May 21, 2021 – Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is pleased to join the Groningen Declaration Network (GDN) in its efforts to lead and inform the global adoption of strategies that give learners greater control over their educational data, while promoting a secure, flexible and accessible data ecosystem. The association officially joined the list of signatories during its recent annual conference.
The GDN, founded in 2012 in the Netherlands, is an international, non-profit and voluntary network and foundation that supports academic and professional digital credential mobility so that citizens worldwide are able to consult and share their authentic educational data autonomously, with the expectation of fair recognition. It does this by bringing together stakeholders from across the global Digital Student Data Ecosystem.
Specifically, signatories of the Groningen Declaration are working to cooperate internationally in areas such as fair credential recognition, student data exchange, data system compatibility and interoperability, phasing out paper documents and authentications (where possible), and addressing the privacy concerns related to data sharing by considering the needs of the learners first.
Quotes:
“As an association focused on learner success and ensuring graduates have the skills and competencies needed for successful future careers, we share the core values of the Groningen Declaration. Given the rapid changes in the labour market, we believe it is essential to facilitate credential recognition so learners can more easily move across geographic and institutional boundaries. This means more digital data portability to enable learners to access and manage their own records throughout their lifetime. We believe these principles are key to the future of a successful work force.”
Denise Amyot, President and CEO, Colleges and Institutes Canada
“Canada is an active leader and participant in this global Network, having recently launched the GDN-inspired MyCreds/MesCertif, providing postsecondary students in Canada with easy and autonomous access to share their official digital credentials with whomever they wish, worldwide. I am very pleased to welcome CICan as the GDN’s newest signatory and look forward to working together to support Canada’s continued leadership in this area and to achieve our shared goals.”
Kathleen Massey, President, Groningen Declaration Network
About Colleges and Institutes Canada:
Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is the voice of Canada’s publicly-supported colleges, institutes, cegeps and polytechnics, and an international leader in education for employment with ongoing programs in over 25 countries. CICan’s members add over $190B to Canada’s economy each year and contribute to inclusive economic growth by working with industry and community partners to offer more than 10,000 programs to learners in urban, rural, remote, and northern communities.
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For more information:
Julien Abord-Babin
Senior Strategic Communications Officer
Colleges and Institutes Canada
Email: jabord-babin@collegesinstitutes.ca
Phone: 613-746-2222 ext. 3131
Twitter: @CollegeCan