A STUDENT PERSONAL SYSTEM

FOR BOLOGNA PROCESS MOBILITY

Porfírio P. Filipe and João C. Ferreira

GuIAA-DEETC, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

Keywords: Bologna Process, Mobility, Semantic Web, Knowledge Representation, Higher Education, Skills.

Abstract: The Bologna Process aimed to build a European Higher Education Area with the objective of promoting

students mobility. The adoption of Bologna Declaration directives requires a decentralized approach that

accelerates student‟s mobility, based on frequently updated legislation. This paper proposes a student

personal system to manage student‟s academic information. This system is supported by a flexible model

that integrates, for instance, knowledge about the student attended courses or about a course that the student

wishes to apply. Essentially, this model holds a (i) Student‟s Academic Record with skills acquired in

academic course units, professional experience or training and an (ii) Individual Studies Plan, which places

the student in a particular (iii) Course Plan setting the curricular structure that the student wishes to apply.

1 INTRODUCTION

With Bologna Process (BP), the social and cultural

developments impose a revision of the graduate and

postgraduate education systems. Students can

personalize their studies from a diversity of options.

Furthermore, study programmes have become

modular, giving students the chance of more

mobility during their studies. Organisational and

legal efforts have been taken to guarantee high

compatibility of study programmes and modules,

e.g. the so called BP in Europe (Bologna 2001).

Resulting from this process students can

personalized their studies and can compose different

educational modules at any institutions to a highly

personalised curriculum. This process will change

the role of educational institutions, such as

universities (Krämer 2003). They are to be

considered as components of a common, integrated

educational space.

The traditional tasks like offering lectures, seminars,

materials, and infrastructure for education will be

supplemented by new tasks, such as personalized

educational programmes.

This scenario requires new information systems and

data integration among the different institutions.

In order to support this new academic reality of self-

management, the current work suggests a Student

Personal System (SPS) to manage its academic

information records. We propose a knowledge

representation model to organize the student„s

academic information, presented at section 3.

The most important issues in this context problem

are the support for the searching and studies plan

evaluation. Such system should help current and

prospective students to search for suitable course

plans or single course units in order to compose a

personal curriculum by analysing their multi-faceted

skills. The student proposals for individual studies

plan are submitted and approved by the desired

educational institution. The proposed SPS offers a

graphical user interface that is autonomous from a

particular institution. The data acquisition and data

submission can be implemented in multiple ways

such as web services or simple by file transfer

protocols.

2 BOLOGNA DECLARATION

As the Confederation of EU Rectors‟ and the

Association of European Universities (2000)

explains it (CRE et al, 2000 p.3-4):

“The Bologna declaration reflects a search for a

common European answer to common European

problems. The process originates from the

recognition that in spite of their valuable

differences, European higher education systems are

facing common internal and external challenges

194

P. Filipe P. and C. Ferreira J. (2009).

A STUDENT PERSONAL SYSTEM FOR BOLOGNA PROCESS MOBILITY.

In Proceedings of the International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Sharing, pages 194-199

 SciTePress

cd UML

AcademicRecord

CoursePlan

«Transformati on»

StudentPersonalSystem

IndividualStudiesPlan

Course

Units

Scientic

Area

Skills

Course Coordinator

Student

Institution

validates

creates

belongs >

Academic Information

Repository

Figure 1: Student Personal System.

related to the growth and diversification of higher

education, the employability of graduates, the

shortage of skills in key areas, the expansion of

private and transnational education, etc. The

Declaration recognises the value of coordinated

reforms, compatible systems and common action.

The action program set out in the Declaration is

based on a clearly defined common goal, a deadline

and a set of specified objectives:

A clearly defined common goal: to create a

European space for higher education in order to

enhance the employability and mobility of citizens

and to increase the international competitiveness of

European higher education;

A deadline: the European space for higher

education should be completed in 2010;

A set of specified objectives:

- The adoption of a common framework of

readable and comparable degrees, “also through

the implementation of the Diploma Supplement”;

- The introduction of undergraduate and

postgraduate levels in all countries, with first

degrees no shorter than 3 years and relevant to the

labour market;

- ECTS-compatible credit systems also covering

lifelong learning activities;

- A European dimension in quality assurance,

with comparable criteria and methods;

- The elimination of remaining obstacles to the

free mobility of students (as well as trainees and

graduates) and teachers (as well as researchers and

higher education administrators).”

3 STUDENT PERSONAL SYSTEM

The SPS is illustrated in Figure 1. The main

objective is to assist student in the management of

personal academic information supported by AIR.

The main objective of the SPS is to allow the

simulation of a possible mobility scenario that can

be submitted by the student to an institution.

