This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This website reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission or the National Agency cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. 1. Introduction
1.1. Status of This Document
This document sets out key policies followed in the QualityLink project. These policies are first and foremost applicable for the lifetime of the project, which includes the testing and piloting of data aggregation and the publication of aggregated data. Any organisation possibly taking up Europe-wide data aggregation on micro-credentials and courses on a permanent basis might develop a different policy.
1.2. Goals and Rationale
The main focus of the QualityLink project is to design a technical architecture and propose technical specifications. Policies on key issues, however, influence some architectural choices and thus need to be defined beforehand to ensure that the architecture aligns with these policies.
Since the QualityLink will not only propose specifications, but also pilot aggregation, there is a need for a clear policy on data sources that are considered.
Furthermore, a policy on data use and sharing needs to clarify for education providers and other data sources how their aggregated data will be available to the public and can be used.
1.3. Audience
This policy primarily targets higher education institutions and the QualityLink project consortium iteself.
In addition, it targets other data providers that have an interest to feed data into the QualityLink aggregator.
1.4. Changes Since the Previous Draft
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2. Key Concepts
The following key concepts and terminology are used throughout the document, as well as other QualityLink specifications:
- learning opportunity
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an opportunity to realise a given set of learning outcomes through a learning activity or assessment [ELM]. Offered by a higher education institution or other provider. A learning opportunity can be part of a larger one and contain smaller ones. Specific learning opportunities are courses, modules and programmes.
- learning opportunity specification
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the general specification of a learning opportunity, i.e. including the learning outcomes and credits. It is usually permanent and does not change from year to year or semester to semester.
- learning opportunity instance
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the specific offering of a learning opportunity in a specific academic term (e.g. year or semester) and specific setting (e.g. online vs face-to-face, different locations, ...). A single learning opportunity specification will usually be offered in many instances over time.
- course
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smallest learning opportunity that awards credits (i.e. ECTS) to the learner, either in the context of a study programme or as a self-standing offer. A course can be part of a module or programme.
- module
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a learning opportunity that is a group or collection of courses. A module may be part of a programme.
- micro-credential
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a proof of the learning outcomes that a learner has acquired following a short learning experience. These learning outcomes have been assessed against transparent standards. [CR-MC]
- programme
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collection of learning opportunities. Finalising a study programme usually leads to a degree (e.g. Bachelor degree, Master degree, etc.) or to another type of certificate, e.g. a micro-credential, for a shorter programme. A programme is a "top-level" learning opportunity and has no parent.
- joint programme
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an integrated curriculum coordinated and offered jointly by different higher education institutions, and leading to double/multiple degrees or a joint degree. [DEQAR]
- education provider
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any actor that provides degree programmes, micro-credentials or other learning opportunities. This may include higher education institutions as well as other providers, including employers, companies, social partners, NGOs, public authorities and others. [DEQAR]
- higher education institution
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an entity that has full degree awarding powers at higher education level (i.e. EQF levels 5 to 8; QF-EHEA cycle first to third) recognised by at least one national authority. [DEQAR]
- other provider
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an entity that provides learning opportunities, but that does not have officially-recognised authority to award degrees or other formally recognised qualifications.
- data provider
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an entity providing data on learning opportunities. This can be an education provider providing data on its own learning opportunities or another organisation providing data on various education providers.
- aggregator
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any service that harvests data from different data providers, matches and compiles the data into one single dataset. For example, the aggregator service developed within the QualityLink project.
- QualityLink dataset
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the dataset created within the scope of the current project, made publicly available through a prototype platform
- QualityLink aggregator
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the specific aggregator developed and deployed within the the QualityLink project, aggregating data from various data providers into the QualityLink dataset
- user
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any person or organisations accessing the QualityLink dataset
3. Objectives
This policy has the following objectives, formulated as user stories:
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As a user I want to be assured that aggregated data in the QualityLink dataset is trustworthy and does not include flawed or rogue data.
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As a higher education institution I want to expore my course data for aggregation by the QualityLink aggregator without the need for endorsement or clearance by any other organisation.
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As a data provider I want clarity which data can be aggregated into the QualityLink dataset.
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As a data provider I want to have clarity on how my data will be published and might be used by users.
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As an advanced user (e.g. researcher) I want to access the QualityLink dataset under clear terms and conditions, in order to have legal certainty when copying, re-using or embedding QualityLink data in my own applications.
4. Data sources
For the purpose of QualityLink, we distinguish between three classes of data providers:
| Data provider | Which data | For which learning opportunities |
|---|---|---|
| authoritative source | any | any providers' |
| education provider | any | only own |
| third party | specific indicators | any |
4.1. Authoritative sources
These organisations may provide trusted data on any education provider and their learning opportunities.
Currently, the following sources are considered authoritative:
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Database of External Quality Assurance Results [DEQAR]
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European Higher Education Sector Observatory [EHESO] (formerly ETER)
In general, official national authorities, e.g. a database operated by the ministry of education, can be considered authoritative in addition.
Additional sources can be approved by the QualityLink consortium as authoritative, based on an ad-hoc assessment.
4.2. Education providers
higher education institutions and other providers may provide trusted data on their own learning opportunities. In principle, any bona fide organisation can provide data.
All organisations listed in [DEQAR], the Register of Pulic Sector Organisations [ORGREG] or holding an Erasmus Charter [ECHE] are considered officially recognised higher education institutions. The technical specification ensure that these can decide to publish data and have it harvested by the QualityLink aggregator without the need for manual intervention from the QualityLink consortium/admins or anyone else.
For other providers, automatic management/discovery is not feasible at the moment. These will be considered by the QualityLink consortium on an ad-hoc basis.
4.3. Third party
Other third parties may provide data on existing learning opportunities of any education provider, but limited to specific domains.
Any organisation can propose that its data be harvested by the QualityLink aggregator. The QualityLink consortium will only consider eligible data providers that:
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provide data on learning opportunities in several countries/education systems, or data on a large number of learning opportunities in one system,
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provide data that is relevant to the QualityLink Quality Domains and Indicators,
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ensure transparency of their methodology and how their data/indicators are collected, and
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do not present data in a biased way to favour specific education providers and their learning opportunities.
Currently, the QualityLink dataset includes data from the following third-party sources:
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abc
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def
Note: list to add if we start using third-party sources.
5. Data access and usage
5.1. License
The QualityLink dataset is made available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International [CC-BY-NC].
This license requires that users give credit to the QualityLink consortium. It allows users to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon the material in any medium or format, but for noncommercial purposes only.
5.2. API usage
The QualityLink API is available for public use. Anonymous access to the API may be subject to rate limits, which will be mentioned in the documentation.
The QualityLink consortium may grant authenticated access to non-commercial registered users (e.g. researchers, non-commercial platforms) with higher or no rate limits.