEIs institutional signatures and stamp, and the host HEIs institutional signatures and stamp. These are what are considered the compulsory parts of LA. Some HEI have, however, made some changes in other parts of LAs according to specific institutional and national policies. The remaining of this section includes a short compilation of the results obtained through the online questionnaire. The complete set of results may be found in Annex 1. The majority of respondents had a copy (80%) or the original version (13%) of their LA when they arrived at the host university. 5% received their LA after arrival, 1 % stated that they did not have any version of their LA. When it comes to the question whether all parties signed the LA, 70 % answered positively, 30% didnt have the signature of the host institution. The results of the questionnaire made clear that different practices exist regarding the use of original documents, signatures and a certain template of the LA. 56% was required to use the LA from the home university while 28% had to use the LA from the host institution. 52% responded they required an original LA. Although scanned copies of LAs are accepted by many HEIs, handling hard copies of completed LAs still causes problems for other HEIs. In general students find managing the LA neither very easy nor very difficult. 39% did not have a positive nor negative opinion regarding the question how easy was it for you to manage the LA and ECTS for your mobility. 36% answered it was easy or very easy, 25% answered it was difficult or very difficult. An analysis of the difficulties found in managing the LA and ECTS enables to conclude that students had most problems with finding courses (26% difficult, 9% very difficult) and courses contents (23% difficult, 10% very difficult) at the host university. Getting the LA signed by the host university was, for about 16% of all respondents difficult or very difficult, while getting the LA signed by the home university was, for about 15% of all respondents, difficult (11%) or very difficult (4%). An important finding from the questionnaire is that 75% of all respondents changed courses after their arrival at the host institution. This means that 75% of all LAs needed to be revised and about 18% of a total of 839 respondents, did not complete the add and delete form. Only 17% of the responding Erasmus students used online/software systems or tools for the handling of their LA and/or ECTS. 81% of a total of 939 respondents answered that they were responsible themselves for the LA and other processes. To conclude students were asked if, in their opinion, an online tool could make work

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regarding the LA and ECTS handling easier. The vast majority of respondents (90%) answered positively to this question. The most important tasks they think this tool should include have to do with: course selection (90%), LA completion (79%), and Course/credit recognition at the home institution (74%), updates on the validation of the LA (62%). Focus group meetings In this section the findings of the three different focus groups will be compiled together into a simple general overview. There were many common remarks and solutions provided by the participant and, curiously or not, what all three focus groups clearly had in common for all phases discussed was the answer on how there problems were solved. Problems were almost always solved with extra efforts and time from students and staff involved in the establishment of the Learning Agreement (departmental/Erasmus coordinators, International Relations Office staff). From this perspective there is a clear need for reducing the extra efforts off all participants involved in the LA process. An online tool could, in the opinion of several focus group members, offer a solution for several of the problems discussed. In the following sections the most important outcomes of the focus groups will be discussed along the lines of the discussion structure used in the focus groups (see supra 5 Focus Group Meetings). a) Filling in LA, sending it to the Host Higher Education Institution and receiving confirmation and acceptance A first important problem students faced at this stage is finding courses at the host institution. Issues related with the fact that some HEI do not have a course catalogue, the course catalogue is not available in English, it is not updated are often referred to. Due to the unclear information about the availability of courses, many students need to change their Learning Agreement when they arrive at the host institution (75% needs to change his/her Learning Agreement). A second important problem has to do with communication. There is no/not enough communication between the home institution and the host institution reaching a point that sometimes students do not know whom they should address at the host institution. The third relevant problem, in this first phase, is that students do not get back a properly signed learning agreement from the host institution. Focus group participants in all three countries saw a clear benefit in the online tool that could help reduce communication problems and, at the same time, also help clarify role attribution thus bypassing current complications quite easily with this online system. The new tool could also enable electronic approval instead of signature collection, which would make the process easier. The most difficult part of the process remains linked to course selection for HEI will always be dependent on the information they get from their partners.

