ECVET - Application to mobility projects

What is Vetlinks
The Vetlinks platform is a prototype of a semantic search engine, developed in the framework of the S.E.S.A.M.O. project in order to support the mobility of learners and workers. In practical terms, it could support the authorities awarding qualifications during the definition of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and help the educational bodies in the creation of the learning agreement. It could also improve the general understanding of the qualifications a worker possibly interested in working abroad actually possesses.
One of the aims of the Vetlinks platform is to experiment a suitable way for deploying a semantic search engine able to contribute at improving transparency and readability of Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes by allowing the comparison of qualifications between two (or more) different countries. With a traditional search engine, like Google, the above aim could be hardly reached because only textual records are stored, without a specific contextualization.

Unfortunately, in the field of VET qualifications comparison the context is definitely necessary, and it seems that a comparison between qualifications could only be done by experts, who know how to develop the required cognitive maps. However, a semantic search engine is able to analyze a text like a human, to understand the meaning of a sentence, and to extrapolate the sense, starting from the context.

Thus, the basic idea behind the Vetlinks platform is the following: first, the core concepts, the instances and the attributes characterizing the considered domain are identified; then, an extensive study is carried out to understand to what extent meta-data (data about data), as well as ontologies (explicit specifications of a conceptualization) and meta-ontologies can improve the qualifications comparison task.

The methodology followed in the S.E.S.A.M.O. project is based on a formal description of information related to VET qualifications, based on a formal graphics notation. In fact, ad hoc meta-models or meta-ontologies are first defined, describing referencing (linking) rules between national models, or ontologies. Then, semantic descriptions taking into account both the national dimension and the above rules are exploited for computing the match between VET qualifications.

For demonstration and simulation purposes, the prototype of the platform has been populated and experimented by using only a subset of the elements building up a qualification. However, should the Vetlinks platform be fully populated, a subject (worker, learner or employer) could browse a profile and find relevant information regarding a training system or a qualification related to a particular economic sector (for instance construction, shipping, hairdressing, fashion, etc.): this could be possible by linking Vetlinks to a particular educational training field, related to a given EQF level.

It is worth observing that a relevant added value of the S.E.S.A.M.O. project is represented by the definition of a general purpose linking strategy (that could be extended to other domains), as well as its application in the VET scenario, traditionally characterized by a marked heterogeneity and fragmentation.