At EU level there are no homogeneous mechanisms to track students in Higher Education lifecycle (Entry, Education, Exit) nor models to anticipate students’ needs that take into account subjective elements. Seldom HEIs assess relevance and impact of their student support services. Such gaps are best captured by “Report to the EU Commission”2013 High Level Group on Modernisation of HE “a still underdeveloped area in EU is the tracking of students”. The report urges HEIs to “establish counselling, guidance, mentoring and tracking systems to support students”. The EU Commission “Report on Progress in Quality Assurance in HE”2014 confirms that better tracking of students and anticipating their needs is a priority, but that “at present only 40% of HEIs do so”. The “Agenda for Modernisation of EU HE Systems” identifies the answer to those challenges in “tailored guidance to inform study choices and reduce drop-out”. Against this background WISE aims at enhancing the welfare of students as a means to improve their performance, personal and professional development through improved tracking systems and student support services. The objective of WISE is to develop an innovative methodology to track students in the educational lifecycle taking into account both objective and subjective elements so as to better assess their needs and provide tailored support services.Six partners representing HEIs, HEIs associations and student support service providers bring together complementary experiences and knowledge to devise innovative student tracking and needs’ identification mechanisms. The partnership is representative of EU HE ecosystems, reflecting the various connotations of EU’s diversity: large and small Member States; Eastern, Nordic and Mediterranean realities; various size of HEIs and student bodies. Directly and indirectly, the partnership represents a wide network of HEIs in 4 countries. WISE involved directly 126.377 students in the primary research and 33.917 in the pilot stage, ensuring the student-cantered approach of the innovative model. WISE immediate target groups are the students (on the demand side of tracking and support services) and the support service providers within HEIs (on the supply side).The long term beneficiaries of project results are primarily the students enrolled in the HEIs represented in the partnership, amounting to a total of 340.000.Other potential beneficiaries are students enrolled in other HEIs throughout Europe.Partners carried out research and analysis to identify drivers and inhibitors in the area of student tracking and needs identification. The research results allowed partners to pinpoint indicators, variables and response mechanisms that in the modelling activities have been embedded into the multidimensional WISE model and matrix. The partners run pilots of WISE model and matrix in real-life case scenarios to test and validate with the target groups of users (students) and providers (HEIs’ support service providers) of tracking and needs identification mechanisms in higher education. The pilots was crucial to fine tune and validate the WISE model and matrix that in its final version was disseminated and exploited at EU level by the partners. WISE main results:- Report on “Students’ Welfare and Social Dimension of HE: Demand and Supply Side Perspectives for Improved Tracking” details the research approach and consolidate findings and analysis on the various dynamics of students’ tracking, needs anticipation and welfare- Validated WISE Model and Methodology: it allows to track more accurately HE students, assess and anticipate their needs taking into account also subjective elements, and provide more relevant, timely and appropriate tailored support services.Specifically, WISE produced the following impacts1. HEIs are better equipped to properly track students throughout the entire educational lifecycle2. HEIs can assess students’ needs taking into account also subjective factors3. HEIs are able to anticipate students’ needs with more relevant support services4. Students – especially disadvantaged groups – have better access to education5. Increased educational attainment, performance and retentionThe partnership was strongly committed to long-term benefits of WISE and its deployment across EU and other HEIs. The innovative multidimensional tracking and needs assessment methodology can be flexibly adjusted to other EU Realities.Tanks to the structure of the consortium and to existing networks, project results will be disseminated at least 2 years after the EU co-financing.