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b) Arriving to Host HEI, reviewing LA and making necessary changes As already mentioned before, the majority of students change their Learning Agreement when arriving at the host HEI and the problems they face, once again, have to do with communication issues such as: students do not inform their home institution; they do not know who to address; they use wrong subject codes or they do not use them at all. Finding the correct courses can be a problem in this phase because e.g. information is not always updated or there is no decent course catalogue. As an alternative, at this stage, students need personnel advise at the host institution. Therefore they often rely on staff in case they already know which staff member they should address. Another problem faced by departmental/Erasmus coordinators or IRO staff is the difficulty in clearly and immediately recognizing which subjects were added and which ones were deleted. This makes the revision of changed LA a huge effort for the staff involved. Many of the problems faced in this stage are due to the fact that the first LA was not properly filled out in the first place. A lot of work normally expected has to be done twice. Eradicating the problem of finding the correct courses in the first phase, will eradicate most problems in the second phase. Besides that the online tool can once again help with: making communication more easy; giving correct information about contact persons at the home and host institution; facilitating the process of signing the changed LA by using electronic approvals. It could also make the work simpler for the staff, that has to control and sign/approve the changes, deleted and added courses where visually presented in an easy to understand manner. c) Leaving Host HEI and receiving by snail mail the final results at the Home HEI Focus group participants in all three institutions agreed on the fact that there is a problem in receiving results on time. An unofficial transcript of records could be part of the solution but home institutions will always be dependent on their partners (e.g. academic calendar differ among many European countries). To solve this problem there is the need for a European HEI consensus in relation to means of exchanging the grade documents among one another. Transferring this task to a partially or totally online activity could help improve the sending and receiving results. d) Grades and ECTS transferred to the Home HEI local system In regards to this issue the biggest problem felt is that the methodology used for converting the grades is not clear for students. Often a quite complex system is used and students have no idea why their marks need to be changed or how they were calculated.

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In this context the WP-partners want to draw the attention on the Egracons project11 that has to do with grade conversion. One of the goals of this project is to develop a tool that will automatically convert the grades. 7 Conclusions

The information collected throughout WP2 show that students face several difficulties in handling their LA. 81% of the respondent students are responsible themselves for finding courses and preparing LA and 75% of them need to change their LA after arrival to host institution. Duality must also be accounted for, in terms of the LA documents used in the process. 56% of students are required to use the LA from their home university while 28% had to use an LA document provided by the host institution. The vast majority of respondents (90%) agreed that an online tool could make work regarding the LA and ECTS handling easier and they thought that this tool should include as some of its functions: course selection (90%), LA completion (79%), and Course/credit recognition at the home institution (74%), as well as the LA changes and updates. From the information gathered in the focus groups, the project partners where able to get some information about what features and functionalities should an online LA and ECTS handling tool include. One of the most important features pointed out was the possibility of exchanging information between student, home and host HEI. The online tool prototype proposed, as an outcome of this project, is believed to be able to eradicate a lot of problems by replacing much of the paper based workload for an easier web based one. On this matter focus group members totally agreed with the HEION concept. Approving LAs instead of signing them, as a possible function delivered by the tool, is but one of the concerns brought up in the focus groups. Other suggestions include:

The use of a virtual inbox where documents are kept that need validation; An automatic mail for approvals at a certain date/certain amount of LAs that need to be approved; Clear deadlines with warnings; A color code for the stage of each change (green > finished, yellow > awaiting review/validation, red > out of date, in trouble). A clear presentation of courses that have been added/deleted for changes on the LA.

Besides the clear benefit of using an online tool for the LA-administration, the tool could also include some features for statistical analysis. As a considerable amount of

11

http://www.egracons.eu

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data is gathered in the system, it will be easier to get relevant data that could be used for answering all kinds of questions related with the LA, ECTS and Mobility actions. From a users perspective it is very important that the tool is user-friendly. Some suggest thats one of the reasons why the language should be English and not the national language. Another important issue from a user based perspective is that the tool should be integrated with the existing administration systems (e.g. move on from Uni-Solution or mobility online from SOP), or that it establishes some sort of link between these systems and the tool. Imposing on the students the need to use different applications, in the course of the administrative process, is something that should be avoided. Focus group members stressed that it will be crucial for the success and sustainability of the tool that all (if not most) HEI, which take part in Erasmus should use such an online tool. Another crucial part for a well fine tuned process is correct outlining of the workflow and the web based procedure. The one proposed in figure 1, still has room for improvement and will undoubtedly suffer minor changes during the iterative and agile development of the project. It was made obvious, by all the information collected, that adopting an online tool for LA and ECT handling is an advantage for the process and that the simpler the better.

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References

1. Cophenagen University Learning agreement & Changes to agreed programme of study (Cophenagen University, Study Administration studadm@ihk.dk , http://int.ihk.dk/exchange-students/application/application-exchangestudents#Changes_to_agreed_programme_of_study_/_Learning_agreement)
2.

