EN 15981:2011

• Abstract:

  This European Standard specifies a model for the recording and exchange of learner achievement information among student management information systems, as well as the aggregation of information by third party suppliers.; The model proposed within this European Standard is not intended to define the representation of the entire spectrum of Learner Mobility information - the scope of the standard is restricted to the definition of the electronic representation of official, institutionally attested achievement information for learners engaged in formal learning processes, in order to facilitate its recording and subsequent exchange within the European education area.; Achievement Information structured and presented in compliance with this standard may, of course, be used for other purposes - for instance, to provide descriptions of achievement to enrich a learner-owned report, in terms of an e-portfolio. However, guidance on the specification and the organisation of information for purposes other than the representation of formal achievement reports is outside the scope of this European Standard.; In addition, this European Standard defines refinements to the EuroLMAI model for representing the Europass DS.; The Europass Diploma Supplement Application Profile of EuroLMAI, in full compliance with the Europass requirements, focuses on the expression of information regarding the qualification awarded to a learner upon completion of a formal educational programme. The proposed profile is needed for the general purposes of:; - the exploitation of academic achievements abroad: in continuing education or in seeking job opportunities;; - the admission of students or graduates in home and European universities: acknowledgment of credits or transfer of credits accumulated in home institutions moving from one university to another;; - the expression of the level, content and nature of qualifications to potential employers both nationally and at a European level;; ..............

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 03-May-2011
• Withdrawal Date: 29-Nov-2011
• ICS: 35.240.90 - IT applications in education
• ICS: 35.240.99 - IT applications in other fields
• Technical Committee: CEN/TC 353 - Information and Communication Technologies for Learning, Education and Training
• Drafting Committee: CEN/TC 353 - Information and Communication Technologies for Learning, Education and Training
• Current Stage: 9093 - Decision to confirm - Review Enquiry
• Start Date: 05-Mar-2023
• Completion Date: 17-Sep-2026
• Ref Project: SIST EN 15981:2011 - European Learner Mobility - Achievement information (EuroLMAI)

• Corrected By: EN 15981:2011/AC:2013 - European Learner Mobility - Achievement information (EuroLMAI)
• Effective Date: 13-Mar-2013

Overview

EN 15981:2011 defines the EuroLMAI (European Learner Mobility – Achievement Information) model for the electronic recording and exchange of institution‑attested learner achievement information across the European Education Area. It focuses on a light, implementable skeleton for representing official achievement reports (for example transcripts and the Europass Diploma Supplement (DS)) within student management information systems and third‑party aggregators. The standard does not attempt to represent the full spectrum of learner mobility data (such as informal learning or full assessment workflows); its remit is formal, institutionally attested achievement information.

Key topics and technical requirements

• EuroLMAI domain model: a conceptual model for representing learners, issuers, learning opportunity specifications and instances, qualifications, credits and achievement reports.
• Description Set Profiles: formal profiles for the representation of reports, learners, issuers, learning opportunities, qualifications and credit information.
• Conformance rules: requirements for conforming instances, bindings and applications to ensure interoperable exchange.
• Europass DS Application Profile (Annex A): refinements and constraints to EuroLMAI to represent the Europass Diploma Supplement in full compliance with Europass requirements.
• Reuse of existing vocabularies: incorporation of metadata and property sets from ISO 15836, DCMI Metadata Terms, IETF RFC 2426 and relevant CWA documents (e.g., CWA 15903, CWA 16077).
• Normative and informative annexes: conceptual model, mappings to Europass DS, illustrative use cases, and guidance for application profiling and graceful degradation.

Applications and who uses it

EN 15981 / EuroLMAI is intended for:

• Higher education institutions (HEIs) and their student management information systems (SIS) - for issuing machine‑readable transcripts and electronic diplomas.
• National and European authorities and ministries - to support interoperable qualification transparency and mobility policies.
• Third‑party service providers and aggregators - for collecting, consolidating and exchanging verified achievement records.
• Employers, admissions offices and credential evaluators - for automated recognition, credit transfer and recruitment processes.
• e‑portfolio and credential platforms - to enrich learner‑owned reports with institution‑attested data.

Practical benefits include streamlined digital issuance of the Europass Diploma Supplement, easier credit recognition and transfer, improved student mobility, reduced reliance on proprietary formats, and greater interoperability across SIS platforms.

Related standards

• ISO 15836 (DCMI), DCMI Metadata Terms
• IETF RFC 2426 (vCard properties)
• CWA 15903, CWA 16077 (referenced classes and properties)

Keywords: EN 15981:2011, EuroLMAI, Europass Diploma Supplement, learner achievement information, student management information systems, interoperability, electronic transcript, qualification recognition.