Essentially, the institution provides course plans that

can be chosen by the student. In order to simulate

the mobility, according to BP, the SPS compares the

student‟s skills in the academic record against the

skills in the course plan and produces an individual

studies plan that represents de current position of the

student in the context of a particular course plan.

When the skills in the academic record are literally

equal to the skills in the course plan or exists a

historical registration about the skills similarity the

individual studies plan is fulfilled. When is not

possible to determine the skills similarity a human

intervention is required, for instance after the

submission will be the course coordinator.

3.1 Individual Studies Plan

A generic representation of the individual studies

plan is illustrated in Figure 2, except the course unit

element that is in the root of the individual studies

plan.

The order of the terms in RDF is irrelevant; the

results of the queries are independents of the

position of the information. This particularity makes

A STUDENT PERSONAL SYSTEM FOR BOLOGNA PROCESS MOBILITY

195

the RDF flexible and permits futures actualizations

with a minimum of changes.

Figure 2: Part of the Individual Studies Plan.

For example in RDF and for a specific case, the

individual studies plan can be modelled by the code

presented in Example 1.

<dc:language>por</dc:language>

<AwardingInstitution>Instituto

Politécnico de Lisboa

</AwardingInstitution>

Instituto Superior de Engenharia de

Lisboa

</InstitutionAdministeringStudies>

<Name>Engenharia Informática e de

Computadores</Name>

<LengthOfProgramme>6S

</LengthOfProgramme>

(…)

<ScientificAreaCode>MAT

</ScientificAreaCode>

<Name>Matemática</Name>

<ECTSCreditsAcumulated>6

</ECTSCreditsAcumulated>

</ScientificArea>

(…)

</ScientificAreas>

(…)

<Name>Matemática II</Name>

<ScientificAreaCode>MAT

</ScientificAreaCode>

<AcademicSemester>2

</AcademicSemester>

<TotalLecturesTP>90

</TotalLecturesTP>

</CourseUnit>

(…)

</CourseUnits>

</Plan>

Example 1: Part of the Individual Studies Plan.

3.2 Skills and Course Units

The concept of skills is used to establish a link

between the ones acquired by the student by various

means and those necessaries to complete a

determined course plan.

The definition of the skills must be clear. For this

we propose the European Dictionary of Skills and

Competencies to provide a common terminology,

easy comprehension and high scientific accuracy.

A model for skills representation is showed in

Figure 3. A skill is composed by a code (ID) and by

a description.

Figure 3: Skills.

<rdf:Bag>

<rdf:li>

<Description>HTTPS</Description>

</Skill>

</rdf:li>

<rdf:li>

<Description>Negociation

</Description>

</Skill>

</rdf:li>

</rdf:Bag>

</Skills>

Example 2: A Skill in RDF.

The course unit is a central element for the mobility

process.The code, name, skills, total of lectures and

ECTS credits of a course unit are presented in the

modulation of the course unit in Figure 4.

An example of the implementation of the course

unit “computer networks” including a skill, and part

of the RDF code is presented:

KMIS 2009 - International Conference on Knowledge Management and Information Sharing

196

<Name>Computer Networks</Name>

(…)

<Description>HTTPS</Description>

</Skill>

(…)

</Skills>

</CourseUnit>

Example 3: A Course Unit in RDF.

Figure 4: Course Unit.

cd UML

Academic Record

Work

Experience

ContractofStudy

Student

Data

Qualification

Formation

Unit

CourseUnit

Extra

Curricular

Course

Skill

Figure 5: Academic Record model.

The Academic Information Repository (AIR)

proposed Model for Mobility (MM) is composed by

two sub-models:

- Academic Record, illustrated on Figure 5;

- Course Plan, illustrated on Figure 6;

A studies contract is celebrated between the student

and the institutions to formalize the terms of the

cd UML

Skills

Course

Units

Course Plan

Scientic

Area

Figure 6: Course Plan model.

mobility process.

The language used to write the documents is

RDF (Resource Description Framework) and

respective schema the RDFS. An excerpt of the

Model for Mobility is represented in Example 4.

<?xml version="1.0"?><rdf:RDF

xmlns:rdf=

"http://www.w3.org/

1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"

xmlns:rdfs=

"http://www.w3.org/

2000/01/rdf-schema#">

<rdfs:Class rdf:ID="AcademicRecord">

Resource"/>

<rdf:Property rdf:ID="StudentsData">

(...)

<rdf:Property rdf:ID="Code">

<rdfs:domain rdf:resource=

"#Nationality"/>

<rdfs:domain rdf:resource=

"#CourseUnit"/>

<rdfs:domain rdf:resource="#Skill"/>

<rdfs:domain rdf:resource=

"#FormationUnit"/>

<rdfs:range

Example 4: Part of the Model for Mobility.