ECTS Users Guide, 2009 (European Commission, http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc/ects/guide_en.pdf)

3. ECVET projects (http://www.ecvetprojects.eu/toolbox/ToolBoxList.aspx?id=17&type=1, contact@ecvet-projects.eu ) 4. http://www.esu-online.org 5. Final Report by The Working Group on Mobility, EHEA Ministerial Conference, Bucharest 2012. 6. Learning agreements (for Undergraduates and Master exchange applicants) (University of Graz, Austria, http://www.joineusee.eu/content.aspx?AID=68, Contact for general questions about the JoinEU-SEE project: joineusee@unigraz.at ). 7. Sharon Waller Learning Agreements (https://wiki.bath.ac.uk/display/EconHEAproj2010/Learning+Agreements) 8. Tuning Educational Structures in Europe, (http://www.thematicnetworkdietetics.eu/everyone/1649/7/0/30, Thematic Network Manager , network.manager@thematicnetworkdietetics.eu, Thematic Network Coordinator, adelooy@thematicnetworkdietetics.eu ) 9. Tuning Educational Structures in Europe: Line 3: ECTS as an Accumulation System (120 Higher Education institutions involved from the EU and EAAcountries, http://www.relint.deusto.es/TuningProject/line3.asp), 10. Tuning Educational Structures in Europe Final Report (Carried out by over 100 Universities, coordinated by the University of Deusto (Spain) and the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and supported by the European Commission, http://www.unideusto.org/tuningeu/images/stories/Publications/Tuning_phase1_fu ll_document.pdf

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Annexes

Annex 1: Results from Questionnaire

[Questionnaire Report for the HEION Project] 1069 answers / 29.01.2013 Gender Male Female 404 38% 665 62%

Age 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50+ 16 1% 887 83% 151 14% 10 4 1 0 0 1% 0% 0% 0% 0%

Count of answers per day

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Country of your home university

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Cyprus Denmark Estonia Germany Spain Finland France Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovak Republic Slovenia Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Turkey Other 7 369 8 5 211 1 6 3 34 78 4 23 16 11 0 1 34 5 0 17 1 0 14 2 43 21 13 14 8 1 1 1 116 1 1% 35% 1% 0% 20% 0% 1% 0% 3% 7% 0% 2% 1% 1% 0% 0% 3% 0% 0% 2% 0% 0% 1% 0% 4% 2% 1% 1% 1% 0% 0% 0% 11% 0%

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Country of your host university

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Cyprus Denmark Estonia Germany Spain Finland France Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Slovak Republic Slovenia Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Turkey Other 38 247 1 1 132 0 16 2 79 107 29 75 8 6 2 7 48 4 1 12 1 1 33 27 29 31 6 6 10 21 9 29 48 3 4% 23% 0% 0% 12% 0% 1% 0% 7% 10% 3% 7% 1% 1% 0% 1% 4% 0% 0% 1% 0% 0% 3% 3% 3% 3% 1% 1% 1% 2% 1% 3% 4% 0%

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Degree Undergraduate (3 years / 4 years) Graduate (Master / Doctorate) 534 535 50% 50%

Class (Year) 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th+ 103 10% 155 14% 323 30% 247 23% 179 17% 62 6%

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Granted for Erasmus exchange Fall 2011 Spring 2012 Both fall 2011 & spring 2012 Fall 2012 Spring 2013 Both fall 2012 & spring 2013 239 22% 175 16% 124 12% 341 32% 63 6% 127 12%

Did you have a copy of your learning agreement (LA) with you when you arrived at your host university? Yes, I did have a copy of my LA with me. No, I had the original LA with me. No, I did not have a copy when I arrived at your host university, it was sent to me later by post / by e-mail / via fax. No, I did not have one, and I still do not have one. 859 80% 140 13% 57 5%

13

1%

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Was your LA completely filled and signed by all parts (home university, host university, student) when you arrived at your host university? Yes, I did have a completed copy of my LA with all signatures. No, only my home university and my signature. 751 70%

318 30%

If you answered Yes, were all the signatures on your LA originals? Yes, all of them were signed on the original form. No, a scanned copy of partly filled LA was signed by one parties involved. 489 46%

316 30%

Which form were you required to use as your LA? My home university LA form. My host university LA form. I could choose which form I could use. 603 56% 301 28% 165 15%

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Does your home university require originals of your LA? Yes, originals are required. No, scanned copies or half copies are accepted. 551 52% 518 48%

How easy was it for you to manage the learning agreement (LA) and ECTS for your mobility? Very easy Easy So so Difficult Very difficult 82 8% 299 28% 419 39% 183 17% 86 8%

