Outputs
The Intellectual Outputs (IOs) of the ESC-tension project are the results of all partners’ work and involvement where each brings its own expertise and knowledge in the area. This joint approach allows the project to achieve coherent and tangible results.
IO 1 - ESC-tension operational platform
The ESC-tension platform (www.esc-tension.eu) represents the first output of the project and all partners participate in its development contributing both at the definition of its structure and contents.
Available as a free, open-source, and multilingual version, the platform ensures access and ease of use of ESC evaluation, and implementation tools to HEIs and SSPs in Europe.
The platform provides technical, administrative, management, and operational resources to foster the implementation of the European Student Card. So, as a “One-stop Shop”, the platform offers a dual utility by meeting the needs of both Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and students.
It also fills the gaps by developing resources and tools to guide HEIs on how to adapt the local student charter and to manage student services on and off campus to ESC standards, considering the administrative and cultural peculiarities of the national context.
The platform can be useful for students to understand the benefits and functionality of the European Student Card and to provide access to the Portal that maps the services available through the ESC in all the HEIs adopting the ESC-tension tools.
The impact is very high because the platform allows access and use of resources and tools for the implementation of the ESC at the HEIs.
IO 2 - Higher Education Institutions Profiling and baseline Identification
The adoption of the ESC cannot disregard the vision of the whole and the organisational structure of HEI. A monolithic approach would not be helpful in promoting the technological, administrative and operational adjustment necessary for the adoption of the ESC.
There is the need for a tool to profile each HEI as well as to allow it to better define concrete strategies and objectives in terms of the type of services to the student, available resources, expectations, goals, and requirements. This is what IO2 aims for.
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1. A MULTIDIMENSIONAL MATRIX that intersects the four dimensions of the ESC on two axes. These include Cards & Services, and each of these includes Organisational/Administration and Technical/Technological aspects. All these aspects are analysed taking into consideration both the HEI and national contexts.
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2. A Profiling Tool that is a self-assessment tool based on the concept of Multidimensional Matrix and available for any HEI aiming to better understand the potential of the ESC. Its main goal is to broaden the knowledge around the ESC adoption, inquiring about their own AS-IS scenario. Thanks to the tools developed in the frameworks of IO3 and IO4 which the Profiling Tool will interact with, HEIs would then move towards a smooth ESC adoption process.
The impact on HEIs is immediate since they can profile their organisation in terms of ambitions, needs and possibilities on student services and understand the implications of the adoption of the ESC on the organisational structure.
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Common methodology |
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ESC-tension Matrix and Profiling Tool |
IO 3 - Card Issuance and Adoption Toolbox
The IO3 Toolbox focuses on the part of the Multidimensional Matrix regarding the Cards and consists of three concrete and operational tools based on the results of IO2, available online on the Platform in multilingual and multi-country versions.
The tools are used to fully understand the administrative and technological requirements of the ESC card and to perform an internal assessment to fully understand the level of readiness, identify gaps and points of strength and criticality as well as to trace a roadmap for the adoption of the ESC itself.
The operational instruments are:
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1. ESC Technology Standards personalised and made usable in different cultural and operational contexts;
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2. ESC-tension Organisational Self-assessment Tool;
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3. ESC-tension Technological Self-assessment Tool.
In light of the so far low adoption of the European Student Card among HEIs in Europe and their lacking knowledge of the steps, requirements, and implications resulting from the adoption of the ESC, ESC-tension is a timely and very operational response to this need.
The impact is immediate and concrete: once developed, the instruments of IO3 are implemented immediately and concretely without barriers.
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ESC Technology Standards customization in different cultural and operational contexts |
IO 4 - ESC-compliant Student Services
IO4 focuses on aspects related to the student services harmonisation to the ESC standards. IO4 is a self-sustaining output that, alongside IO2 and IO3, provides operational tools to measure the distance between the as-is situation of the HEI and the complete adoption of the ESC into the student services delivery process.
IO4 results consist of:
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1. A dual compatibility test measuring current readiness, gaps, and steps necessary for a full adoption of the ESC from a service perspective;
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2. Guidelines for the adoption of the ESC with a range of tools to enable HEIs to introduce the ESC ensuring reliability and continuity in the provision of services both qualitative and quantitative;
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3. Training package for staff on how to implement the ESC correctly.
The impact is high since IO4 is measured on the capacity and awareness within HEIs for the development and delivery of student services that are in total alignment with the ESC.
