A group of Student System Implementers came together in 2007 to form the Rome Student Systems and Standards Group (RS3G - www.rs3g.org). The group has now grown to be a recognised force for the promotion, development and early adoption of standards and has spawned and contributed to exciting projects that will improve the lot of students, graduates and institutions.

Four significant developments in 2009 within RS3G are:

• The enlargement of the Steering Committee
• RS3G involvement in a project supported by the European Committee for Standardization (www.cen.eu) European Learner Mobility
• The initiation of the RS3G centered Mobility Project to build a web services based infrastructure for the exchange of Erasmus and related information between higher education institutions and
• The acceptance of RS3G as a EUNIS Task Force.

Steering Committee Expands

In April this year, the RS3G Steering Committee was expanded from its three founding members (Digitary – www.digitary.net, Kion – www.kion.it and QS-unisolution – www.qs-unisolution.com) to include Jean Francois Desnos (then President of the European Universities Information Systems Association - www.eunis.org), Gunnar Backelin (Chief Executive of the Lakok Consortium of Swedish universities - www.ladok.se) and Herman de Leeuw (board member of the European Association for International Education – www.eaie.org).  A group of advisors to the board was also formed, consisting of Jan Martin Lowendahl (European Director of Research for Higher Education at Gartner – www.gartner.com), David Moldoff (representing the Post Secondary Electronic Standards Council from the United States – www.pesc.org) and Professor Mark Stubbs from Manchester Metropolitan University in the United Kingdom (and Chair of the interdepartmental committee called PLOT - Portfolios, Learning Opportunities and Transcripts).

This expansion strengthens RS3G and positions the group firmly within the European Higher Education Sector.


European Learner Mobility

RS3G members have been providing expert contribution to the European Committee for Standardization (www.cen.eu) project called European Learner Mobility (EuroLM).  This project will conclude the current stage of its work soon which will provide significant progress towards definition of a standard for the production of the electronic European Diploma Supplement (EDS) and guidance on related matters such as the means of delivery and authentication.  See http://wiki.teria.no/confluence/display/EuropeanLearnerMobility/European+Learner+Mobility for more information.


RS3G Mobility Project

From a very different perspective, RS3G members MUCI (www.usos.edu.pl), which is a consortium of universities in Poland, and Kion (www.kion.it), the Italian consortium, initiated a project to initially build a prototype for a web services based approach to the sharing of student-exchange related data between institutions.  This project has now grown to include participants from across Europe who are leading task areas or are happy to contribute their time and expertise.  See http://wiki.teria.no/confluence/display/RS3G/Mobility+Project for more information.

RS3G becomes EUNIS Task Force

RS3G became a EUNIS Task force in May 2009.  This is a very significant development in the group’s history, as EUNIS is a key focal point for the development of relationships with institutions and other stakeholders in the Higher Education area.

RS3G active role in the Standardization community (CEN) will offer to EUNIS members the opportunity to stay informed about significant developments on this front, as well as the opportunities to get directly involved with standardization projects. Participation to such initiatives will in turn allow for more rapid, consistent and appropriate adoption  of standards.

As a EUNIS Task Force, RS3G will promote collaborative project work, like the Mobility Project, which may eventually make RS3G an “operational arm” of EUNIS, fostering real cooperation among its members. RS3G will also assist flow of information around institutions and other stakeholders through the dissemination of results from the group’s activities, which will benefit students and institutions and will support the development of a more completive European Higher Education Area.

See full details on the special eLTF page!

See also the wiki page at wiki.eunis.org

ELTF is meeting one a year in different places. It is also responsible for the Jens Doerup award for innovative teaching and learning.

Contact Gill Ferrell for more information, gill.ferrell@northumbria.ac.uk.

Goal of the EUNIS Elite Award

The main purpose of the EUNIS Elite Award is to recognise and promote best practice in some aspect of the use of information systems in higher education in Europe. The competition will:

• recognise excellence
• stimulate wider awareness and use of information systems in teaching, learning, research, administration and community service in institutions
• encourage best practice

Prize

A prize of 2000€ is annually awarded to the authors of the winning submission. The winner is be announced at the EUNIS Conference. This year is the 9th EUNIS Elite award.

Eligibility

Submissions for the Award may come from any area related to information systems, including for example:

• eLearning
• Portals
• Identity management
• Administrative Information Systems

See conditions for application.