Please identify the difficulty felt in each of the following tasks: - finding courses of your host university Very easy Easy Neither easy nor difficult Difficult Very difficult 103 10% 303 28% 283 26% 280 26% 100 9%

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Please identify the difficulty felt in each of the following tasks: - finding courses contents of your host university Very easy Easy Neither easy nor difficult Difficult Very difficult 101 9% 322 30% 299 28% 244 23% 103 10%

Please identify the difficulty felt in each of the following tasks: - getting signed LA from your host university Very easy Easy Neither easy nor difficult Difficult Very difficult 218 20% 466 44% 218 20% 113 11% 54 5%

Please identify the difficulty felt in each of the following tasks: - getting signed LA from your home university. Very easy Easy Neither easy nor difficult Difficult Very difficult 224 21% 490 46% 196 18% 116 11% 43 4%

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Did you change any of your courses after you arrived to your host university? Yes, I did. 802 75% No, I did not. 267 25%

In case you answered yes, have you completed an added and deleted form? Yes 649 61% No 190 18%

In case you answered yes, have you received an approval (signed copy) of your added and deleted form? Yes No 542 51% 168 16%

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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During the whole process did you use any online / software systems or tools for LA and/or ECTS handling? Yes 180 17% No 889 83%

When you were selected for Erasmus mobility how was work regarding the LA done? 863 81 I was responsible and I % did all the work by myself for the LA and ECTS. I was not responsible at all for any stage of the LA and ECTS. It was done by others at my University/Polytechnic. I was not responsible for all the work but I did establish the first contact about ECTS and courses by myself with your host university. 76 7%

130

12 %

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Do you think that work on LA and ECTS could improve with the use of an online tool? Yes 964 90% No 105 10%

What tasks should such an online tool include? Course selection Learning Agreement completion Added and deleted form completion Updates on the validation of my Learning Agreement History of changes made to the Learning Agreement Course/credit recognition at home institution 916 86% 847 79% 703 66% 664 62%

529 49%

793 74%

Other 48 4% People can mark more than one checkbox, so the sum of the percentage may exceed 100%.

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Annex 2: Minutes of Focus Group Meeting for HEION Project of Aveiro University Monday, February 26th 2013, 14.30-16.00 PARTICIPANTS: Niall Power, Director of the International Office Helena Barbosa Officer responsible for Incoming Students, International Office Susana Duarte, Officer responsible for Outgoing Students, International Office Rui Raposo Assist. Prof. Department of Communication and Art | Department Erasmus Coordinator for Field of Study Code 15. Mai-Liis, Incoming Student

Case 1) Filling in LA, sending it to the Host Higher Education Institution and receiving confirmation and acceptance. Problems students faced The LAs are sent, received and accepted but, in many cases, not thoroughly analyzed and, because of that, must be changed by students on arriving at the host HEI. Students tend to panic not knowing what to do and what steps to take when changes in the LA are asked for. There are several cases of host institutions that accept LA without confirming if: the subjects included are available that semester/year. there are limited places for the subjects included in the LA. if there are any language or competences requirements for the subjects included in the LA. In general it is felt that coordinators should be more attentive in relation do the LA completion. Communication among Erasmus coordinators (home-host) are a main problem in need of attention. it is usual for coordinators to communication solely when major problems break out (skipping classes, behaviour problems) other than that communication is truly scarce if not inexistent. It is believed that there is the need to transfer to the coordinators the responsibility for supervising and taking an active role in the reviewing and changing of LA instead of placing it solely in the students hands.

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Problems solved The problems pointed out are usually solved through additional activities done by departmental coordinators, international office staff and students, which just adds onto the regular activities dealt with. Problems could be eradicated Problems could be eradicated or, at least, reduced if communication was enforce between the coordinators and the HEIs. In some cases simply redirecting the incoming students to the correct department coordinator could help. Information about department coordinators (ie.: e-mail, office location, HEI address) could help establish or simplify communication channels. The inclusion of a more social like aspect to an eventual online tool could help department coordinators and students to interact.

