Interoperability

Interoperability within an institution allows for different units to communicate and share seamlessly. This can be a challenge, particularly when different departments or faculties purchase different software and digital tools, which are sometimes discipline-specific and may be neither accessible nor applicable across the institution. For research, different units at times develop or employ specific solutions, which might not be accessible across the whole institution. This usually does not present a problem for the institution as such solutions for research are aimed at very specific tasks. For education-related systems, there is much more need for data to be widely available in different contexts, for example if learners move across different faculties, or for bringing data from different units and activities together at the central level for management purposes.

An example of good practice in this regard can be found in France, where an open-source software system has been developed specifically for all public universities, guaranteeing the interoperability of all software and digital tools used within institutions and between them.

In Sweden, Ladok is a student information system (SIS) used by all higher education institutions. As a result, information exchange between institutions is significantly easier compared to countries with a more heterogeneous SIS landscape.

As international cooperation tends to develop deeper and more integrated partnerships across borders, the need for interoperability increases.  Interoperability allows students to access learning across many institutions and have their credentials verified in a standardised manner. For institutions, interoperability means that, for example, recognition becomes much easier when information from other institutions is readily available and accessible. This is important for student mobility, but also for sharing information between different educational levels (secondary to tertiary education, for instance) and other kinds of prior learning.

In practice, lack of interoperability of learning management systems (LMS) has been cited as a major challenge for higher education institutions engaging in collaboration activities on both a national and international level. For example, this has caused difficulties for institutions when trying to access each other’s grading and enrolment records as well as learning content (courses and training) and educational resources. This has been noted by the European Universities’ Initiative, with several alliances resorting to developing their own systems to overcome the lack of interoperability between their individual LMSs.

Similarly, EUA’s report on the Erasmus+ mid-term review has revealed that interoperability issues are also affecting the digital exchange of Inter-institutional Agreements (IIAs) and Learning Agreements, resulting in duplication of work and delays, and thus hampering partnership activity and the mobility of staff and students within the Erasmus+ programme.

In addition, data security and data privacy, particularly GDPR, can cause interoperability issues for higher education institutions. For example, data protection can be approached differently by different countries, resulting in different rules and regulations, some stricter than others. This makes it difficult to find tools that can be used across institutions.

There is broad consensus in the research and higher education community that interoperability and openness are principles that need to be championed at government level as adding value for university communities and society at large.

In the context of research data, interoperability is one of the four foundational principles of the FAIR data principles, which offer a set of guidelines to ensure research outputs are Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. The interoperability principle of FAIR relates, specifically, to requiring the data to use a formal, accessible and broadly applicable language for knowledge representation, using vocabularies that follow the FAIR principles and include qualified references to other data and metadata. This definition relates to both semantic interoperability (the description of data through normative and community-recognised specifications, vocabularies and standards that make the data machine-actionable) and technical interoperability (the data and metadata is encoded using a standard that can be read on all applicable systems).

The FAIR data principles have been recognised as important enablers for the transition towards Open Science. The alignment of open science practices with the principles is key to ensuring that the outcomes of research activities are ready to be shared and potentially reused, thus contributing to the transparency and openness of the whole research process. Recently, the FAIR data principles were also complemented by other principles aimed at addressing ethical considerations and long-term sustainability and integrity of data. These include the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, (standing for Collective benefit, Authority to control, Responsibility, Ethics) and the TRUST principles (standing for Transparency, Responsibility, User focus, Sustainability, Technology), which specifically address digital repositories.

Different challenges still hinder the implementation of the FAIR data principles in universities’ research data management practices. Some are technical in nature, such as the lack of open standards that provide common structures and rules for data representation and exchange. Moreover, while the FAIR data principles have been gaining traction in the last few years, there is still a low level of awareness among the research communities on why and how to implement them. Funding requirements at national and European level, such as the Horizon Europe requirements for funded projects to develop Data Management Plans (DMPs) and to make their research data FAIR, are important to raise awareness. However, they should be complemented by other support measures addressing the need for FAIR data to be better integrated into institutional policies and strategies, the shortage of skills and training, the lack of infrastructure and the absence of a structured system of incentives and rewards.

