This session was presented at the NAFSA Annual Conference in Boston on 27 May 2015, featuring co-presenters Herman de Leeuw (Secretary of the Groningen Declaration Network), Mike Reilly (Executive Director of the American Association of College Registrars and Admissions Officers / AACRAO) and Shi Pengjian (Deputy Director-General of the China Higher Education Student Information and Career Center / CHESICC).

1. Implications of the Groningen Declaration:
Digitization of International Student Records
NAFSA Conference
Wednesday, May 27, 2015

2. Presenters
Herman de Leeuw
Secretary, Groningen Declaration Network
Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs (DUO): Executive Agency of the Ministry
of Education, Culture & Science in the Netherlands
Mike Reilly
Executive Director, American Association of College Registrars and
Admissions Officers (AACRAO)
Shi Pengjian
Deputy Director-General, China Higher Education Student Information
and Career Center (CHESICC)
Michael Zhang (Interpreter)
Project Manager for International Promotion, CHESICC

3. IMPLICATIONS OF THE GRONINGEN DECLARATION:
DIGITALIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT RECORDS
NAFSA Annual Conference 2015, Boston, MA
Wednesday, May 27, 2015, 11:45 AM – 12:45 PM
Room BCEC, 211
Presenter: Herman de Leeuw
secretary, Groningen Declaration Network
DUO – Education Executive Agency, Ministry of
Education, Culture and Science
Groningen – The Netherlands

4. GOAL: TO CONNECT GLOBAL PLAYERS IN THE “DIGITAL STUDENT DATA
ECOSYSTEM”
2016 ANNUAL MEETING IN CAPETOWN, SOUTH AFRICA,
TO BE HOSTED BY SAQA – SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY
FUTURE HOSTS:
- SECRETARÍA DE EDUCACIÓN PÚBLICA, MEXICO
- UNIVERSITIES AUSTRALIA
2015 ANNUAL MEETING THEME:
READY FOR TAKE-OFF: FUNDING, PILOTS & UPSCALING
NEXT SLIDE: THIS YEAR’S GRONINGEN DECLARATION NETWORK PPT TEMPLATE

6. WHAT STARTED THIS?
• IN ALMOST ALL COUNTRIES:
ISSUES OF DOCUMENT
FORGERY, IDENTITY THEFT
AND MISREPRESENTATION
• AWARENESS THAT DIGITAL
DATA ARE THE SOURCE
NOWADAYS, NOT PAPER
• PROVEN BEST PRACTICE:
ATMs AROUND THE GLOBE
• WILL TO ADVOCATE
DIGITAL DATA FOR
“GLOBAL HUMAN CAPITAL
CROSS BORDER MOBILITY”

7. FIRST TIME, 2012, GRONINGEN
•FLOCKING TOGETHER
“OUT OF THE BLUE”:
CHESICC (CHINA);
RUSSIAN MOE; NSC;
SAQA; FS (NORWAY);
NAD (INDIA); EAIE;
EUNIS; ETC.
•PERHAPS BIGGEST
DRIVER: COMMON
UNDERSTANDING OF
POTENTIAL

8. DECLARATION OF INTENT
SEEKING COMMON GROUND IN
BEST SERVING PROFESSIONAL
AND ACADEMIC MOBILITY, BY
BRINGING TOGETHER KEY
STAKEHOLDERS IN THE DIGITAL
STUDENT DATA ECOSYSTEM
CITIZENS WORLD WIDE SHOULD
BE ABLE TO CONSULT AND
SHARE THEIR AUTHENTIC
EDUCATIONAL DATA WITH
WHOMEVER THEY WANT,
WHENEVER THEY WANT,
WHEREVER

9. IDEA CATCHES ON
THIRTEEN ORGANISATIONS
INVITED TO SIGN ON, ELEVEN
DID SO AT ONCE
“LURING THE TIGER OUT OF
THE MOUNTAINS”: BEIJING
TO BE NEXT VENUE FOR
NETWORK MEETING

10. SECRET RECIPE?
- Virtual network supported by
secretariat
- Annual event, venue rotating
- Participation by invitation only
- Small number of participants
- Ensuring maximum interaction
and cohesion
- Seeking public-private
cooperation on level playing
ground
- Contributing towards common
good
- “Whole is more than constituent
parts”
- On closed purse basis (so far)