Case 2) Arriving to Host HEI, reviewing LAs and making some changes Problems students faced Students have problems filling in their LA mostly because they don't understand the process, its steps and tasks involved. Students sometimes dont ask their host and/or home coordinators for help and, as result, the coordinators are not involved in the LA changing process. The international office is called upon several times to help out with the LA reviewing and changing process. There is a problem in setting straight and clearly who is responsible for doing what in the process. Students are sometimes given or obtain off the Internet the wrong codes for the subjects included in the original LA or in its changes. In many cases the coordinators themselves to not know or have access to the correct codes for the subjects listed in the LA. Sometime codes are just not available online. Some students say that they feel it easy to fill and change but codes where a problem. The information available if only in the HEI country native language.
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Students feel that there is a problem with the fact that one international officer is responsible for the incoming students and has a hard time answering many questions and tending to many problems. There are cases in which information online is outdated. Some students choose from different courses, scattering their options across several courses and departments, and coordinators may not be supportive in these cases and as a result they feel some difficulties in taking care of their LA. Teachers are often surprised when they receive in their class students from other areas on short notice. There is no pattern regarding how these situations are dealt with.

Changes in this particular context need to be approved and promoted as an institutional decision.

Solutions There should be some sort of interaction between online platforms used by HEI so information should be updated and shared in a more efficient and effective manner. An online tool could help but if information is not updated then it may render only partially useful. Number of changes to the original LA could probably drop considerably if information made available online is updated and complemented with additional information (timetables, exceptions, subject pre-requisites) Department coordinators are essential key figures for the LA process and ECTS handling and because of that they cannot be unavailable or unable to help. Department coordinators should inform students about the problems that may come from certain choices (class schedule overlaps, exceptions, subject prerequisites) Students should be asked to choose at least 50% of a degree of the area included in the Erasmus agreement. Problems solved The problems pointed out are usually solved through additional activities done by departmental coordinators, international office staff and students, which just adds onto the regular activities dealt with. How an online tool helps to eradicate these problems?

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Each professor is responsible for their subject and could be notified when an Erasmus student is assigned to his or her subject. If the student chooses a subject from another area of studies, the department coordinator for that area and the teacher for that subject could receive the information that they could receive that student. The tool could enable communication among local and home coordinators through the tool and could try do reduce multichannel communication (e-mail, phone call, skype) An online tool could help setup limits (i.e.: 30 ECTS, subjects from the same school in cases where distance does not enable students to take part in classes from different schools, faculties or departments, etc) The tool should enable the integration of its information with the home and host academic Information Systems (i.e.: when the LA is accepted and validated the students could automatically be enrolled in the subjects)

Case 3) Leaving Host HEI and receiving by snail mail the final results at the Home HEI Problems students faced Students have a great deal of problems in receiving their final grades at their home HEI Problems solved The problems pointed out are usually solved through additional activities done by departmental coordinators, international office staff and students, which just adds onto the regular activities dealt with. In some cases home coordinators ask for scans of the transcript of record in pdf in order to start the recognition process. Problems could be eradicated An unofficial transcript of records, just for an initial ECTS recognition process, could be validated by the host HEI and shared online in digital format with the home HEI (this document could be completed further on, but could allow a full or partial view of what will be received)

A set of warnings could be made available online such as:

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documents waiting for changes and validation; deadlines for changes and document validation (local and the host International office HEI should fill that in); warnings about students not attending. (Sometimes students asks for grades and never show up); additional info about the students grade (in case the student failed or attained and outstanding grade); a colour code for the stage of each change (green > finished, yellow > awaiting review/validation, red > out of date, in trouble.

Case 4) Grades and ECTS transferred to the Home HEI local system Problems students faced Students dont understand the methodology used by the home department coordinators for the ECTS recognition process and question if it is fair. Problems solved Department coordinators look for information about the host grading process and criteria. Department coordinators explain the process to each student that asks for additional information. Problems could be eradicated A simplified package of information about what grading system is used in the host country could be shared online so the home HEI could understand the grading process and criteria. Students could have access to a simple step-by-step tutorial about how the ECTS recognition process is dealt with in their country and HEI.

How an online tool helps to eradicate these problems? It would probably be to complex to try to automatize the ECTS recognition process, but enabling the department coordinator and the students to have access to clear information about the process may help to improve how they deal with it.

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Case 5) What sort of information should be made available for searching and interacting with in the online tool? Statistic analysis of the number of ECTS approved Comparison between variables such as: ECTS approved vs. grades vs. work load Definition of a time period for specific analysis Representation of areas, levels in the HEI according to the Erasmus codes Geo-reference of both incoming and outgoing fluxes of students Statistical analysis of problems occurred during the ECTS handling and LA process (changes in LA, fall back on deadlines, analysis by country, HEI, etc.)

