Code: BMVI-104-001
Project duration: 01/07/2023 - 30/06/2025
Budget: € 287,206.46 (€ 215,404.84 through BMVI & € 71,801.62 through the national budget)
Context
What are Smart Borders?
For some years now, the EU has been working on a series of measures to improve the control of external borders as well as the fight against illegal migration. The Smart Borders package is part of this. It consists of a series of registrations in databases for various reasons. These include entry and exit, access to the territory (visa mandatory or not), police and judicial alerts, exit obligations and applications for international protection of persons who are nationals of countries outside the EU/Schengen territory (the "third countries").
Eventually, these databases will also be able to communicate with each other to determine whether someone was registered in the EU in multiple and various ways.
Who are the users of the Smart Borders databases?
For each database, a number of professional users are defined at European and national level. For Belgium, depending on the database, these include the integrated police, the Belgian Immigration Office (DVZ), the National Crisis Centre (NCCN), the intelligence services, the FPS Justice, Belgian embassies and consulates and customs.
Objectives
Why an e-learning?
It involves a lot of staff from various government agencies, who need to be trained in using one or more databases, analysing the information extracted from them and making decisions based on the information received.
This means that numerous training courses need to be organised, while also ensuring that the various staff in these bodies use the databases provided correctly and efficiently, while respecting access rights and the rights of the foreign nationals concerned. Some training courses are very practical and are best given in "classroom" format, so that questions from the trainees can be answered quickly. Other trainings, as well as “refresher” activities, doesn’t need to be necessarily offered in the traditional way.
Therefore, an e-learning package was considered.
This e-learning package is complementary to traditional training methods. It has the advantage of being able to reach a very large number of people. Access to this training can be arranged via the official e-mail address of the employee concerned, in combination with the e-ID or the itsme app. Existing training courses can easily be integrated into it or linked to it. Demos or audio and video files can also be added.
Progress can be monitored for each module for employees who are expected to attend the training, as well as tests to gauge the knowledge of each participant. Participants can also be given certificates showing successful completion of training.
The e-learning will be accessible on computer, tablet and smartphone.
Which e-learnings are initially provided?
Training courses on the new Schengen Information System (SIS), the database for third-country nationals entering and leaving the EU (Entry Exit System - EES) and the database for applicants for visa-free travel within the EU (European Travel Information and Authorisation System - ETIAS) will be provided primarily for staff of the integrated police, the Belgian Immigration Office and the National Crisis Centre. Importantly, it will also explain how the various databases communicate with each other. Both the content and the target audience of this e-learning may be expanded in time.
(Version 11 June 2024)