The first draft e-learning agreement took place in 2015-2017, a second project lasted until 2019 and a third project is now underway. For more information, see www.learning-agreement.eu/start/. In recent years, we have found that digital learning modalities significantly reduce administrative overhead and make it easier for students to enjoy a high-quality mobility experience. In the past, the complexity of the paperwork meant that apprenticeship contracts were not always concluded before departure, as well as the problems of recognition of ECTS after students returned home. The apprenticeship contract is a key document for Erasmus+ mobility. From the Erasmus+ programme 2021-2027, e-learning contracts will become the norm. When organising credit mobility, students and university staff must conclude trilateral learning agreements, which form the basis for the recognition of academic qualifications acquired abroad. According to the PRIME survey conducted by the Erasmus Student Network in 2010/11, apprenticeship contracts are a cornerstone and at the same time a major obstacle to the proper organisation of credit mobility. In fact, the interlocutors are not clearly defined, the information needed to draw up the agreements is rarely available online and the possibility of students changing their apprenticeship contract after arriving at the host universities is 75%. In the same survey, some national LLP organizations proposed to develop an online tool to prepare, approve and review learning agreements in an online environment, and this is exactly what this project intends to do. For student mobility for study purposes, the e-learning contract will become the standard in line with the European Initiative on Student Identification. The OLA should describe in detail the learning outcomes that contribute to the student`s graduation at the end of the study abroad program. University-specific learning contracts are signed at the Faculty Information Centre after the student`s arrival in Bergen.
The apprenticeship contract must include all the learning outcomes that the student is expected to acquire during the exchange. The three parties who sign the apprenticeship contract undertake to respect all the agreed agreements and thus to ensure that the student receives recognition for the studies or internship carried out abroad without further recognition requirements. The aim of the project is to give students the opportunity to prepare their learning contracts in an online system, which then allows them to work with the coordinators of the home and host higher education institutions to finalise, approve and sign the document online. This process therefore translates a paper-based workflow that relies on timely mail deliveries for signature purposes into an online system that saves students a lot of time in preparing for their studies abroad and achieves a higher degree of flexibility and efficiency in reviewing the apprenticeship contract. The online software will also enable higher education institutions to consistently design apprenticeship contract management workflows to make the approval and administration process more efficient, giving employees time to work on other activities in the field of international relations or improve the quality of credit mobility. In 2015, ESN joined the initiative launched by the European Foundation for Higher Education (EUF), the project called the e-Learning Agreement, which would develop a tool for students and universities to create and sign an e-learning contract. In May 2017, OLA was launched as a proof of concept for higher education institutions to try and adopt it. The EUF followed with another project, OLA+, which worked to add new features to the platform, such as.B. Apprenticeship contracts for internships and user satisfaction measurement. The student begins the process by creating a learning contract in the OLA system and signing it online. Be sure to provide your students with the correct name and email address of the person in charge of your institution (responsible for signing the apprenticeship contract). For the mobility of students to traineeships, the apprenticeship contract should specify how learning outcomes are recognised, depending on whether they are counted in the student`s diploma, on a voluntary basis (which is not necessarily part of the diploma) or by a university graduate.
It is also possible to adjust the OLA during the mobility period if your home university so requires. Log in to the OLA system and complete the section under New Apprenticeship Contract with Changes. In a study conducted in late 2019 – early 2020, more than 90% of students said they would recommend the OLA to their peers. In addition, 93% of RIOs believe that all apprenticeship contracts should be conducted online via an easy-to-use tool. The apprenticeship contracts for the studies created for this semester as well as the apprenticeship agreements for the internships are now still available via the old OLA platform. .