Groningen Declaration Network Newsletter: Issue 1, January 2016 Newsletter Home
Task Forces of the Groningen Declaration Network
Task Forces of the Groningen Declaration Network
Working together to accomplish even more

At the second Annual Meeting (then still called the Digital Student Data Depositories Worldwide seminar), an Executive Committee was established. One of the first things this Executive Committee did, on 11 April 2013, was to propose the establishment of a number of Task Forces. Some of the proposed Task Forces never flew, but out of the initial proposals, these three materialized:

  • Business Case
  • Promotion (now called Dissemination)
  • Verification (now called Verification Policies and Best Practices)

The following Task Forces were added afterwards:

  • Pilots
  • Empowering Cross Border Enrolment and Student Loan Portability
  • Mid-Term Vision until 2020
  • Principles - The first TF to have produced its deliverable, the Statement of Ethical Principles. It is also the first GDN Task Force to have been discharged.

Active Task Forces

  • Business Case
    This Task Force is headed by Ricardo Torres, CEO and President of the National Student Clearinghouse. Rick routinely pays attention to the GDN Business Case in all his presentations on the various international pilots that the NSC initiated. Most recently, a stakeholder analysis on the relevance of the Groningen Declaration for the higher education sector in the Netherlands was commissioned by DUO and the University of Groningen. This analysis was performed by a group of graduate students from the University of Groningen's Faculty of Business Education and Economics.


  • Pilots
    The Pilots Task Force routinely monitors developments so as to highlight these in future newsletters and at GroningenDeclaration.org.


  • Empowering Cross Border Enrolment and Student Loan Portability
    On 29 September 2015, the Groningen Declaration Network's Executive Committee approved the establishment of two new Task Forces by online voting. The present new Task Force will focus on Empowering Cross Border Enrolment and Student Loan Portability. To do that, the Task Force aims at bringing together relevant stakeholders in the field of higher education, in a joint effort to: Reduce red tape; and significantly cut the administrative burden for all parties involved in international student mobility.

    The Task Force also aims at combating double student loan claims, thus stopping the deflection of public money for illegal uses and making it do what it was meant for: To promote the educational careers of bona fide students. Relevant data to the Task Force's mission is not be restricted to enrolment data, but will also include student loan data, scholarships and other relevant types of government funding -- always in strict compliance with privacy regulations in jurisdictions around the globe.

    To make this possible, the Task Force will identify challenges and develop joint strategies and suitable processes for the verification of enrolment data; student loan data; and ways to facilitate students in documenting their financial capacity.

    The Task Force is made up of the following persons, who may want to actively welcome new members to join the Task Force:


  • Dissemination
    The Dissemination Task Force's two main activities are the provision of content for GroningenDeclaration.org and updates to it; and the production of the GDN Newsletter that you are currently perusing. A third activity will be the drafting of the Mid-Term Dissemination Plan. The Task Force currently consists of:
    • Chair (and President of the GDN): Victoriano Giralt, Systems Manager, University of Málaga - Spain
    • Co-Chair: Cheryl DarrupBoychuck, Chief Architect, FundsV - USA
    • Member: Jacqui Elson-Green, Convenor, Higher Education Compliance and Quality Network at Higher Ed Services - Australia


  • Mid-Term Vision
    This Task Force has been very recently formed, on 2 December 2015. Its task is to:
    • Prepare a discussion paper that will provide a broad view of where the GDN might want to be heading in five years time, plus a list of tangible milestones per year on the road to 2020;
    • Organize a scrum session at the 2016 Annual Meeting in Cape Town, to be moderated by a Task Force member, to extract feedback from the participants and to ensure consistency of the GDN views with those of its participants.

    The Task Force is self-steering, with the following members (in the order of last names):
    Monitoring observers without voting powers:


  • Verification Policies and Best Practices
    This Task Force was also established on 29 September 2015, by online voting. Its aims are to
    • Deliberate upon current thinking on verification practice;
    • Consolidate best practices in verification;
    • Identify challenges and explore solutions;
    • Share the above (and other related information) through a periodic digital newsletter;
    • Assist the GDN Annual Meeting programme committee in planning for the 2016 Meeting in Cape Town;
    • Develop paper(s) that could be presented at the 2016 Meeting

    The Task Force will
    • Explore the importance and current status of verifications globally;
    • Identify/consolidate a list of global/national/central student data depositories that authorities can turn to for verification of student data. Map these depositories;
    • Identify current verification approaches/systems/methodologies/steps;
    • Create a platform/link with the recently established African Qualifications Verification Network (AQVN);
    • Assist verification partners to develop verification related user manual/standard operating procedures;
    • Assist the GDN Conference Programme Committee for the 2016 GDN Annual Meeting;
    • Raise other issues, such as
      • Qualification fraud/bogus institutions and degree mills
      • Best practices in signing Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with national bodies and institutions on verification
      • Continuing professional development/exchanges between TF member institutions

      • Task Force Composition
      Chair: Navin Vasudev, Deputy Director Foreign Qualifications Evaluation and Advisory Services, South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) - South Africa

      Members
      Observers
 
 
 
 
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