2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.(XUR/0$,Europäisches Model für Lernermobilität - Angaben über die Leistung (EuroLMAI)Mobilité des apprenants européens - Informations relatives aux résultats obtenus (EuroLMAI)European Learner Mobility - Achievement information (EuroLMAI)35.240.99IT applications in other fields03.180Vzgoja in izobraževanjeEducationICS:Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z:EN 15981:2011SIST EN 15981:2011en,fr,de01-oktober-2011SIST EN 15981:2011SLOVENSKI
STANDARD
EUROPEAN STANDARD NORME EUROPÉENNE EUROPÄISCHE NORM
EN 15981
May 2011 ICS 35.240.99 English Version
European Learner Mobility - Achievement information (EuroLMAI)
Mobilité des apprenants européens - Informations relatives aux résultats obtenus (EuroLMAI)
Europäisches Model für Lernermobilität -Angaben über die Leistung (EuroLMAI) This European Standard was approved by CEN on 24 March 2011.
CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.
This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
Management Centre:
Avenue Marnix 17,
B-1000 Brussels © 2011 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CEN national Members. Ref. No. EN 15981:2011: ESIST EN 15981:2011

Europass Diploma Supplement Application Profile of the EuroLMAI (EuroLMAI Europass DS AP) . 24A.1 General . 24A.2 Europass DS Refinements of the EuroLMAI . 24A.2.1 Classes . 24A.2.2 Association properties . 24A.2.3 Attribute Properties . 24A.3 The Europass DS Description Set Profile . 26A.3.1 General . 26A.3.2 Diploma Supplement Document . 26A.3.3 Learner . 26A.3.4 Issuer . 26SIST EN 15981:2011

The EuroLMAI conceptual model . 31Annex C (informative)
Mapping of the Europass DS to EuroLMAI . 33Annex D (informative)
Illustrative uses of the EuroLMAI Model and the Europass DS Application Profile . 36D.1 General . 36D.2 Report on completed parts of a programme of study . 36D.3 Transcript information for a period of learning . 37D.4 Report on qualification obtained for a completed programme of study . 39D.5 EuroLMAI Europass DS document . 39Annex E (informative)
Application Profiling . 41E.1 DCMI Abstract Model . 41E.2 Application Profiles and their roles and usage . 41E.3 Extensions to properties . 41E.4 Graceful degradation . 42Bibliography . 43
The results of the current and future European Learner Mobility (EuroLM) work aspire to support the development of a new generation of technology-enhanced services for learners (learning and employment opportunities exploration), higher education institutions (certification or augmentation of learner information), employers (work-place descriptions, recruiting and development of learners' competences) and other stakeholders of learning, education, and training throughout Europe, as the European Union and Commission, the Member States and their governments and ministries, etc. The EuroLM Achievement Information (EuroLMAI) model directly addresses the European requirement for rapid implementation and dissemination of the institution-owned transparency information tools throughout Europe. It has been developed as a generic model for representing the institution attested achievements of a learner within a formal learning setting, resulting from the learner's participation in one or more learning opportunity instances and including any available associated results.
This European Standard specifies a subset (skeleton) of the generic EuroLMAI model that supports the expression of institution-owned learner achievement information and the formation of official achievement reports (e.g. the learner's Transcript of records) and transparency documents (e.g. Europass Diploma Supplement). The need for supporting of additional learner mobility achievement structures and tools (e.g. that of Europass Mobility) calls for the enhancement of the skeleton model with additional standardized information entities (e.g. intended learning outcomes, assessment processes) and relevant standardization activities are underway in order to provide other important extensions to EuroLMAI. In addition to EuroLMAI, this European Standard provides an Application Profile of the EuroLMAI model, introducing necessary refinements and constraints for the accurate representation of the Europass Diploma Supplement (DS). The Europass DS is considered one of the most important documents of the Europass framework, which significantly contributes to the transparent interpretation and recognition of academic and professional qualifications (diplomas, degrees, certificates) across the diverse European educational systems. In essence, the Europass DS aims at: • promoting transparency within and between higher education systems; • providing accurate and up-to-date information on an individual's qualifications; • aiding mobility and access to further study and employment abroad; • providing fair and informed information relating to qualifications; SIST EN 15981:2011

[CWA 15903:2008] 3.16 level educational level one of a set of terms, properly defined within a framework or scheme, applied to an entity in order to group it together with other entities relevant to the same stage of education NOTE This is similar in intention to the definition of level in CWA 15903:2008 which in turn refers to the Dublin Core term with name "educationLevel" and label "Audience Education Level". Level terms are typically consecutive small integers. 3.17 module course unit in a system in which each course unit carries the same number of credits or a multiple thereof [1] SIST EN 15981:2011

• information about the issuer of the report (institution attesting the learner's achievements and/or awarding the learner with a qualification); • information about the learning opportunity the learner has taken, any associated results obtained, and the qualification possibly achieved; • information about the components studied as well as the result and credits in those components; • other achievement information. This sub-clause defines the domain model of the skeleton EuroLMAI model. More specifically, it defines a EuroLMAI Instance (Report) as an assemblage pattern of such information, namely: • a learner instance, representing the individual enrolled in a formal learning opportunity (part or full programme of study, course, work experience, etc.); • an issuer instance, representing the authority that awards credits and/or qualifications and/or attests learner participation in the described learning opportunities including any associated results gained; • at least one Learning Opportunity Specification instance, which, depending on its function and level, may comprise any or all of the following information: • description of a learning opportunity or period of learning the learner currently or formerly enrolled in (with reference to provider and – if specified – to related credit information), and in case of successful completion, of the qualification achieved, including the actual result for the specific learner; SIST EN 15981:2011

