The universities of Caen Normandie and Strasbourg have developed SMILE, a browser-based software designed to address the needs for digitizing administrative procedures related to incoming mobility in French higher education and research institutions. This tool aims to facilitate the management and monitoring of international mobilities while meeting the obligations of the Erasmus Without Paper Charter. This project is fully in line with the objectives of the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 programme, which focuses on the modernisation and dematerialisation of international relations procedures.

Integrated Procedures in SMILE

• Easy access to the course catalogue: students can consult the catalogue of courses offered by their host university online, including detailed descriptions and ECTS credits, in order to draw up their learning agreement.
• Electronic creation and validation of the learning agreement: SMILE enables learning agreements to be generated automatically and digitally from course choices, and validated by the signatories via a fully online process.
• Electronic submission of documents: students can directly upload the documents they need to register and manage their mobility.

Benefits for universities and their partners

• Personalised course catalogue: SMILE offers a course catalogue adapted to students’ profiles, to help them find the courses available for their mobility programme. Detailed course descriptions make it easier to understand.
• Secure data exchange: Thanks to the integration of the eduGAIN federation, user logins are secured using the identifiers of their home universities, eliminating the need to create new accounts and reinforcing the reliability of shared data.
• Simplified validation of learning agreements: international partners can easily validate agreements without requiring complex access or a dedicated account on the platform, thereby reducing administrative constraints.
• Conformity with Erasmus+ standards: SMILE enables institutions to meet the modernisation and digitisation requirements imposed by the Erasmus+ 2021-2027 programme, improving their effectiveness with international partners and students.