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Annex 3: Minutes of Focus Group Meeting for HEION Project of Ghent University Friday, February 8, 2013 - 9.00 12.00 am Participants Prof. Ren Vermeir Erasmus Coordinator - Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Prof. Johan Lagae Erasmus Coordinator Faculty of Engineering and Architecture Ms. Ann Reynaert - Faculty International Relations Officer Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Ms. Marisa Montero Perez - Faculty International Relations Officer Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences Ms. Lies David, Outgoing exchange student Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Prof. Luc Franois Chief International Officer International Relations Office (HEION project) Mr. Paul Leys International Relations Officer - International Relations Office (HEION project)

Excused Mrs. Carole Picavet- Exchange student advisor International relations Office Ms. Hilde Vandecasteele Faculty International Relations Officer faculty of Bioscience Engineering Ms. Tomasa Miranda Incoming Exchange student Faculty of Sciences

General remarks Exchange students who opt for a two semester exchange sometimes change their changed LA for the second semester. A general concern is that we need to avoid an overload of systems that are all used for one specific phase of administration a student needs to complete. For example: move on for application, this new tool for the learning agreement, another tool for another aspect It will therefore be important that the online tool could be integrated on the portal website of universities Also related with the remark above, we need to try to avoid that information about certain roles in universities need to be altered and kept in more than one system. The success of this online tool will depend on the number of institutions who will use this tool.

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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1) Fill in LA, sent it to the Host Higher Education Institution, receive its acceptance confirmation. What problems did you/students face? a) The biggest problem in the first phase is finding the correct courses at the host University. a. No course catalogue at the host institution, availability of information! b) Hand-written LAs c) Double administration: first LA is most of the times changed! d) Use of different LA-templates: host, home e) Need for different signed copies of one LA f) The LA on its own is a problem as well. Some universities require original documents. As long as it exists in its current shape, there will be an administrative burden. g) All incoming students get their LA signed by Ghent University before they come to Ghent. Not all of them have the LA signed by all parties when they arrive in Ghent. There is a problem in the exchange of information between the student and the home institution. h) The sending and receiving of LAs How were these problems solved? Most of the above problems were dealt with by extra efforts of the administrative staff and the Erasmus coordinators. In your opinion how could these problems be eradicated? a) Erasmus exchange windows b) The use of an electronic standard form and procedure instead of a paper based form and procedure c) There will always be a phase between the realization of the LA and the moment the LA is put into the official administrative system of universities as the final version. d) All institutions use the same standard template from the European Commission e) If the European Commission does not need to have original copies, students can print the signed LA different times f) The LA as it exist now, paper based, needed to be signed by different parties need to be replaced by an online system with electronic signings or approvals. The European Commission needs to support a more web based approach and communicate this in their ECTS users guide g) With an electronic form, that doesnt require original signings, the forms can be send to both the student and to the institution.

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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h) Sending and receiving all information via an online system. Could an online tool help to eradicate these problems and how? a) NO: There is a big need for a clear online course catalogue for each university that participates in Erasmus. We should avoid that the course catalogue is copied in another system because than we face the problem of updating information in the own course catalogue and in the other system. Off course an online tool can have a link with were students can find the information about courses/course catalogue. YES: the online tool can provide information about subjects that students from university x have chosen in the past in the host institution for a certain ISCEDcode. a. If there is no course catalogue, the information will never be up to date in the online tool. b) YES: An electronic standardized LA that can be completed in the online tool c) YES: all administration before the final LA is done in the online tool. Once the final LA is approved, it is put into the administrative system d) YES: the template in the online tool is the standard template. Some fields are automatically completed depending on the institution the students want to apply: home institution, host institution, country, departmental coordinator, faculty coordinator, Erasmus institutional coordinator We need to think about how we will get all information up to date! There are already some systems where this information is gathered like for example move on. We need to avoid that updates on this kind of information needs to be done twice or more. e) YES: students can print their LA as many times as they need to from the online system f) YES: there is need for a system where students can put in their subjects and all necessary information. If the students has completed the form, it needs to be approved (instead of signed) by the home institution. When it is approved by the home institutions it is been send to the host institution. There the responsible needs to approve it as well. Then it is send back to the student/home institution. At this stage the students has his/hers three approvals. If he/she prints the form, it is put in the template, necessary for the European Commission with all approvals. ICT-people need to think of a way that the approvals are secure! There need to be a solution for the signing of the documents. g) In the online tool all administration needs to be done on a clear and convenient manner, the realization of the LA is the last step when all information from the online tool is exported to the LA template. h) YES: the whole information and communication flow is managed by the system.

