The Interoperability Test Bed will be used to support semantic interoperability as part of Germany’s XBildung initiative, aiming to standardise electronic data exchange in education, schools, higher education and vocational training.

The XBildung project is a comprehensive data exchange standard that encompasses the entire German education system. It’s goal is to establish standardised electronic exchanges between all German education stakeholders, including universities, schools and education providers, as well as participating students.

The XBildung project acts as a parent for sub-projects focusing on specific education areas:

• The XHochschule project, focusing on standardising digital credentials and the exchange of student data in the national higher education system.
• The XSchule project, developing a uniform specification for digital credentials and data exchange in school administration across federal states.
• The XBerufsbildung project, aiming to standardise digital credentials and the exchange of data between stakeholders in vocational education and training.

Besides reducing effort, errors and enabling faster procedures and delivery of services, the XBildung project also supports the German Online Access Act and Europe’s Single Digital Gateway. The need for XBildung as an IT standard was officially acknowledged in October 2021. Specification releases are available on the XBildung website, with the very latest version also being published through open-source GitHub repositories.

Standardised data exchanges are built on the foundation of semantic specifications. Software providers producing XBildung documents are expected to ensure these are valid, although no specific validation solution is required to be used. Nonetheless, the state of Saxony-Anhalt, sponsor of the XBildung project on behalf of the Federal Government, plans in publishing a central validator service as a tool for solution developers to test their software against.

It was in view of this envisaged service that the Interoperability Test Bed was selected, and specifically its XML validator. This is a reusable solution that supports highly customisable validation of XML documents based on XML Schema and Schematron rules, matching exactly the validation needs for XBildung. 

A beta version of the validator has been published as of April 2025 and is currently being used as part of the project’s pilot phase. The service supports out-of-the-box human and machine-to-machine interfaces and is hosted directly by the Interoperability Test Bed.

The final validator’s users are expected to be parties that have ordered an XBildung software implementation, in order to validate its correctness. Software providers producing such software are also expected to leverage the validator as part of their development process. The key point is ensuring that validation is easy to perform by all users, validating against the official specifications and without needing to install or configure specialised software.

The XBildung validator is a good example of how the Test Bed’s validators can be used to complement semantic specifications with validation support. Doing so is fully configuration-driven, resulting in an online service without development or hosting concerns. Moreover, control remains fully with the validator’s developers, supported by the Test Bed’s extensive XML validation guide, and the Test Bed team itself when needed.

The best place for more information on the XBildung project is the project’s official website. For projects interested in setting up a similar validation service, the Interoperability Test Bed’s XML validation guide provides thorough step-by-step guidance, with similar guides available for RDF, JSON, CSV and YAML data. General details on the Test Bed’s services and use cases can be found in the Interoperable Europe Portal, with its value proposition being a good starting point for newcomers. To receive updates on Test Bed news and releases remember to subscribe to the Test Bed on the Portal, and to follow Interoperable Europe’s updates on X and LinkedIn.

The Interoperability Test Bed is a service provided by the European Commission’s DIGIT, offering conformance testing and validation solutions in support of IT systems’ cross-border interoperability.