EMREX - easy transfer of study credits internationally

EMREX is an international network and service that enables the electronic and secure transfer of study credits between higher education institutions. Its aim is to make everyday life easier for students and higher education institutions, particularly in the context of international mobility. EMREX started as an EU project to support the EU's goal of having one in five higher education students spend a period of their studies abroad.

In the EMREX network, study credits are transferred electronically directly from higher education institutions, which makes them highly verified and reliable. Access to the network is granted through a managed application process, and data transfer takes place via verified contact points, always with the user's consent. The contact points are data transfer interfaces established by each country or higher education institution belonging to the network, through which data is transferred from the source register to Sisu, for example. This ensures that the data is always verified and transferred securely, taking data protection issues into account.

What is EMREX used for?

EMREX offers students the opportunity to transfer their study records from one higher education institution to another electronically and securely. This makes life easier for exchange students, for example, as they can transfer the courses they have completed to their home institution's student information system without manual scanning and sending documents.

When a Finnish student goes to study in Norway, for example, EMREX allows them to transfer information about their completed studies to their home university at the end of their mobility period and apply for credit transfer. Transfer students also benefit from this.

Network currently

The EMREX network currently includes ten countries, such as Finland, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Germany, and several higher education institutions from these countries. The network forms an international register of more than 170 million study credits. In Finland, the EMREX service is maintained by the CSC, IT Center for Science, which enables data transfer from the VIRTA study information service. VIRTA is a service owned by the Ministry of Education and Culture, which contains information on 1.5 million Finnish degree students. The EMREX network is constantly expanding so that more and more students and higher education institutions can benefit from it.

EMREX and Sisu

The EMREX service, integrated into Sisu Student Information System at the turn of the year, offers students a fast way to transfer credits earned abroad directly to Sisu. The integration facilitates the credit transfer process: students log in to EMREX, select the studies they wish to transfer, and these are then transferred to Sisu and stored in a temporary repository until they are approved for credit transfer.

In the approval process, students no longer need to fill in every field on the application form themselves; instead, the fields are filled in automatically with information from EMREX, in the same format as received from the target university. Attachments such as transcripts of records are also automatically saved as part of the application.

In the best case scenario, students simply preview the content of their application and submit it for processing – this reduces manual work and increases data reliability.

Benefits of EMREX

For students:

• Ease and speed: Study credits are transferred electronically, and students can trust that the information will be processed in the correct format.
• Security: EMREX guarantees that information is transferred with the student's consent, securely, and directly to the system where it will be processed.
• Time savings: No longer need to scan paper certificates and transcript of records to attach to transfer credit applications.

For higher education institutions:

• Automation: Credit transfer processes are simplified when information can be received and processed electronically.
• Reliability: EMREX ensures that information comes directly from higher education institutions, reducing the risk of errors and misuse.
• Support for international cooperation: Higher education institutions can serve and attract international students more easily.

EMREX is therefore a modern and efficient tool that makes everyday life easier for both students and higher education institutions. It speeds up and simplifies the transfer of study information between countries and higher education institutions, while increasing security and efficiency.