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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2) Arrive at the Host HEI and, due to various reasons, review the LA and make, if needed, some changes In the questionnaire (version 30/01/13) 75 % states that there were changes at the LA. All members of the focus group think it is even more than 75%. Some of the problems addressed in the first phase are also true for this phase! What problems did you/students face? If a student does changes, it is not clear anymore which subjects have changed. The majority of students changes its LA.

How were these problems solved? The LAs need to be compared manual. This is a lot of work. The administrative staff and Erasmus coordinators do their work double: once for the LA and once for the changed LA

In your opinion how could these problems be eradicated? A form, screen where you can see immediately which course is deleted and which one is added. Instead of a LA and an original form and a changes to the original form, we could propose a pending or provisional LA, and a definite LA. The final LA is submitted after arrival

Could an online tool help to eradicate these problems and how? YES: the online tool can develop a way that it is very clear which subjects are added and which ones are deleted YES: the processing of the LA is completely done online.

3) Leave the Host HEI and receive by snailmail the final results at the Home HEI What problems did you/students face? a) The results are too late available b) Results are send to us after the deliberation at the home institution c) Sometimes (Germany) the semester differ. Students get their results way too late.

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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How were these problems solved? a) By urging partners to give results asap. b) Informing the students that they wont be deliberated before we get results from the home institution In your opinion how could these problems be eradicated? a) No idea b) No idea Could an online tool help to eradicate these problems and how? In general an online tool can help to exchange the information but not to eradicate the problems. 4) See the grades and ECTS transferred to the Home HEI local system As far as this point is concerned Ghent University wants to draw the attention on the Egracons project. More information on this project: http://egracons.eu/ What problems did you/students face? a) The grading scale is not always clear b) No information from the host institution How were these problems solved? a) Consequent use of all institutions of the grading scale b) Developing an own system to convert the grades Looking to results in the past at the own institution In your opinion how could these problems be eradicated? a) By urging institutions to use the grading scale b) NO: we are dependent on the goodwill of the partner institutions Could an online tool help to eradicate these problems and how? a) For the exchange of the transcripts of records an online tool can help b) NO: we are dependent on the goodwill of the partner institutions

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Work Package 2 | Study of Current Practices in ECTS Learning Agreement Handling

Annex 4: Minutes of Focus Group Meeting for HEION Project of Sakarya University SAKARYA UNIVERSITY, FEBRUARY 8, 2013, 14.30 17.00 PARTICIPANTS: Nesrin Kenar, Assist. Prof. Dr., Erasmus Institutional Coordinator, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. Mustafa Cahit NAN, Assoc. Prof. Dr., Erasmus Faculty Coordinator, Faculty of Business. Cemal yem, Assist. Prof. Dr., Erasmus Departmental Coordinator, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Department of Human Resources. Mustafa Turan, Assist. Prof. Dr., Director of Distance Learning Centre. Fatih imek, Assist. Prof. Dr., Faculty of Sciences and Letters, Erasmus Departmental Coordinator, Department of German Language and Literature. zkan Canay, HEION project staff and Lecturer at SAU / ADAMYO Engin Can, Dr., HEION project staff, International Office Ms. Aycan Leventli, Staff at the International Office of SAU Ms. Ebru zkan, Outgoing Student to Lithuania, Economics Mr. Ouz Gngrmez, Outgoing Student to Poland, International Relations Mr. Mehmet Gven, Outgoing Student to Czech Rep., Economics Mr. Cihan Sr, Outgoing Student to Italy, Tourism Management Mr. Doan Dereli, Outgoing Student to Spain, Mechanical Engineering Ms. Laura Sulce, Incoming Student from Lithuania, International Relations Ms. Agrita Kalnina, Incoming Student from Lithuania, Social Studies Education Ms. Ruta Skudyte, Incoming Student from Latvia, International Relations Ms. Christina Navarro, Incoming Student from Spain, Social Studies Education Ms. Sara Salesa, Incoming Student from Spain, Social Studies Education

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Work Package 2 | Study of Current Practices in ECTS Learning Agreement Handling

