In the world of international education, training and career mobility, a person's achievements can easily get lost in translation. The European Learning Model aims to solve this by creating a universal "backbone" that describes learning in a multilingual format. A few tools are shared as open source on code.europa.eu, with the main aim to allow reuse and help others to link their own systems.
The European Learning Model (ELM) serves as the foundational data model for a suite of definitions and standards, to track a person’s entire educational journey. A sort of universal translator, linked to EU policies on learning, skills and qualifications, it allows the wide variety of organisations involved in education and training to speak the same language when documenting and assessing a learner’s achievements.
The ELM doesn't just describe degrees; it is used to describe all types of qualifications available across Member States and included in National Qualifications Frameworks, from physics degrees to vocational certifications, ensuring that a qualification earned in one country is understood in another, including their learning outcomes. “The ELM aims to support the consistency and portability of a person’s learning data,” says Céline Jambon, policy officer at the European Commission.
Allow reuse and enable integration
The ongoing development of educational and training semantic standards into one cohesive, interoperable system, spurred the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, to share some of the ELM tools as open source on code.europa.eu, the open source software repository for all European Union institutions. The two main solutions are:
- The European Digital Credentials for Learning (EDC)
Imagine a graduate from Sofia Bulgaria trying to prove a specialised coding certification to a recruiter in Dublin Ireland; the EDC transforms a stressful exchange of paper documents into a secure, structured, instant digital handshake. As EDC is open source, institutions can build, seal, and verify these credentials within their own systems. This flexibility is vital for universities and large-scale implementers who need to integrate these processes directly into their existing infrastructure.
- Qualifications Dataset Register (QDR)
This back-end tool was originally designed for EU Member States to share data on qualifications. A new chapter started following a request from the European Training Foundation (ETF). Making the QDR open source is facilitating global cooperation. "It’s the easiest way to share software," says Ms Jambon. "Not only is the agency reusing it, but so are partner organisations across Africa and Central Asia."
Beyond code: A Community of Practice
While the projects are actively maintained on code.europa.eu, the team is realistic about the role. The Commission is not expecting a flood of community code contributions. Instead, reasons to publish the specifications include transparency and utility, says Mr Cooke. “The primary objective really is to allow the larger implementers and certificate issuers to integrate the system into their own infrastructure,” he says.
Neither projects are intended to be a bustling open source community, nor does the Commission have the resources to build one, explains Ms Jambon. “We are reflecting on the extent of technical support we can provide to these open source projects,” she cautions.
Mr Cooke is aware of at least one company that studied the open source code to help design their own commercial service. “They have written their own version, based on similar mechanisms and data model”, he says.
What is important, says Ms Jambon, is that interested parties can use the projects on code.europe.eu to follow changes and growth of the European Learning Mode. “It captures our journey,” she says. The next step is clear: with the upcoming Skills Portability Initiative, there will be more interoperable digital tools that facilitate labour mobility.
The ELM project manages a mailing list reaching 1,500 subscribers, and regularly hosts webinars that attract hundreds of participants, all waiting to see how these tools will evolve. By sharing the code under the European Union Public Licence (EUPL), the project ensures it remains a public good that supports the "digital transformation in the field of education and training" across borders.
More information:
The ELM tools on code.europa.eu
European Learning Model
European Qualifications Framework