Limitations and Challenges for the Digitising of Course Catalogues in Erasmus+ Contexts

Thisis a work-in-progress paper about the DACEM project, whose goal is to improve course catalogues in Erasmus+ higher education institutions. The Erasmus programme was launched 36 years ago, renamed as Erasmus+ in 2014, to promote the mobility of students among European institutions. Course catalogues are a key tool to enable students searching for the best matching academic opportunities to meet their needs, and for institutions to agree on bilateral agreements on shared programmes according to the Erasmus regulations. Nevertheless, despite the key role of this instrument and the so many years of experience and multitude of initiatives, the provision of appropriate course catalogues is still a main challenge for European higher education institutions and students' mobility. This paper introduces the requirements and data elements that need to be included in course catalogues, related projects that have been focused on the improvement of course catalogues, and the main problems and issues experienced by institutions and students. The paper also introduces the DACEM project and its proposals to solve some of the current issues.