Digital Europe for All (DE4A) Launches Studying Abroad Pilot

Digital Europe for All (DE4A), a three-year Member State-driven project that is supporting the Single Digital Gateway Regulation across Europe and helping to make the digital single market a reality, today announced the launch of its Studying Abroad pilot.

The Studying Abroad pilot aims at demonstrating in practice the benefits for students and competent authorities of realising across borders the principles of Once-Only and digital-by-default. It also supports the use of innovative approaches such as self-sovereign identities, digital wallets, and distributed ledgers in higher education domain, while also incorporating the European Blockchain Service Infrastructure (EBSI). The pilot is proud to announce that the first cross-border education service has been launched for piloting.

The service largely corresponds to a fully online procedure of the ‘Studying’ Life Event in the Single Digital Gateway Regulation (SDGR), which allows students from Slovenia to easily apply for recognition of higher education diplomas in Portugal. Students use their national eIDs to access the service at INESC-ID, a partner of the project affiliated with Instituto Superior Técnico, the largest engineering school in Portugal. Using that service, students can request their diplomas, which are stored in a DE4A digital wallet in the form of verifiable credentials, to be recognised in Portugal. The digital wallet on a mobile phone allows students to securely manage their diploma evidences received from a trusted source in their home country.

Further cross-border services and combinations of Member States are expected to be launched in the coming weeks.

Details of the services and the guidelines for participation can be found on the microsite of the Studying Abroad pilot at https://www.de4a.eu/studyingabroadpilot