State of play

A newly published report, one year after the initial EWP assessment, evaluates the current status of EWP data exchanges.

Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the higher education community, we can see a steady growth in the numbers of inter-institutional agreements and learning agreements completed via EWP.

All data sources informing the report affirm that EWP data exchanges are functioning better than they were a year ago. Almost all known technical hurdles to interoperability have been overcome, but as described in the report some users may still encounter technical problems.

Challenges remain

Concluding an agreement

Concluding a digital inter-institutional agreement via EWP is not a straightforward process even when the data exchanges work as intended. This is work in progress and will be addressed in the next Erasmus+ programme to prevent disruptions to the current programme. This means revising the digital inter-institutional agreements workflow so that users get the benefits of concluding agreements digitally and to make EWP more user-friendly.

Duplication

Around 20% of institutions which are able to exchange digital learning agreements via EWP have not started to do so yet. This contributes to duplication of work for both students and staff.

An EWP priority is therefore to support institutions to start exchanging learning agreements via EWP as soon as possible. EWP relationship managers will organise meetings with the institutions concerned to understand what the reasons for this are and what support they need.

Next steps

Institutions connected to the EWP network are strongly encouraged to integrate it in their daily operations as soon as possible, in particular for learning agreements.

They can make use of comprehensive user guides which enhance the collective understanding of the EWP processes.

Practitioners are encouraged to continue to be actively involved in the EWP-ecosystem to guide network developments and improvements. EWP user groups, EWP Champions and Digital Officers help to ensure that digital processes are tailored to the community’s needs.

The smoother transition towards digital learning agreements was overshadowed by the issues faced with inter-institutional agreements. A well-functioning digital nominations process can generate positive momentum for the digitalisation of the programme. This process is in an early release phase under development in close cooperation with the end user community. Currently, there is no timeline for introducing nominations and transcript of records via EWP on a wide scale and no deadlines are envisaged to be imposed to the community.

Read the full report [pdf]