The EU Commission invested considerably in the development of the European Student Card (ESC) as a key means to implement and realise the European Educational Area by 2025. The ESC provides for a consolidated and reliable mechanism for students’ authentication, exchange of students’ data and interoperability among EU Higher Education Institutions (HEI) to guarantee access to students’ services to streamline and facilitate mobility.Despite progress in the development of the ESC, its adoption across EU HEIs is still lagging due to operational and implementation challenges. The adoption of the ESC is not a mere use of a logo or is not limited to the issuance of a card: adopting the ESC imposes considerable technical, administrative and organisational requirements on HEIs. To Implement the ESC, HEIs have to “adopt the card” and “adapt the students’ services” to ESC modalities. Such “adoption” and “adaption” processes have technology as well as admin and operational aspects that are still limiting the use of the ESC.Progress on the roll-out of the ESC is a pressing need clearly recognised by the EU, so much so that ESC adoption is a key priority of Erasmus+. While technology and ICT requirements for the ESC are available, what is currently missing in the Member States are clear operational guidelines for HEIs to address the administrative and organisational challenges for ESC adoption.OBJECTIVE of ESC-tension is to promote the adoption and use of the ESC by establishing a platform that will become a national focal point for the HEIs that want to implement the ESC. The platform will host the multilingual versions of operational tools that will detail the administrative, organisational and operational steps to issue the ESC, harmonise the card systems and adapt the students’ services to make the ESC fully functional in operational environments.ESC-tension brings together excellence at EU level in the sphere of HEIs, student cards, ESC implementation as well as students’ services. The partnership encompasses complementary capacities and expertise through the involvement of 7 partners from 6 countries.ACTIVITIES that partners will carry out at implementation include:1) Establish and maintain the ESC-tension OER and operational platform to make available for free and in full open-access the operational tools and training materials for the implementation of the ESC2) Develop the ESC-tension Multidimensional Matrix, to capture the various dimensions of the ESC implementation requirements3) Define the Card Issuance and Adoption Toolbox that equips HEI with tools to customise ESC technology standards as well as comply with organisational and operational requirements4) Define the ESC-Compliant Students’ Services roadmap to empower HEIs to implement the ESC from a students’ service perspective5) Validate the ESC-tension operational tools with at least 200 users in diverse operational environments, taking into account needs and preferences of both HEIs and studentsThe ESC-tension methodology is fully operational and relies on the direct experience and proven track record of some of the partners of the project that built considerable expertise in the ESC having participated in previous projects funded by the EU Commission to develop the framework of the ESC and its architecture.Results produced by ESC-tension are as follows:a) The OER and Operational Platform of ESC-Tension, to guarantee access and availability without any restrictions to the products of the project, in multiple language versionsb) ESC-tension Multidimensional Matrix to capture and outline the various requirements for ESC adoptionc) Card Issuance and Adoption Toolbox d) ESC-Compliant Students’ Services roadmap e) The Organisational Self-Assessment Tool f) ESC-Tension Technology Self-Assessment Tools g) Admin & Tech Compatibility-test for readiness, gaps and steps h) Guidelines and Training for the adoption of the ESCIMPACT of ESC-tension is high and immediate. Our project will produce operational tools to advance the adoption and use of the ESC in HEIs that will have available the tools to implement the ESC in “Plug & Play” modality. The impact is going to be tangible not only at HEI level but also at systemic level across EU thanks to the high transferability of the Intellectual Outputs and results of the ESC-tension project.Long-term benefits are identified in the:- increased adoption by HEIs of the ESC- enhances interoperability of the ESC across borders and across HEIs- improved opportunities for seamless mobilityThe long term benefit of ESC-tension is the tangible contribution to the adoption of the ESC and realisation of the European Educational Area by 2020

The project has achieved the objectives set out in the submitted proposal. All partners have actively contributed to the Intellectual Outputsof the project, carrying out activities according to the agreed plan and as outlined in the proposal. The main results of the project are the 4 intellectual outputs, available at https://www.project-shift.eu/results/. As can be seen from the documents:1. IO1: as reported in the executive summary, this IO has identified specific drivers and inhibitors of current funding models for HE students to provide elements for the design of the innovative model. In particular, the partners have investigated students’ access to finance and financial literacy across the EU, emphasizing the rigidities in availability of the direct (loans and grants) and indirect (tax allowances, family benefits) schemes for students and discerning the government initiatives in EU countries to increase the level of financial literacy. Furthermore, the partners have examined the private and public expenditure by EU countries to finance higher education and highlights the shortcomings of the current funding policies. Key data sources, which have been extensively used in desk research, include OECD, Eurostat, Eurydice, Bank of Italy, Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Sutton Trust, among many others. The partners identified via surveys the most significant barriers to enter higher education in selected Member States. In Italy, SHIFT partners ran the questionnaire-based survey in the period between 27 February and 15 March 2018 by using online survey tools or mailing hard copies directly to students and obtained 1,067 replies, 804 of which have been properly completed. In Poland, SHIFT partners conducted a survey between January and mid-February 2018, using both on-line and off-line data collection methods. The questionnaire has been sent to students at both public and private universities across different cities in Poland and in total 342 completed surveys have been collected, 132 of which are via an online tool. In the UK, SHIFT partners carried out a student survey for England, which collected 144 responses, and a survey for Wales, which collected 121 responses. Additionally, HE alumni participated in an opinion survey carried out by SHIFT partners in England and Wales, which covered 34 respondents. 