With the digitalisation of higher education underway and increasingly affecting international education and collaboration, several funding schemes have been put in place to support projects within digitalisation, digital campuses, on-line learning as well as virtual/blended mobilities for individuals. The resulting increased demand has also been met by the Nordplus Higher Education Programme, and ACA member EDUFI has commissioned in the context of this programme, a research team at University of Oulu to conduct a study on this phenomenon.

The now available report highlights the potential of utilising international collaborations to organise online learning programmes. It presents findings drawn from an analysis of data collected through phenomenographic interviews with seven practitioners selected from successful Nordplus cross-border online learning programmes and an online student survey sent out to students participating in those online programmes.

Download the full report here.

On another note, data on studies completed elsewhere can now be transferred electronically across borders. Among the first Finnish higher education institutions, Metropolia has introduced an electronic service based on the EMREX solution. It can be used to recognise studies completed elsewhere as part of a degree completed in Finland. The transition to EMREX will significantly reduce the time required for credit transfer processes and also increase the reliability of data.

Until now, the credit transfer process has been laborious for different parties and has relied heavily on paper documents and the students' own activity. The amount of work and the possibility of errors were high, and requests for supplementary and additional information have been frustrating for both students of the digital age and representatives of educational institutions. The aim now is for local reforms and solutions to be interoperable with European solutions and policies, ensuring thus scalability and a more widespread use.

Read more about the solution introduced at Metropolia here.