Figure 1 — Domain model of the EuroLMAI skeleton Figure 1 illustrates the domain model in UML [4]. Attention is drawn to the UML class diagram specification for an explanation of the underlying semantics of this diagram. Each box in the diagram relates to a Class. Each named association (line with label) in the diagram represents an Association Property. The Resources of this model are either defined in this specification or in other standards referred to in the following sub-clauses. Attribute Properties from other relevant standards have also been reused. Arrows on named associations indicate the direction in which traversal between instances can occur. No cardinality is specified for any association. Lines with an unfilled diamond shape represent an association with an aggregation relationship, indicating that one class is a part of another class. The EuroLMAI model follows an application profile approach. Application profiles can be defined as schemas which consist of elements drawn from one or more namespaces, combined together and optimised for particular applications. 7.3 EuroLMAI Resources 7.3.1 Classes The following classes are defined for European Learner Mobility Achievement Information. URI: elm:Learner Label: Learner Type: Class Definition: Individual currently or formerly enrolled in a formal learning opportunity
Comments: URI: elm:languageOfAssessment Label: Language of Assessment Domain: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource Range: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal Definition: The language by which a learning opportunity is assessed
Comments: Attention is drawn to ISO 639 URI: elm:additionalInformation Label: Additional Information Domain: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource Range: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource
Definition: Additional information concerning the resource
Comments: For example, additional information related to a EuroLMAI report URI: elm:issueDate Label: Issue Date Domain: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Resource Range: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal Sub Property Of: http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/date Definition: The date on which the resource was formally issued Comments: For example, the date of issue of a EuroLMAI report URI: elm:fullName SIST EN 15981:2011

the IETF RFC 2426 Formatted Name, and to the proposed SEMIC.EU Core Person [5] Full Name URI: elm:familyName Label: Family Name Domain: elm:Learner Range: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal Definition: The name component typically shared with other members of the same immediate family, as on official identity documents Comments: This is equivalent to the IETF RFC 2426 Family Name, and to the proposed SEMIC.EU Core Person [5] Family Name; it is intended to be the same as on common official identity documents, such as a passport's “Surname” URI: elm:givenNames Label: Given Names Domain: elm:Learner Range: http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#Literal Definition: Name components specific to the individual, typically not shared by other members of the same immediate family, as on official identity documents Comments: This is equivalent to (a) the concatenation of Given Name (“Given”) and Additional Names (“Middle”) components of the structured name as in IETF RFC 2426 and (b) the proposed SEMIC.EU Core Person [5] Given Name; it is intended to be the same as on common official identity documents, such as a passport's “Given names” 7.4 Resources included from CWA 15903:2008 7.4.1 Classes The following classes are defined in CWA 15903:2008 (MLO-AD) and are applicable within the EuroLMAI domain. URI: mlo:LearningOpportunityProvider Label: Learning Opportunity Provider URI: mlo:LearningOpportunitySpecification Label: Learning Opportunity Specification URI: mlo:LearningOpportunityInstance Label: Learning Opportunity Instance 7.4.2 Association properties The following association properties are defined in CWA 15903:2008 and are applicable within the EuroLMAI domain. URI: mlo:offeredAt Label: Offered At URI: mlo:hasPart Label: Has Part URI: mlo:specifies Label: Specifies SIST EN 15981:2011

shall not contain more than one mlo:qualification property. d) A mlo:LearningOpportunitySpecification instance may contain any number of mlo:credit properties. e) Attention is drawn to the optional, though recommended use of the following properties: 1) a mlo:LearningOpportunitySpecification instance should contain at least one http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/identifier property; 2) an mlo:LearningOpportunitySpecification instance should contain at least one http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/title property; 3) an mlo:LearningOpportunitySpecification instance should contain at least one http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/description property (if applicable); 4) an mlo:LearningOpportunitySpecification instance should contain at least one http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/type property (if applicable). NOTE In some models adopted by particular educational systems, there is an identified need of expressing grouping information for specific sets of learning opportunities. To address this need, apart from the representation of the individual opportunities, a parent learning opportunity can be defined, acting as a module-level component or a grouping component (e.g. semester, programme year, level or subject of a collection of courses). The http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/type property should be used to indicate the type of such components. f) Each mlo:LearningOpportunitySpecification instance may contain any other properties allowed as defined in CWA 15903:2008 or in CWA 16076:2010. 8.6 Learning Opportunity Instance A EuroLMAI LearningOpportunityInstance instance shall comply with the following constraints. SIST EN 15981:2011

mlo:LearningOpportunityProvider instance through the mlo:offeredAt association. b) Each mlo:LearningOpportunityInstance instance shall not contain more than one
elm:result property. c) Each mlo:LearningOpportunityInstance instance shall not contain more than one
elm:gradingScheme property. d) Each mlo:LearningOpportunityInstance instance may contain any number of
elm:languageOfAssessment properties. e) Each mlo:LearningOpportunityInstance instance may contai
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