MyUniversity is an e-participation project that aims to involve university members and stakeholders in higher education decision making through an online platform. The platform will be developed and tested by universities in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Spain, Slovakia, and Sweden. It will provide interactive tools based on Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate participation in policy issues. The project expects to engage stakeholders, influence university decision processes, and potentially expand participation to more universities across Europe.

1. At a Glance
Project: MyUniversity - Decision making for a united higher
education
Project coordinator: GFI NV, BELGIUM
One of the key aspects towards the creation of Participating partners: Gov2u (Greece), Scytl Secure Electronic
a uni ed European Higher Education Area is Voting S.A.(Spain), Centre de Supercoputació de Catalunya
the close cooperation and interaction between (Spain), Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (Slovakia),
Rey Juan Carlos University (Spain), Stockholm University
governments, higher education institutions, stu-
(Sweden), University of Presov in Presov (Slovakia), Interna-
dents, sta , employers and quality assurance tional Business School Bulgaria, University of National and
agencies. To facilitate this process, MyUniversity World Economy (Bulgaria), University of León (Spain), Univer-
was conceived as an innovative project that aims sity of Vilnius (Lithuania), Slovak University of Technogy in
to involve all university members and stakehold- Bratislava (Slovakia).
ers in the higher education decision process, Participating universities in the trials: Polytechnic University of Catalo-
through a transparent and extremely user nia (Spain), Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain), University of
Barcelona (Spain), University of Girona (Spain), University of Lleida
friendly e-Participation platform. e partici- (Spain)
pant universities form Bulgaria, Lithuania,
Spain, Slovakia and Sweden will be able, Duration: 30 months
through the use of this platform after specialized Total Cost: €2.30m
training, to engage their members and stake-
holders on multiple issues to get their feedback, EU Contribution: €1.15m
both locally and at European level. Programme: e Information and Communication Tecnologies
Policy Support Programme of the Competitiveness and Innova-
tion Framework Programme (CIP-ICT PSP-2009-3bis)
ICT PSP Programme website:
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/ict_psp
MyUniversity will increase the direct participation of Area: eme 3: ICT for government and governance, Objective
university members and stakeholders in the higher 3.5: e-Participation, empower and involve citizens in transparent
education decision making process, by providing them decision-making in the EU
with a centralized point where policy issues are sum- Contract type: Pilot Type B
marized and clearly explained. is information will
Project reference: 256216
allow university members and stakeholders to under-
stand the impact of the policy and then use the interac-
tive e-Participation tools to provide their contributions INNOVATIVE APPROACH
on the subject. e project provides a new dimension that
many other e-Participation projects lack and that is a
MyUniversity will create an advanced e-Participation transparent and seamless way of converting
platform that o ers several di erent interactive tools National/Regional level debates and interrelations to
based on Web2.0 technology, allowing university European level ones
members and stakeholders to easily participate in the e universities do not have to worry about
policy-making process of the higher education area. hosting the platform and can dedicate all their e orts
e platform will also leverage the success of social to what is really important, e-Participation
networks such as Facebook, by advertising its content e project has been conceived and directed at
on them in order to “hook” new users. a speci c environment where real participation can be
fostered and take place

2. TECHNICAL SOLUTION
e project will develop, test and validate a plat-
form that will be based on the integration and
Speci c features of the system such as its security,
customization of two Web 2.0 Open Source tech-
privacy, inclusiveness, interoperability, and com-
nologies (Demos@Work and Gov2DemoSS) and
pliance to di erent standards are serious concerns
an optional cryptographic solution for secure
within the project.
e-consultations (Pnyx). All three existing platforms
have been developed as part of extensive R&D
e end-users universities will trial the platform
projects and have been used in several settings. Two
during 20 months among all university stake-
of these platforms have been co-funded by the
holders at both national/regional levels.
European Union and the third was funded
privately. e result of this customization and inte-
gration will be a platform that can be installed and
EXPECTED RESULTS
run on the same centralized severs and that is com-
• 9 different e-Participation tools available
posed of a super portal and a portal for each of the
to the universities
end-user universities.
• At least 10 decision making processes per
university a ected by the collaborative input of
EU SUPER
PORTAL members and stakeholders
• An average of 50% of all the universities
decision making process opened to members and
stakeholders on the e-Participation platform for
their contribution
v• An average number of 12 e-Participation
initiatives per university and year
• An average number of 5 subjects being
discussed per university and year
• An average participation rate of 15% per
process (compared to university population)
University • At least 5 cross-border participation
e-Participation Portals processes created
• 2 Bologna Working Group reports influ-
enced either directly or indirectly
e super EU level portal will include content from
• Extend the use of MyUniversity to 10
all the university e-Participation portals in addition
new universities as external trial users
to its own independent Participation tools and will
provide links to these portals. e super portal will
be the main point of access for users, but the CONSORTIUM
university e-Participation portals can also be e Consortium has demonstrated experience in
accessed from their own independent URLs, so the delivery of e-Participation solutions and a
users that want to access their own university’s diverse range of skills at its disposal, due to the
portal can do it without having to go through the fact that it is composed of a large IT corporation,
super portal each time. an SME, an NGO with wide experience in
e-Participation projects and individual universi-
In addition to the participation initiated by the ties (the end-users of MyUniversity) arrayed
universities themselves, MyUniversity’s super EU across 7 di erent EU member states.
level portal will also be o ered to the Bologna
Working Groups for launching studies and inter-
acting with the spectrum of Higher Education Project website: www.myuniversity-project.eu
CONTACT INFORMATION
stakeholders directly at an EU level.
Project Coordinator
GFI NV, BELGIUM
Tel. +32(0)16 38 11 11
Fax. +32(0)16 38 11 00
E-mail: info.myuniversity@gfi.be