Test centres

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The roadmap to ECHEMTEST⁺

   In order to convert as much as possible chemical knowledge from tacit into explicit, as is the mission of the ECTN Association, the VEC SC adopted the Prosumer (Producer+Consumer) model at the end of the EU funded EC2E2N2 project. This was achieved by launching the self-funded ECHEMTEST⁺ project based on the following roadmap:

   2014 elaboration of the VEC white paper on the ECHEMTEST⁺ Business Plan at the ECTN General Assembly (GA) of Madrid and the ECTN Administrative Council (AC) in Krakow;

   2015 approval of the ECHEMTEST⁺ project at the AC in Brussels and Prague and the GA in Ljubljana with the 1^st Training event for the Test Centres (TC)s coordinators being held in Perugia.

   2016 ECHEMTEST⁺ activities were started by: implementing the EOL (Exams On Line) Open Source software on the Cloud, porting on that platform the related EChemTest^® Libraries, running a 2^nd Training event in Perugia, signing the relevant VEC Agreement (sometimes also called Memorandum of Understanding, MoU) with the TCs and Master-UP and adopting the Chem-Learn portal developed as a joint endeavour by the University of Perugia and its former spinoff Master-UP srl member and coordinator of the cluster of ECTN Agencies DRAG.

ECHEMTEST⁺ results and VEC reorganization as e-test Commission

   2017 was the first year of production of ECHEMTEST⁺ (started after the January adoption of the operating rules based on a credits/debits scheme) within the Prosumer scheme. The following SESs were run: BUDAPEST (627), MILANO (571), KRAKOW (510), VIENNA (310), GENOVA (163), KAZAN (123), AMSTERDAM (95), THESSALONIKI (48), PERUGIA (48), LJUBLJANA (11), NAPOLI (8).

To this end the active role played by the TCs was very important: it was propitiated by the establishing of a yearly TC check-up and training event that was for the first time held in Malta during the year 2017 by side to the General Assembly.

At the same time the VEC standing committee was reorganized as e-test Commission dealing with EChemTest^® and having a consultation role on e-test quality and sessions as well as on issues of electronic education and related activities. The number of its members was significantly reduced with three of them being appointed by the AC (the Chair, the coordinator for EChemTest^® and the coordinator for Learning Objects (LO)s) and two of them elected (the user representative and the TC Coordinator representatives (see Table 1).

TABLE 1: E-test Commission

The e-test Commission maintains a Panel of Library Experts (see Table 2) to the end of carrying out the development and maintenance of the EChemTest^® English master library, organizes international initiatives, takes care of the EChemTest^® promotion at international level and of the issuing of related Certificates.

TABLE 2: Panel of Library Experts