Making Erasmus Without Paper a reality: EWP Champion Università Politecnica delle Marche

The Università Politecnica delle Marche in Italy is connected to the Erasmus Without Paper network for both inter-institutional agreements and online learning agreements via CINECA Consorzio Interuniversitario.

The following is an interview with Silvia Mangialardo who is the Head of International Relations Office and responsible for the EWP implementation at the institution.

State of play

How do you see the state of Erasmus Without Paper evolving at your institution?

At the beginning, perhaps there was some resistance because opposition is inherent to any kind of change. These days, we are all on the same page and we are glad to use the system since we understand how much faster, easier, and fewer likely mistakes can be made. In addition, a digital learning agreement also converts the paper document into data that is shared via the system. Thus, there are undoubtedly fewer mistakes.

How well informed do you feel the staff of your institution is about Erasmus Without Paper today? How smoothly are things running today in your university?

Our university is made up of five faculties based on five cultural areas. They are not independent as in some other countries. All five faculties are managed by the International Relations Office, which is the focal point. For instance, my office is the one who publishes our Erasmus+ call, and students from the five faculties apply for this call.

For each faculty, a professor is the designated academic reference person who oversees the academic component of the mobility. Thus, the faculty coordinators handle learning agreements while we handle the administrative side of the mobilities.

Success factors and experiences

What was the biggest challenge for establishing your Erasmus Without Paper connection? How did you overcome it?

Convincing our employees of the advantages of Erasmus Without Paper was perhaps the largest obstacle. We started with somewhat of a top-down strategy. My colleague Paola, who represents the ICT department, and I, as the department director, took part in numerous discussions regarding Erasmus Without Paper, and shared ideas with our colleagues.

Since everyone is satisfied with the procedure as of right now, I would say that we handled things rather effectively.

What were some of the success factors that supported the implementation at your institution?

Having an engaged, inquisitive, and enthusiastic Digital Officer from the start greatly aided the process. Speaking with some of my Italian and non-Italian university colleagues, I also learned that one of the main issues they encountered was the absence of assistance from their IT department.

We were fortunate to receive strong early backing from our IT department. Additionally, we have excellent ties with CINECA, the national Erasmus Without Paper provider recognised by the Ministry of Education and Science. We handle our students' careers and all associated matters using their system. Many years ago, they created a segment devoted to managing student mobility. It is getting better little by little, especially now that we have a roadmap from the European Commission.

“Even though it takes more work initially, the effort will be worthwhile.”

Do you have tips for your colleagues on how they can benefit more from their Erasmus Without Paper network connection?

People who are more resistant must understand that we have some best practice on that. I firmly believe that this process speeds up the procedures. Therefore, even though it takes more work initially, the effort will be worthwhile.

In the event that we need to persuade our colleagues, we would argue that there will be a decrease in document exchanges and errors. Put in the effort because it will ultimately pay off.

Vision on digitisation

Why do you think it is important to connect to the Erasmus Without Paper network for your university?

It's because we cannot stop the digitisation process. Everything now is going to be digitalised. If we kept on maintaining the old management of the Erasmus+ programme, we would have been anachronistic. That's the reason the process needs to be digitised.

Students in their early twenties are the ones we work with. This generation is already accustomed to technology. Many aspects of their lives are digitalised already.

Where do you want to see Erasmus Without Paper in the next five years?

Our goal is for Erasmus Without Paper to be operational during every stage of the mobility process. For instance, at this time, nominations and transcripts of records are being improved, and new APIs will be made available shortly. Therefore, we would be glad to have these procedures fully operational in five years. Honestly, it would be much better if it worked within a year instead of five.

What could make Erasmus Without Paper more beneficial for institutions and students in your view?

For higher education institutions, they will have the opportunity to speed up procedures, and also to reduce the mistakes that sometimes occur when you exchange paper documents.

Additionally, I believe it will strengthen ties between universities. Being a part of this process, means being a part of the digitisation and globalisation process. Therefore, especially for our students, it really couldn't be any different.