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titleWhat is the Erasmus Dashboard?

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The Erasmus Dashboard is a glimpse into the future of student mobility in Europe. The Dashboard is the simplest and most convenient way to manage the LAs of Erasmus+ exchange students; it connects directly with the OLA as well as the Erasmus+ App to provide you a number of free services. 

See also more support material in the Competence Centre here.

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titleWhat are the functions of the Erasmus Dashboard?

The Erasmus Dashboard is a space to manage your outgoing and incoming students: review, decline, comment, download and sign their LAs online.

It also doubles as a communication platform with our exchange students, easily letting you send group email notifications and push notifications to users of the Erasmus+ App. You can also add deadlines and specific information about your HEI that will be displayed in the Erasmus+ Step-by-Step guides on the Erasmus+ App. 

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titleWill the Erasmus Dashboard be upgraded with new functionalities?

Very much so – there will be many more services and functions to the Dashboard added with a view to support the integration of course catalogues in the OLA and in-depth integration of OLAs for traineeships. We are also working towards supporting the International Credit Mobility (KA107) and After Mobility part of the Online Learning Agreement.

We are also joining forces with the EWP network to provide you with tools to manage your Erasmus+ inter-institutional agreements online, ease the conversion of grades and allow electronic exchange of data with the Mobility Tool+. Stay tuned and let us know what functionality you would like to see added to the Erasmus Dashboard: contact us to share your ideas.

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titleHow much time can OLA save?

A survey to 60 IROs carried out in late 2017 has shown that using OLA reduced the time spent managing Learning Agreements by more than 50%.

At the time of the survey IROs were relying on a earlier version of the Dashboard; since new features have been introduced we will carry out a new survey in the months ahead.

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titleWho is developing the Erasmus Dashboard?

The Erasmus Dashboard has been implemented in the framework of the Erasmus+ App and Online Learning Agreement projects by the European University Foundation and several partner universities, namely University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Lodz University of Technology (Poland), University of Vienna (Austria), University of Marburg (Germany), University of Alcalá (Spain), University of Bergen (Norway), Erasmus University of Rotterdam (The Netherlands), Panthéon-Sorbonne University (France), University of Warsaw  (Poland), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) as well as the Erasmus Student Network.

The projects are co-funded by the European Commission.

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titleHow much does it cost to use the Erasmus Dashboard?

This tool has been developed with public funding and support from the Erasmus+ programme. Accordingly, it is and will remain free to both HEIs and students.

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titleIs it safe to manage the student information through the Erasmus Dashboard?

It is much safer than sending documentation by email or post. We take reasonable measures to protect student information from unauthorised access or against loss, misuse or alteration by third parties. All connections to the Erasmus Dashboard are encrypted and authenticated via a digital certificate; encryption is also used in the links circulated through the email notifications. The respective databases are registered with the Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection and the legally binding terms of use forbid the EUF and the ESN to disclose student data to third parties (sending/receiving HEIs not included).

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titleWhat if some of my incoming students are using the OLA and my HEI does not use the Erasmus Dashboard?

We want to ensure that every student using the Online Learning Agreement will have a smooth mobility experience, therefore, we would appreciate your cooperation - simply follow the automatic notifications regarding the revision and signature of the agreement.

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titleIs it possible to integrate the Erasmus Dashboard into our higher education institutional platform?

Even though it is not possible at this stage to directly integrate the Erasmus Dashboard in your platform, this system will communicate with the EWP network through a set of specially developed APIs, which will enable HEIs using the Dashboard to exchange information electronically with partners using their own/commercial IT systems. The development of the EWP network is entering its final stage (official launch took place in late 2018) and you can consult the technical documentation of the project here and its source code here.

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titleHow can I stay updated on the upcoming news regarding the Erasmus Dashboard and other topics related to the digitisation of higher education?

You can stay informed about our upcoming conferences on the Erasmus Dashboard, OLA and EWP via the EUF newsletter (subscribe here - bottom right corner). 

Your Erasmus+ National Agency and Digital Officers will also share important information about upcoming webinars on the above-mentioned infrastructure.

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titleIs there something else my university/HEI can do to support the digitisation of student mobility in Europe?

Yes! We have also launched the Open Source University Alliance to raise awareness about the potential of sharing the code of student information systems, APIs, and other interesting tools. We hope this will help populate the open source repository that has been launched in the context of the EWP project and we invite you to contribute to this game-changing initiative.

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titleWhen will the OLA be ready for use?

It is already ready for use.

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General questions

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In-depth questions

Access

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titleHow can HEIs access the Erasmus Dashboard?

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HEIs can create their main account here: Erasmus Dashboard. Please bear in mind that only institutional email addresses are accepted (e.g. no hotmail or gmail services). The registration process should be carried out by a manager from the International Relations Office, as this person will give access to other colleagues within the HEI so that they are able to access the Erasmus Dashboard using their own accounts.

After the registration of a HEI, the indicated data is checked before the account is validated. The notification will be sent to the main institutional email address with an invitation to create a password and instructions on the next steps.

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titleWho can access the Erasmus Dashboard of my HEI?

After the validation of the main institutional account, the HEI can create as many individual accounts for their internal use as necessary, according to their specific management structures. HEIs internally assign different roles (e.g. manage the students lists or fill in the information about the HEI that will be displayed in the Erasmus+ App etc.) to their staff members ‒ coordinators, academic or administrative personnel ‒ by sending an email notification. After accepting this registration invitation, staff members will be directed to the Erasmus Dashboard and invited to create their login details to access the platform and use it according to the permissions assigned to them.

