| | DEC - JAN8IN MY OPINION Dr. Claude Toland (Director of Education, Universal Technical Institute) stated in his article (Education Technology Insights, Dec-Jan issue) "Historically we have witnessed the largest disruption in educational systems and the disruption in the daily norms of students across the globe. However, the good news is that many have learned that online and virtual education is possible and can be provided in a high-quality manner." He is quite right, although we still live in a rather segmented and scattered world of digital.The outcomes of this disruption, which the pandemic induced, have already affected Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) over Europe, accelerating collaboration and cooperation around the creation of a European digital ecosystem that reflects European public values. This ecosystem will support the aim of online and virtual education to be possible and to be provided in a high-quality manner. Furthermore, European HEIs cannot compete with tuition (US) and cheap labour (Asia). We have to build our own competitive advantage by doing things technically savvy, committing to the same standards and data flow and building a European platform on top of which we can achieve something with a "wow effect", instead of repeating the same mundane systems and services over and over again.One of the main problems is that the previous work has been very sporadic, done by several parties and thus created disconnected frameworks, various suggestions for standards, poor data quality and lack of interoperability. Many of these entities are still working unknowingly of each other, building up unintentional siloes, and thus clouding the common goal of a holistic European ecosystem for education. In order to succeed, the work needs to be coordinated and facilitated accordingly. To facilitate this work EU has, during the preparation of the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027), established The European Digital Education Hub (EDEH), where the European Commission is building a community of stakeholders working on digital education. The aim is to support people in finding each other and exchanging ideas.In addition to European Commission-level actions, also informal networks and coalitions are needed as long as they comply to and contribute to the standards coordinated by the European Commission. One of these valuable networks is EUNIS (European University Information Systems organization). The mission of EUNIS is to help member DIGITAL ECOSYSTEM FOR EDUCATION IN EUROPE FROM A HEI PERSPECTIVE: IT'S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE!By Christa Winqvist, Chief Information Officer, Aalto UniversityChrista Winqvist
< Page 7 | Page 9 >