RTL reports, the University of Split has made a step forward at the European Union level in the application of Europass digital credentials, a European tool that enables the digitization of documents in formal and non-formal education. Namely, they became the first institution in Europe to successfully issue as many as 437 digital certificates of participation in January 2021 to participants in the international online conference Week of Innovative Regions in Europe – WIRE 2020, organized by the Faculty of Economics in Split.
“Given the importance of this event, we knew we had to issue certificates to participate and since I was actively participating in the European universities project in parallel, we looked for a testing ground for digitally signed credentials and somehow happily merged with each other,” said Maja Ćukušić, Faculty of Economics in Split.
The Dean of the University, Dragan Ljutić, points out that the entire project of the digital European diploma started from them. “In today’s time of digitalization, it is clear that we are seriously thinking about it, that is, that we have already started,” said Dean Ljutić.
The University of Split, together with the universities of Cadiz, Brittany, Malta, Kiel and Gdansk, has been a member of the alliance called the European University of the Sea (SEA-EU) since October 2019. With the membership in the SEA-EU Alliance, the University of Split has been awarded almost one million euros in grants, which will be invested primarily in the networking of six universities at all levels in the three years of the project. Some of the activities within this project include work on the processes of automatic recognition of qualifications, digitization of qualifications, the introduction of the European Student Card, development of virtual and physical mobility, migration issues, creation of the Center for Socially Beneficial Learning, the connection of research capacities of six universities.
The digital credential has the same legal value as paper certificates, and will allow institutions to issue certificates of qualifications free of charge, such as diplomas and other learning credentials that cannot be illegally altered.
Individuals can store the obtained Europass digital credentials on their Europass profile on the new Europass platform and share it with employers when looking for a job, and employers have a better and more credible insight into the acquired skills and knowledge of potential job candidates.
“I was thrilled by the digital credentials because they are very easy to use and can be downloaded in pdf or image format and as such easily placed on business networks or paired with our Europass CV. I was also delighted that the exact listed competencies were acquired by workshops, and these competencies themselves are in line with internationally standard qualifications of education and as such are recognized throughout the European Union”, says a student of the Faculty of Economics in Split Ana-Marija Ivčević.
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