The holder of the main institutional account can edit the list of staff members and their permissions at any time, as well as nominate more people involved in the organisation of mobility.

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titleWe are a large and decentralised HEI – how can all the faculties and coordinators work with the system?

The current version of the Dashboard also includes a multiuser system where different levels of permissions can be granted.

This multiuser system is being developed further so that in the future faculties can see/work with their students only (currently all the students of a HEI are displayed together, although they can be filtered by subject codes).

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titleWhy is the Erasmus Dashboard only in English?

At a time where we are invested in rapidly developing the Dashboard we do not have the resources to keep updated versions in all the EU languages, but a multilingual framework is one of the features we are keen to introduce in the near future. 

Usage - First Steps

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titleIs it just for the EU countries?

Yes, for now just for the EU Programme countries – Erasmus Charter for Higher Education holders. Yet in the long run we would like to open it up to all HEIs worldwide.

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titleHow can I find out which of my partners already use the Dashboard?

Due to the data privacy reasons we cannot disclose the list. More than 1000 HEIs from EU programme countries have already requested the access to the Dashboard, and you can also sign LAs with HEIs that are not registered in the system — they will receive email instructions to be able to do so.

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titleSomething on the Erasmus Dashboard doesn’t work.

If you are experiencing problems, please clear your browser cache (the instructions for this procedure on different browsers should be easy to find online).

Also avoid having different sessions in different tabs within one browsing window (e.g. one where you are logged in and one from the notification email inviting you to sign, etc.)

Please keep in mind that Internet Explorer is not supported, as it is outdated, yet all the others can be used – Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Opera, Brave, etc.

If you are experiencing issues with downloads or slow loading times - please try again at another moment or follow the instructions above.

The OLA/Dashboard team is currently hard at work in developing a complete new engine for this tool, to address such issues and ensure a much smoother user experience. We will start releasing details about this major update as of mid-June 2020, when we will also hold a webinar on the topic.

Managing of OLAs

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titleWho signs the OLA?

In line with the official template – the “contact person” and/or the “responsible person”. If the contact person and the responsible person are the same the template asks to fill in just one of the fields.

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titleWho declines the OLA?

In addition to the colleagues indicated as “responsible person” and “contact person” in the LA, any staff members of the concerned HEI registered on the Dashboard who are given the adequate permissions can decline LAs and comment on needed changes. The discussions with HEIs illustrated that such feature is appreciated – e.g. administrative staff can go through the LAs and see that e.g. wrong semester courses were chosen and inform the student on needed changes before signing the OLA.

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titleWill partners recognise digital signatures?

The Erasmus+ programme guidelines encourage the usage of digital and scanned signatures, and in most HEIs/countries this is an accepted practice. Some HEIs might still hesitate with regards to the usage of such systems, although this is part of a broader cultural change that will inevitably happen. From a legal viewpoint the OLA was designed to ensure no compliance issues would arise, notably with regards to audits, and after over 10,000 LAs signed online  no problems have been reported.

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titleHow can I see when students have been nominated/uploaded by me or initiated the process themselves?

There is a filter in the “Student list” that allows you to view these groups separately.

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titleCan I delete the LAs?

Yes, HEIs can delete the LAs.

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titleWhy can’t I edit the LA after it is uploaded?

For the time being HEIs can decline the LA (and comment on needed changes) which automatically deletes the signatures. The student can then edit the LA and introduce the changes proposed. Further flexibility is being considered for future system updates.

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titleWhat about additional documents to the LA – Grant Agreement?

Grant Agreements are not part of our workflow since they are dealt with locally and fall under the exclusive purview of national legislation.

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titleWhat are the sources of data offered in the drop-down menus?

Almost sets of data that are mandatory to be indicated are taken from MT+ templates, e.g. official ISCED list, cycle of studies according to EQF, language list and possible levels, nationalities, etc.

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titleI can’t find a partner HEI in the Dashboard.

The list we are using is the official Erasmus Charter for Higher Education holders list. HEIs can be searched by name (not always in English) or by the Erasmus Code.

Connection with the Erasmus+ App

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titleI am an International Relations Officer, can I also use the App?

You are able to insert your own data (HEI information, deadlines, contact people and much more) and even send notifications to your incoming and outgoing students via the Erasmus Dashboard "App Step-by-Step" section (https://www.erasmus-dashboard.eu).

You can also of course download the Erasmus+ App and navigate it so that you know what you are promoting to your students as well as test the features. The Erasmus+ App is freely available on Google Play and Apple Store.

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titleWho created the default content for the Step-by-Step guides?

The descriptions are the result of cooperation between the European Commission DG EAC, as group of HEIs selected for such consultation event and the ESN’s Education Committee. They are rather generic in order to fit for all countries, hence we encourage you to make the Step-by-Step institution-specific offering your incoming and outgoing students more guidance at their fingertips.

The Erasmus+ App has already been downloaded more than 70,000 times.

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titleI didn’t receive the confirmation email when I registered for the Erasmus+ App.

If the confirmation email is not in your spam folder, try to register again to check that your email was not misspelled. If you are still not able to register, contact us at support@erasmusapp.eu and we can confirm the account manually.

If you are using an institutional email address check with your IT service whether the App domain has been inadvertently blocked by your servers — if so they should be able to whitelist such emails.

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titleIs there a moderation mechanism for Top tips?

Yes, they are manually validated before publication and no commercial content as well as hate-speech is tolerated.

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titleWho creates the content for the App?

Programme information and news: EC DG EAC

Events: ESN local sections

Tips: mobile students

Default Step-by-Step: EC after a consultation with group of HEIs and ESN Education Committee

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