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In April 2021, the eSignForStudy Project commenced and the first meeting of all project partners took place online due to the covid-19 restrictions, on the 7^th April 2021.

The four partners in the project are the European Campus Card Association, University of Warsaw, Czech Technical University and OPTeam, who is the project coordinator.

The project is for a period of 18 months, from April 2021 to September 2022.

The eSignForStudy project will develop a system for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that will enable the use of electronic signatures and electronic seals in line with eIDAS Regulation and standards (signature/seal creation and/or validation). Initially it will focus on enhancing document handling in Polish HEIs and on secure cross-border exchanges, but eventually will be used in small medium-sized enterprises. 

The primary objectives are to: 

• Design and develop a highly configurable eSignature solution
• Implement, test and validate the solution in Polish Higher Education
• Test and validate the solution in cross-border exchange of documents using a

European-wide platform for the secure transfer of student data

 The eSignForStudy will be based on the eSignature DSI Building Block’s DSS open-source library (incorporating the library’s code). It will resemble a black box concept, with optional/interchangeable components and open interfaces to enable interoperability. It will support an easy way of handling and interacting with the components of a PKI, considering systems with certificates stored in local secure repositories – Hardware Security Module, its software equivalent, or encrypted databases. If qualified signatures are required and can’t be downloaded to the local infrastructure, they can be stored in a remote cloud managed by the Qualified Certified Authority. It will allow for using trusted timestamp services delivered by certified providers. Using a modular approach, easy deployment will be guaranteed by delivering corresponding preconfigured containers to conform the final deployment fulfilling the requirements for each institution.  

For testing and validation, the University of Warsaw (UW) will integrate the eSignForStudy with their Student Information System (SIS), already connected to the Erasmus Without Paper (EWP) platform and EMREX Network. Both platforms allow for secure transfer of student data. The new tool will allow the signing and validation of documents, thus providing a missing key security component. The integrated solution will be deployed in UW, and other HEIs using the same SIS (70+). 

After deploying the tool, UW and Czech Technical University will exchange signed documents via the EWP platform, to test and validate cross-border the used certificates and procedures.