EHEA Paris 2018 Ministerial conference: presentation of the European Student Card

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 – Sorbonne
Welcome ceremony and celebration of the 20 years of the declaration of the Sorbonne

The European student card
presentations
Monique Ronzeau, President of the National Observatory of Student Life, President of the french steering committee of the ESC
Film, co-production Cirimas – CNOUS

 

 

Welcome ceremony and celebration of the 20 years of the declaration of the Sorbonne

May 23, 2018

 

Presentation of the European student card by Monique RONZEAU-President of the National Observatory of Student Life (OVE) and President of the French Steering Committee of the “European Student Card” project

Monique RONZEAU introduces the presentation by the diffusion of an animation video intended to allow to appreciate the contents of this project; to see concretely what can be used for a European student card and how it works already in the institutions that are currently experimenting on cohorts of students in mobility (for example in Strasbourg, Dijon, Karlsruhe, Cork, or Milan .)

She has been supporting this project since 2016 as Chair of the Steering Committee set up by the Ministry of Higher Education, bringing together all the French actors and partners involved in its development.

Some principles to remember:

  • simplification and dematerialization of procedures,
  • no ex-nihilo creation of a European student status, no new card but compatibility with existing cards,
  • recognition of student status via a digital platform for the exchange of data between institutions’ information systems,
  • collaborative work originally built with four founding countries (France / Italy / Germany / Ireland) based on volunteering and experimentation with a view to spreading to as many countries as possible,
  • now a genuine European project, funded by the European Union as part of a strategic partnership of the Erasmus + Program.

We are struck by the transversality of the subject which is at the intersection of several issues: the quality of student life, the digital with the process of electronic identification, the dematerialization of administrative procedures, the improvement of services, the IS, mobility international ….

After a first pilot phase of design and experimentation (especially on the European campus EUCOR) which ends in June, what will happen now?

The work must continue and intensify mainly around the access of students in mobility to the maximum of services, the objective being in particular to provide them living conditions on campus comparable to those which are offered to the local students. The European map will develop obviously by the recognition of an identity element but especially by the uses, those of the concrete and daily life of a student.

Beyond its technical aspects, I propose you to relocate quickly this project in its European and international dimension, since it concerns the European community and beyond, the 48 countries of the Bologna Process.

What are the fundamentals of the European student card ?

  • harmonized graphic support with an integrated European logo;
  • a European electronic identity for the networking of institutions on the basis of a digital propagation of student status between institutions and an exchange of data in order to facilitate the procedures and to assert his rights on the move.

It must first be emphasized that it fits in perfectly with the European regulation aiming at building a common electronic identification at the level of the EU countries (I am referring here in particular to the eIDAS regulation applicable to all countries since last year).

The European card is also already compatible with the other projects developed on the dematerialisation of the EU-backed file transfer procedures (Erasmus without paper and Emrex), which eventually should converge towards a platform. common form. This convergence with European partners delivering digital student services projects is of course essential to the coherence and credibility of the whole.

There are many other types of cards, we know that, but what characterizes this project is its institutional porting which is built on values of partnership and trust in what the European Education Area represents. . It concretises the concept of European student, whatever the duration and form of mobility.

The European card has gradually emerged as a key project in the construction of student identity in the European area by contributing to the reinforcement of mobility, administrative simplification, easier access to useful services for students, the rise of digital services, the recognition of an electronic identifier across Europe, and the rise of European citizenship for students.

It is for all these reasons that we are particularly pleased to have the opportunity tonight to present it to you, so that the greatest number of establishments can appropriate it and adhere to the device; you will understand that it is good + that a tool at the service of a facilitated mobility, it is a symbol of what could be tomorrow the identity of a European student, on all of its mobility course .

The notion of a European university, cross-border campuses or networks of European institutions that are much in question today must be able to be embodied in concrete and stimulating projects; this is the case with this project, even though we know that the card alone will not remove all the obstacles that will arise from differences in regulations and practices across territories and countries. Why not imagine that the label “European University” is given subject for the institutions concerned, to use the European card ? Ditto for ERASMUS partnerships?

The ultimate goal is not only to foster the emergence of a student identity across the European area, but also to contribute to the modernization of our European ESR system and to make it more attractive.

We have an obligation of results in this respect, we must collectively succeed in developing and generalizing the use of the European card by 2019. And we must go further, towards the implementation on a European scale of a mobility services portal using a unique identification system.

I thank all those who have been involved in this project since its inception and first and foremost the CNOUS who is its operational coordinator, without which the European card could not have been developed;

And of course, the European Commission and the Erasmus+ programme which co-funded the projet,  the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation: the political will of the Minister, Frédérique Vidal, and the action of its services allowed its inclusion in the draft communiqué of the conference Ministerial Conference of the Bologna Process, which will open tomorrow, which is a guarantee of visibility and particularly valuable support; and finally, thanks to the representatives of the institutions, the Conference of University Presidents, and all the other French or foreign partners, many more to join us.

 

Thank you for your attention.