Different resources have been developed at the European level to support the implementation of the FAIR data principles. Notably, OpenAIRE, the network of National Open Access Desks, developed a series of guides for researchers to support the uptake of the FAIR principles. The network also provides different services to support the implementation of the interoperability principle of FAIR.

During its three years of activity, the EU-funded project FAIRsFAIR has been a source of practical tools to foster the emergence of a FAIR culture at the institutional level. These include recommendations to improve semantic interoperability, support the institutional capacity to implement FAIR data and foster the uptake of FAIR data skills and training in universities.

As for learning and teaching, the benefits of Open Education Resources (OERs) are also evident. For staff, OERs allow them to showcase innovation and talent in teaching by sharing work with a wide audience , enhance course content (since OERs are designed to be enhanced by incorporating edits that keep the content up –to date), create courses more efficiently and/or effectively and enable the customisation of existing resources to local contexts. OERs also allow staff to explore different aspects of pedagogy and subject-based material as well as advance their reputation or professional profile. For students, OERs mean having access to wider learning opportunities of varying formats and expanding access to learning. Students can also engage in active learning by creating, co-creating or enhancing OERs. Despite such benefits, in certain institutions, there may be uncertainty regarding the use of OERs due to the inexistence of an explicit OER policy.

In addition, institutional culture can affect policies on open access to open educational resources as well as open-source software. While certain institutions deploy free and open-source software and encourage staff to engage with and develop open education resources, making their resources available on open access repositories, others prefer to pursue a more conservative approach. Such conflicting attitudes have been noted as a significant issue within international partnerships, particularly the European University Alliances.

Finally, ensuring interoperability will be a key challenge in the roll-out and implementation of the common European Data Spaces, which are part of the new European Strategy for Data. With this initiative, the European Commission aims to create EU-wide common, interoperable data spaces in strategic sectors to overcome existing legal and technical barriers to data sharing. In particular, the common European data space will bring together relevant data infrastructures and governance frameworks. This will allow cross-sectoral access to and sharing of data, through the deployment of data sharing tools and services by an open number of organisations, the creation of data governance structures, compatible with relevant EU legislation, and the improvement of the availability, quality and interoperability of data.

Currently, nine common European Data Spaces have been identified, reflecting different sectors: health, mobility, finance, manufacturing, environment, energy, agriculture, public administration, skills. Furthermore, the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) could be an overarching transverse European Data Space for research.

While the initiative is still a work in progress, realising the vision for truly interoperable, EU-wide data spaces will require addressing several challenges, including promoting clear governance mechanisms for data accessing and sharing, ensuring data accuracy, integrity, and authenticity, developing common data standards and semantic interoperability frameworks that are easily accessible and implementable by end-users, and providing clear guidance on how to comply with other European legal frameworks, such as GDPR.

The European Commission has been working to facilitate interoperable digital public services, some of which may apply to higher education institutions. This includes a proposal for a European regulation on interoperability for the public sector. Specifically for universities, there is a targeted discussion on interoperability within higher education on a European level under the Digital Education Hub, which brings together experts and other interested entities from across Europe. The hub has a dedicated group, which is to deliver a framework for interoperability in higher education by 2025.

Another important pillar for interoperability in Europe is the eIDAS regulation, which makes cross-border recognition of data issued by an organisation in a Member State mandatory. This includes education diplomas, which would be validated and transferable through a personal digital ‘wallet’ (a collection of digital documents such as a passport or a driving license). The pilot Digital Credentials for Europe (DC4EU) will contribute to defining the requirements for education and professional qualifications within this framework.

A selection of interviews with digital champions from universities across Europe has revealed that decisions made on a national level can promote the interoperability of digital systems, tools and platforms. For example, in Sweden, the Public Procurement Act provides certainty around which digital technologies, tools and platforms can be purchased by and deployed in universities.