3.3 Academic Record and Versions

The academic record, presented in Figure 5, can

aggregate translations in various languages. The

academic record is composed by records. Each

elementary record has its own language.

The model is flexible and expansible and can be

improved incrementally. A simple control of

versions mechanism is implemented, see the

representation in Figure 7. The record has the

corresponding version.

Figure 7: Control of versions.

A STUDENT PERSONAL SYSTEM FOR BOLOGNA PROCESS MOBILITY

197

3.3.1 Student Data

The student data is the same, do not changes,

whatever the language is used. The element in the

root of each academic record is showed in Figure 8.

Figure 8: Student Data.

3.3.2 Qualifications

Part of the model for the qualifications of a student

is represented in Figure 9.

Figure 9: Qualifications.

3.3.3 The Work Experience

The modulation for the work experience is described

in Figure 10.

To illustrate the work experiences of the model,

for a Java programmer see Example 5.

(…) <WorkExperience rdf:ID="WE01">

<Occupation>Java Programmer

</Occupation>

Development of Java Applications

</MainActivities>

<EmployerName>JavaSofts

</EmployerName>

<EmployerAddress>Liberty Street -

Lisbon</EmployerAddress>

<TypeBusinessSector>Informatics

</TypeBusinessSector>

<Skills> (…)

</Skill> (…)

</Skills>

</WorkExperience>

</WorkExperiences>

Example 5: The Work Experience of the student.

Figure 10: Work Experiences.

3.3.4 Extracurricular Unit

The formation unit of the extracurricular unit is

composed by the following terms presented in

Figure 11. The element Formation aggregates the

professional experiences of the extracurricular

courses.

Figure 11: Formation Unit of the Extra Curricular Unit.

3.3.5 Contract of Studies

A contract of studies is celebrated between the

student and the institutions to formalize the terms of

the mobility process. The contract is formed by

transcript of records represented in Figure 12. An

example of a study contract includes the student id,

the institution administering the study, the course

unit etc.

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198

Figure 12: Transcript of Records of the CS.

3.4 The Course Plan

The course plan characterizes a specific course by

the means of descriptive elements of the curricular

structure and the studies plan. The complete element

qualification is also composed by course units,

already presented in Figure 4. The individual studies

plan places the student in the context of a

determined course. The student must conclude the

total of ECTS in determined scientific areas.

3.5 The Academic Training

An academic training includes the qualification is

characterized by the main field of study, the course

unit, the total lectures etc.

4 FUTURE WORK

The proposed model for BP student mobility is an

open model that needs to be continuously improved

and consolidated. In that sense the following themes

are suggested: (i) To propose a model for elements

of the Bologna process not addressed in this paper;

(ii) To explore the possibility to develop or adopt an

existing ontology; (iii) To define a complete and

dynamic flow of work processes to support the

mobility of the student between institutions of higher

education. (iv) To create a model of learning with

the proposed model using: Case-based learning or

Case-based reasoning.

5 CONCLUSIONS

This paper proposes a personal acadeemic system

supported by a BP mobility knowledge model for

students in the European area (Covelinhas E., 2008).

Bologna Declaration demands for a common

background based on student skills management.

The proposed system addresses this key issue in

order to widely support BP that needs to be

implemented until 2010.

The inclusion of emergent ideas and orientations,

like the semantic web, allows and suggest the use of

RDF language which is flexible and where the data

can be updated in any order.

The discussion of ideas about the option between

other models of knowledge representation and this

model is still valid.

The main contributions of this paper are: (1) a

characterization of the components of the mobility

of a student in the European space; (2) a model that

is a complete and compliant solution for the existing

legislation, namely Portuguese legislation; (3) the

implementation in RDF/RDFS allows the use of the

emergent query language SPARQL (Query

Language for RDF); (4) a functional prototype

developed in our laboratory.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper is based in the work of Eduardo

Covelinhas (Covelinhas E., 2008), we would like to

thank Eduardo for his valuable work.

REFERENCES

B..J. Krämer (2003), CUBER für die Ausbildung á la

carte, in: G. Simonis (ed.), Lernort Bologna

Declaration Communiqué of the meeting of European

Ministers in charge of Higher Education,Prague,May

19th 2001, ec.europa.eu/education/policies/

educ/bologna/bologna.pdf.

CRE et al, 2000. Confederation of EU Rectors‟

Conferences and the Association of European

Universities (CRE), 2000. The Bologna Declaration:

an explanation.

Eduardo Covelinhas, 2008. The Bologna Process in the

Semantic Web. Master thesis, Instituto Superior de

Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL).

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