11. 2013, BEIJING, THINGS START TO MOVE
•SYMBOLIC STEP:
REACHING OUT TO
OTHER CONTINENT (ASIA)
•INTRODUCING
PRESIDENT
•MEXICAN SEP FIRST
MOE TO GET INVOLVED
•FIRST TALKS BETWEEN
NSC AND CHESICC
•CONSOLIDATING
PARTNERSHIPS

12. 2013, AACRAO AC, SAN FRANCISCO
•GENERAL PANEL
SESSION AT ANNUAL
CONFERENCE
•ENORMOUS EXPOSURE,
OVER 1,500
ATTENDANTS
•IMMEDIATE TAKE
AWAYS FROM BEIJING
•UNIVERSITIES
AUSTRALIA (AND MORE)
IN THE AUDIENCE

13. EAIE CONFERENCE AS SOUNDING BOARD
•HOSTING SESSIONS ON
ISSUE SINCE 2007
•2010: ESTABLISHING
TASK FORCE DSDP
•2010-2014:
SHOWCASING NSC,
CHESICC, CDGDC AND
MANY MORE
•MEMBER OF EXECUTIVE
COMMITTEE

14. WASHINGTON, 2014
•ATTENDANCE BY WORLD
BANK, UNESCO INSTITUTE
OF STATISTICS, US DEPT
OF STATE (EDUCATION
USA), PESC, AND MANY
OTHERS
•FIRST SKETCH OF GLOBAL
NODAL NETWORK
•WELCOME RECEPTION AT
AUSSIE EMBASSY!

15. MÁLAGA, 2015
•ATTENDANCE BY EC,
DG CONNECT AND OECD
•INVOLVEMENT OF BFUG
SECRETARIAT
•SIXTEEN NEW
SIGNATORIES
•TWENTY FOUR
COUNTRIES
REPRESENTED FROM
AROUND THE GLOBE

16. YEREVAN, 2015 BFUG EHEA MINISTERIAL MEETING
•BOLOGNA FOLLOW-UP
GROUP MEETING AND
EHEA (EUROPEAN
HIGHER EDUCATION
AREA) MINISTERIAL
MEETING
•500 DELEGATES
INCLUDING 47
MINISTERIAL
DELEGATIONS
•NETWORKING GALORE

17. CAPE TOWN, 2016
•TO BE HOSTED BY
SAQA
•FOCUS ON SOUTHERN
HEMISPHERE
•CONNECTING
STAKEHOLDERS ON
ISSUES OF
VERIFICATION

18. BRINGING IN AFRICA
•AQVN, ESTABLISHED
NOVEMBER 2014 BY SAQA
•STARTED OUT WITH 18
COUNTRIES
•REACHING OUT TO WHOLE
CONTINENT AND BEYOND
• CONNECTING
STAKEHOLDERS ON ISSUE
OF VERIFICATION,
INCLUDING AUSTRALIA,
INDIA, RUSSIAN
FEDERATION AND MORE
•TASK FORCE TO BE
ESTABLISHED
•MORE TO FOLLOW

19. CHALLENGES AHEAD
•DATA4POLICY
•NEW STAKEHOLDERS:
IMMIGRATION
AUTHORITIES,
EMPLOYERS,
MINISTRIES OF
EMPLOYMENT
•STUDENT VISAS?
•SKILLS CLOUD?

20. CONTACT DETAILS
DETAILSDETAILS
Herman de Leeuw
Secretary, Groningen Declaration Network
Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs
PO Box 30157 | 9700 LJ | Groningen | The Netherlands
herman.deleeuw@duo.nl
www.groningendeclaration.org

22. The Groningen Declaration:
Changing the Digital Student
Data Portability Landscape

23. The Groningen Declaration
• Some Background
• Electronic Records Exchange Then and Now
• A Survey of Pilot Projects Around the Globe
• The Future

25. A timeline
• Developed at the Founding Seminar hosted by the Dutch Ministry of
Higher Education (DUO) in April of 2012.
• The second seminar was held in Beijing in April of 2013.
• AACRAO signed on to the Declaration at the Beijing seminar.
• AACRAO hosted participants from the Beijing seminar for a plenary
at our Annual Meeting in San Francisco in April of 2013.

26. A timeline
• The third seminar was held in Washington, DC, at
Georgetown University in May of 2014
• The most recent seminar was held in Malaga, Spain, earlier
this month.