Case 1) Filling in LA, sending it to the Host Higher Education Institution and receiving confirmation and acceptance. Problems students faced - Students cannot find courses offered in the webpage of host institution, - Lack of updated course list/catalogue in host institution, - Lack of English content of courses in host institution, - Lack of ECTS credits, - Lack of English webpage of host institution, - Lack of updated information in host institution, - Sometimes host institution send LAs back without signature of departmental and/or institutional coordinator, - Unclear programme schedules, - Communication problem with host institution: students cannot get in touch with departmental coordinators and/or international office staff, - Long process duration: to have an answer / acceptance / confirmation takes so long. Problems solved - With spending huge effort and wasting time: all these problems solved by extra efforts of departmental coordinator and international officers and students. Problems could be eradicated - There should be a separate link to the course info package for Erasmus students, - Updated course list (with content) should be available (with English language), - Courses must be seen easily, - Schedule must be ready before start, - Clearer deadlines & faster acceptance & confirmation, - In case of all courses are not open for Erasmus students, host institution should create a separate course list for Erasmus students, - Host institution should create active communication between the students and the university. How an online tool helps to eradicate these problems? - Online system should be created to solve problems of Erasmus programmes and create easer, faster and more qualitative LA, - Online system should be in English, - Online system should include LA & electronic signature, - Online system should include information about how to fill documents, - Online system should include contact information of departmental & institutional coordinator and international officers, - Erasmus student should see (updated & eligible for Erasmus students) course list and course content/language of host institution easily.

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Work Package 2 | Study of Current Practices in ECTS Learning Agreement Handling

Case 2) Arriving to Host HEI, reviewing LAs and making some changes Problems students faced - Almost all Erasmus students have to change their LAs after arrival to host institution, - The process of changing them often is very difficult for both Erasmus students and coordinators, - Departmental coordinators can not control this changing process, - Sometimes students changing their LAs without confirmation of their departmental coordinator and at the end of semester, departmental coordinator in the home institution do not want to accept changed courses, because they feel the courses are not related to the programme, - Students need confirmation of their departmental coordinator in home institution, - There is no exact period for changes in host institution; host institution allows students to change courses at the end of the semester, - Departmental coordinators in home university do not accept the course/courses after add and delete process, - It takes long time to deliver original copies of changed LAs to the home institution. Problems solved - Again with extra efforts of student and departmental coordinators problems are solved manually, - Choosing a course from different degree, for example MA degree student has to choose a course from bachelor`s degree. - By asking another students, - Sometimes outgoing student cannot contact with departmental coordinator in home institution easily, in that case making changes in LA without confirmation of coordinator, after returning back to home institution his/her credits cannot be transferred.

Problems could be eradicated - We need to reduce the number of changed LAs, - If HEIs update course list in general or for Erasmus students and announces courses for the next semester, students and coordinator know definitely which courses are open, in that case many student would not need to change LA, - Clear and definite announcement of open courses needed, - Changes of LA should be allowed in an exact time in all HEIs. How an online tool helps to eradicate these problems?

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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Work Package 2 | Study of Current Practices in ECTS Learning Agreement Handling

- Online system can solve many of these problems, - Online system can reduce number of changes, - Changes could be through online system easily and much faster, - Online system must provide an active communication between partner units.

Case 3) Leaving Host HEI and receiving by snail mail the final results at the Home HEI Problems students faced - Often, students receive their final results from host HEI very late and since there is recognition of courses without transcript as a proof, of student, cannot register for the summer school and/or sometimes next semester, - Confirmation process may take so much time because of the delay in snail mail. Problems solved - Students, international officers and departmental coordinators has to spend extra effort to contact with partners, - Usually student has to wait for final results to transfer his/her credits; there is nothing to do to solve this problem. Problems could be eradicated - Instead of using regular post for confirmation, there should be an online system, - Via international online system, - HEIs can upload transcript of students to the international system and sending institution can see and download easily. How an online tool helps to eradicate these problems? - If it is very well organized, online system can solve many of these problems, - Online system can provide electronic signature of both partner universities, so that there will be no need for original document. Case 4) Grades and ECTS transferred to the Home HEI local system Problems students faced - Some HEIs do not send the explanation of their local grading system and/or do not transform their local grade to ECTS grade, - Recognition process is becoming very complicated and takes a lot of time, - Sometimes coordinator does not want to recognize some portion of credits of students,

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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HEION

Work Package 2 | Study of Current Practices in ECTS Learning Agreement Handling

- Manuel recognition, credit transfer and grade transfer is not objective, it is changing according to coordinator. Problems solved -HEIs should use an international grading system like ECTS grade or should give a clear explanation for their local grading system. Problems could be eradicated - If HEIs use ECTS grading system problem can be solved. - By developing international grading system. How an online tool helps to eradicate these problems? - The online system may help in transfering the credits and grades automatically.

Identifier: EACEA-527937 | Proposal Number: 527937-LLP-1-2012-1-PT-ERASMUS-EAM

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