In the current context of globalisation and free movement of people, border areas represent unique exchange areas. They serve as learning laboratories and constitute for many users a first step towards openness to difference. Higher education institutions have a key role to play in terms of valorization of knowledges and skills among the academic audience so that this audience can benefit from all the advantages, either formal or informal, resulting from the proximity of another culture. However, how do we acknowledge the skills acquired by students and staff of the universities operating every day in a cross-border context? Which tools and facilitation devices have proved to be efficient and can be duplicated on other borders? These issues provide a basis for the reflection subject of this project which gathers four European cross-border university groupings, namely: -a French-Spanish grouping: Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour (coordinating university), Universidad de Zaragoza, Universidad del País Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea -a French-Italian grouping: University Savoie Mont-Blanc, Università della Valle d’Aosta -a French-German-Swiss grouping: EUCOR network; -a French-German-Luxembourgish-Belgian grouping: Université de la Grande Région, Universität des Saarlandes The partner organisations set themselves the objective to set up a common cross-border reference framework which will result into the issuance of a certificate of cross-border skills, recognized by a European label. This certificate will be available to the whole university community (students, staff) wishing to have a formal recognition of the skills acquired in the context of a cross-border experience. Prior to the creation and implementation of the certificate, which constitutes the result of the project, several key steps will take place: Step 1: identification and definition of the cross-border skills and of the tools used within each grouping, drawing up of a reference framework of cross-border skills; Step 2: implementation of the platform that will play the role of device valuation support and certification e-portfolio tool; launching of the device on a test panel; Step 3: certificate deployment to the whole university community of each grouping and promotion of the certificate to the national and European institutions. A harmonized acknowledgement of European cross-border skills will to a great extent contribute to stimulate cross-border exchanges, opening up new career prospects to the holders of the certificate. This new certificate visibility and reputation will keep growing well beyond the duration of the project itself. The groupings taking part to this project will do their best to make it a reference tool in terms of valorisation of European cross-border skills. It will for example be integrated within the diploma supplement and will serve as a proof for future employers, either in a cross-border or European area. The challenge set by its designers is therefore to have this certificate receive the adhesion not only of the users (students, academic and administrative staff of different European or international university groupings), but also of the social and economic actors of each cross-border area, and of the European institutions.
CONTEXT Cross-border territories are unique platforms for exchange and laboratories for genuine learning. They provide the possibility opening up to others, and discovering new languages and cultures. Universities play a key role in terms of enhancing the value of skills acquired through formal or informal learning. THE PROJECT’S HISTORY At the end of a seminar between cross-border academic actors at the UPPA in 2015, some questions emerged. How can students or university staff working in a cross-border context enhance their skills? Which programmes can be used to prove these skills’ worth? These issues are the basis of the ECBS project, which brings together four cross-border partner universities (Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Universidad de Zaragoza, Universidad del País Vasco-Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, Université Savoie Mont-Blanc, Università della Valle d’Aosta, EUCOR, UniGR, Universität des Saarlandes) and one non-academic partner (VMPS Corporation) specialised in educational engineering and development of AI-based teaching solutions. OBJECTIVES ECBS partners have the goal of setting up a common framework for "cross-border skills" materialised through a certificate and/or Open Badges. These certifications are open to the entire academic community (students, PhD students, and staff) and seek to highlight the skills acquired in the context of a cross-border experience. This has been developed through the following steps: identification of programmes set up in each cross-border area; definition of useful skills in a cross-border environment and development of a framework; establishment of the platform to promote these devices and to issue certifications; deployment of certifications to the entire academic community. ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION Most of the project activities concern intellectual work, resulting in several outputs. The first output consists of a catalogue of programmes which enable users to acquire skills. This catalogue was proposed by the partners in their cross-border cooperation. The second output is a cross-border skill framework. This framework is common to all academic partners of the project, and is made up of fifteen skills. The last output is a platform designed to meet several goals: for users, to explore the catalogue of programmes developed in a cross-border area, to relate to the skills acquired during a cross-border experience and to apply for a certification; for partners, to highlight cross-border programmes and to have a tool for managing certification applications. RESULTS The ECBS Catalogue lists the programmes set up in the context of cross-border cooperation. Its aim is to promote these devices and to offer an opportunity to share these experiences with other universities located in cross-border areas. This catalogue will result in the deployment of new programmes in cross-border institutions, whether they are linked or not to the ECBS project. The ECBS framework is the key element for the recognition of skills acquired after a cross-border experience. Based on this framework and use-cases, the user can have a self feedback on his/her own experience. The development of a platform is an essential tool in order to facilitate the recognition of the acquired skills, both for the user and for evaluator. LONG-TERM BENEFITS The recognition of these skills makes a major contribution to boosting cross-border exchanges, thus opening up new professional prospects for the holders of the certifications. Project partners will ensure that it becomes, as far as possible, the reference tool in terms of cross-border skill enhancement. It will be integrated as a supplement to the academic diploma and will serve as a certificate for future employers located in a cross-border area. Partners aim to obtain support and recognition for this certification, not only from the users of the platform, but also from socio-economic actors in cross-border territories and from European institutions.