29. Network still expanding

30. AACRAO and the Exchange of Electronic
Student Records
• AACRAO has been at the forefront of the development of
standards for the exchange of electronic student records
• AACRAO formed the SPEEDE (Standardization of Post-
Secondary Education Electronic Data Exchange)
Committee in 1988
• Released the SPEEDE EDI (Electronic Data Interchange)
format in 1990
• Created the Texas SPEEDE server housed at UT-Austin
• 35 million records exchanged by 2013

31. Electronic Records Exchange Then
and Now
Last year AACRAO conducted a
large survey on electronic transcript
exchange

32. PSR Inst. Type PSS Inst. Type
Methods for Receiving and Sending Post-Secondary Transcripts

33. Methods for Receiving High School Transcripts

34. Level of Automation
• We asked respondents to indicate if
they use the eTranscript data for
automated admissions and transfer
articulation.

35. Institutions Using eTranscript Data for Automated Processes

36. What We Don’t Know
Thoughts
• Not enough time to
implement.
• Lack of training on how to
implement options.
• Lack of understanding
these features.
• Not enough funds to
implement.
• Other?
Why is the full level of automation available to most not being used?

38. The Future
International Student
Mobility is on the Rise

43. 64% of the international students
studying in the United States
come from Asia

44. Global Student Mobility Requires…
–Authentic documents
–Student-centered approaches
–Business process efficiency
–Environmentally sound practices
–Expanded recognition of credentials

45. Digitalization of International
Student Records:
A Perspective from China
Presenter: Shi Pengjian
Deputy Director-General
Interpreter: Zhang Zhiyuan (Michael)
Project Manager for Intl Promotion
CHESICC
May 27th, 2015

46. About CHESICC
Official body directly under Ministry of Education (MOE)
The only MOE-authorized institution for qualification verification
CHSI: Digital administration and service
* Student enrollment,
* Student record and qualification management,
* Employment information service,
* Military conscription

47. Official Online Platforms
Sunshine Gaokao Graduate School Admission
Student Record and Qualification
Management Platform

48. Official Online Platforms
Conscription Platform Employment Service

49. Database
Qualification
Data
Annually
Student Record
Data
130 Million qualification records registered
(Unit: 10k)
1182
Enrollment Data
Gaokao Result
Data
Gaokao Application
Data
（Photo included)
All schools nationwide (100%)
100% students
100
%

50. Verification Reports
Student Record (Online) Higher Ed Transcript
￥30/year ￥300 (Ch & En)
Qualification
Certificate (Online)
￥30/year￥245 (Ch & En) ￥300 (Ch & En)
Gaokao Scores
High School
Diploma￥300 (Ch & En)￥300 (Ch & En)
Others
Coming future...
Qualification
Certificate (Paper)
Higher Ed
Transcript
For Postsecondary Graduated StudentsFor Postsecondary In-school Students
For Secondary Graduated Students
Service

51. Participation CHESICC in Groningen Declaration
Groningen, the Netherlands | 2012
First annual meeting
Beijing, China | 2013
Second annual meeting, as a host
Washington D.C., U.S. | 2014
Third annual meeting, officially signed the declaration
 Prague, Czech Republic | 2014
EAIE annual meeting, joined executive committee meeting as observer
Malaga, Spain | 2015
Fourth annual meeting, as executive committee member

52. Participation Second Annual Conference in Beijing
Digital Student Data Depositories Worldwide 2013, Beijing

53. Future
Digitalization of International
Student Records!

54. • Not enough time to
implement.
• Lack of training on
how to implement
options.
• Lack of understanding
these features.
• Not enough funds to
implement.
• Other?
eTranscript AACRAO’s Survey Result
Institution’s concerns:

55. Electronic Verification Service PlatformSolutions
Electronic Service
Platform
Online Verification
Report
Paper Verification
Report
UT Austin
Virginia Commonwealth
Mcgill
Stanford
Georgia Tec
Web ServiceSFTP Membership Platform
Educational
Perspectives
Integrating:
U.S.: Parchment
Ireland: Digitary
Highly interested:
U.S.: ECE
Netherlands: DUO
Wesleyan College

56. Service Online Application Platform
Make application, payment, and delivery all electronically

57. For Institutions
Reduced fraud
Reduced work burden
Reduced paperwork
Reduced processing/decision time
Increased working efficiency
Decreased student burden, and time-saving
Meaning

58. Meaning For Verifiers, Evaluators, and Transmitters
New network involves all parties
Reduced costs for all
Fast and convenient
The new world: electronic and digital work
Secured and trusted
One-stop solution

59. Network Multiple Connections and Cooperation
Serves for international students mobility