Next month, the Groningen Declaration Network (GDN) holds its annual meeting in Ottawa, Canada. The hybrid meeting includes opportunities to participate in-person and virtually. The program highlights the innovations and activities of institutions, governments, organizations, and technology partners in digital data exchange. If you care about creating, sending, or receiving digital learner records, the GDN is the place to discuss global innovations amongst global thought leaders. In addition, the GDN is a place to create and test solutions and build networks (both personal and digital).
AACRAO and the GDN have been deeply involved since the GDN's inception in April 2012, when representatives from countries around the globe met in Groningen, the Netherlands to discuss the electronic exchange of student data and records. As a founding member of the GDN, it remains one of our signature initiatives to ensure that the interests of our member institutions are represented in this global conversation.
The exchange of student records is a key piece of the entire AACRAO professional portfolio. It is a process and product fundamental to admissions, records, and academic services work, involving a complex web of policy, practice, and evolving technology. And with nearly five million globally mobile students, our work is no longer local-its going global and fast.
The factors that impact our work are increasingly complex, impacted by domestic and international regulatory activity, movements by multinational organizations like UNESCO, and technical innovations that create new opportunities for more security, simple digital portability, and overall better service to learners.
The speed at which these opportunities and solutions are evolving is dizzying. AACRAO remains a strong partner with the GDN to ensure that our members have access to the best information on global innovations to connect our institutions and the students they serve with the global digital data ecosystem in ways that remain loyal to our key concerns around data privacy and learner control over their data.