2. IO2: this output developed the SHIFT model on the basis of the results of IO1. The first chapter of the report has focused on the role of Public-Private Partnership models (and potential pitfalls), focussing on the EU and the partner countries (Belgium, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom). The second chapter describes the main features of the SHIFT model, and in particular, it discusses the benefits to potential participants, the funding model, and the determinants of the choice of the financial tool. The third chapter discusses corporate governance issues and puts forward a governance model for SHIFT. The fourth chapter discusses the application process through which students would be selected for funding and how SHIFT would support the financial literacy of the students participating in the programme. The fifth chapter discusses how the SHIFT fund would be setup and other related operational issues.3. IO3: the Partners have developed a framework that aims to allow the potential sponsors of the SHIFT project to understand whether the project is feasible, what risks the project would be subject to, and how to address such risks. The central focus of this Output is to provide a quantitative evaluation of the potential ability of the SHIFT investment fund to generate returns that can be used to provide students with either grants or loans. In particular, the partners collected data on fund management fees in the EU and data on the proxies for the different components of the SHIFT portfolio (equity and bonds) to examine the sensitivity of the SHIFT portfolio returns (net of fund management fees) to changes in stock market returns and interest rates. Moreover, a simulation of the performance of the SHIFT portfolio under three difference scenarios is provided: a “normal”, a “boom” and a “recession” scenario. The Partners also considered the potential demand risks on the success of the SHIFT project.4. IO4: this IO aims to make the SHIFT model operational. The results of this IO have been disseminated at the link https://www.project-shift.eu/tool-box/. This link summarises the project and provides guidelines for its implementation. The website also provide template documents for internal documentation for the SHIFT Model (e.g. Memorandum of Understanding), and a set lecture slides that addresses important financial literacy issues for students that would be enrolled in the program (Module 1: Managing money as a student; Module 2: Understanding retail banking, financial products and markets; Module 3: Protecting your money).

Context: initiative of Cnous and its partners grouped within the ECSTA, the European Council of the student life.The social dimension essential to the development of mobility by giving access to social tariff services and by working towards simplification and administrative fluidification: identify and register electronically easily and safely in higher education institutions.At the local level, student multiservice cards give access to the services of universities, specialized organizations and communities: housing, university catering, social assistance, health, sport, culture, public transport, etc.Digital services are becoming increasingly important and rely on the recognition of electronic identity and student status.Several countries are working on the establishment of a valid electronic student ID throughout life.The growth of the Erasmus + program and the European card are the two priorities adopted by the EU leaders in November 2017 in Gothenburg.For the European Commission, the goal is to implement this initiative by 2021 for all higher education institutions participating in the future Erasmus + program which will start in 2021 and make this card available to all European students by 2025.Beyond the students, the project will simplify the administrative burden of higher education institutions.The European Commission has promoted the convergence between Erasmus Without Paper, EMREX and the European Student Card, which will be extended from 2019 and articulated with the eIDAS e-ID regulation of EU citizens.Concrete benefits for mobility: Electronic recognition of student status without additional administrative procedures, easy access to course material before mobility, online course registration and automatic recognition of ECTS credits, immediate access to host university services such as library, transport and accommodation, restaurants, discounts on cultural activities throughout the European Union, sports activities, transport ... and, for higher education institutions, management of the entire electronic mobility process, selection students to recognize ECTS credits and the possibility of exchanging / verifying student data, including academic records, in a secure manner.Objectives: recognition of the status and identity of the student throughout Europe through a simple device acceptable to all institutions and students, without questioning the diversity of existing situations: development of a platform for exchange and the technical and graphic characteristics of the student card.Develop access to the first services and test the device through an experiment on real mobility for cohorts of students, to know the needs and expectations and measure the impact for campuses.Participants: the nine core partners are specialized student service organizations representing national higher education in the four countries concerned: the CSSI in Ireland, Fondazione Endisu in Italy, DSW in Germany, Cnous in France and field structures closer to the students.Among the 17 associated partners are universities and university networks, student organizations, digital networks, networks for digital services in local communities, similar projects funded by the EU.Have joined the project institutions or digital specialists in higher education: ECCA, EYCA, EUF, Groeningen declaration, service companies ....Results and impacts: the project made it possible to define the technical specifications of the exchange platform and student cards, to develop them and to make them available to schools for testing.The number of universities already connected, more than 40 institutions from 8 different countries, the first services tested, the current accession of national higher education systems as a whole, show the enthusiasm that this project raises, also highlighted by the statements of the political leaders of several countries, the EU and the Bologna Process. This project has already reached a critical mass and has a strong capacity for federating digital service projects, in connection with the eIDAS recognition of the electronic identity of European citizens.In addition to the spontaneous adherence of the institutions, this project offers a remarkable potential for the development of digital services accessible on a European portal via a single authentication.