Information about online EQE 2021 (e-EQE): aim is to have the software available for candidates as of January

 A new sub-page "e-EQE" about the online EQE of 2021 is available on the EQE webpages.

Currently, the page provides the following (cited in full, emphasis added).


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EQE goes digital – update for candidates and tutors

In order to maintain continuity during the COVID-19 pandemic, educational institutions around the world have been implementing digital solutions for both the classroom and examinations.

Following the cancellation of the EQE 2020, and in view of the ever-increasing uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, the Supervisory Board decided in July that the EQE 2021 would be conducted online. An e-EQE task force was set up, along with a working group consisting of EPO staff and epi members to oversee and support progress.

The transition to the new e-EQE began with a market study aimed at identifying the product which best meets EQE requirements. The most promising ones are currently being tested.

Once a decision on the product has been made, further tests will be carried out with a larger group of test persons, mostly professional representatives. Further details on how the examination will be conducted will then be announced. The aim is to enable candidates to start familiarising themselves with the software as of January next year.

Security is a key element in any online examination, and we understand that there may be some concerns with regard to privacy. Here, too, candidates may rest assured that all possible steps are being taken to ensure that the e-EQE complies with the most stringent data protection requirements.

If you have any questions about any aspect of the e-EQE, please contact the EQE helpdesk (helpdesk@eqe.org). We will use your questions as the basis for FAQs, which will be published in due course.

In the meantime, watch this space for updates on the e-EQE.

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Also note the message on the epi website, "epi supports e-EQE in 2021".

Please feel free to provide your comments.


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Update 30.09.2020: 

a first version of the FAQ is now also available on the EQE website (here)

Today, the FAQ provides  (30.09.2020; emphasis added), a.o.:


Do I have to sit the EQE at an examination centre?

You can sit the online EQE at any suitable place, e.g. your home or workplace.

Are there any particular requirements regarding where can I sit the EQE?

You should sit the examination in a quiet room where you will not be disturbed. The room should have internet access. Details of further requirements will be made available in due course.

Will I be allowed to print out the examination papers?

It has not yet been decided if candidates will be allowed to print out the examination papers. This will depend on the functions of the digital solution selected. However, we are well aware that the availability or otherwise of a paper copy of the examination paper can have a considerable influence on candidates’ working methods for answering the examination papers.

Will I be able to familiarise myself with the examination software in advance?

The aim is to enable candidates to start familiarising themselves with the software as of January next year.

When will more information on the e-EQE be available?

More information will be published on this website in due course.

Please refer to the original FAQ for more, up-to-date information (here)

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Update 14 October 2020:

A new, extended version of the e-EQE FAQ has been published earlier today

See our new blog post at: http://eqe-deltapatents.blogspot.com/2020/10/new-version-of-e-eqe-faq-available.html 


Comments

  1. Thanks for pointing us to this message. I check the EQE website frequently, but this change was made in silence...

    Does anyone know which are the most promising ones, that are currently being tested?

    ReplyDelete
  2. The FAQs have been updated and some questions were answered, for example:

    Will I be allowed to print out the examination papers?

    It has not yet been decided if candidates will be allowed to print out the examination papers.This will depend on the functions of the digital solution selected. However, we are well aware that the availability or otherwise of a paper copy of the examination paper can have a considerable influence on candidates’ working methods for answering the examination papers.

    It would really be shocking if they decided that printing will not be possible!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thx for informing us that the FAQ is now available. I have updated the Blog Post accordingly.

      Delete
  3. Thank you for pointing this in advance.

    Candidates received only just today the following mail:

    Dear candidate,

    Please note that further information about the e-EQE 2021 has been published on our web page under the new tab “e-EQE”, and that the FAQ now cover a dedicated part of questions & answers related to the digital examination.

    As before, individual questions on the online examination are still being collected and the FAQ will be updated regularly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. It is not a good sign that they have not even managed to select one technical solution as of yet. Both the announcements and the FAQ basically state the same: We do not have definitive information on anything. Not even a date on which such information will be available.

    The "aim" is to, perhaps, have a software accessible by January? So at best 2 months, at worst 1 month before the exams are supposed to take place - and even that is currently just a guess?

    If the timeline is that unclear and tight, why not simply postpone the EQE for a month or two - since it is online, what's the downside?

    Has this update actually truly clarified any point at all? I don't think so.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Regulation on the European
      qualifying examination for
      professional representatives. Art. 1 (2): "The examination shall normally be
      held once a year. The period between
      two examinations shall not exceed twenty-five months."

      Delete
    2. "Der Zeitraum
      zwischen zwei Prüfungen DARF nicht
      mehr als 25 Monate betragen."

      Delete
  5. Handwriting allowed? I cannot do without!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. The small amount of actual, relevant information of the newly posted section and the FAQ is simply staggering. It feels like another slap in the face of the past 2020/now 2021 candidates.

    Why do you need to inform the candidates that you did a market research - we simply do not care about this irrelevant, internal detail.

    In contrast, we need to know asap under which actual conditions the exam will be written (print out annotations/mark up/copy-paste possible?). Please, give us real information or, at the very least, a date on when we can expect it.

    For the time being, we can only speculate under which conditions the exam will be finally written. How are we supposed to train the exams if we don't know the specific exam conditions as mentioned above, or to plan in order to create time for preparation in our professional and personal life (again) when we don't even have a time frame?

    The only time frame given is that we will be able, at the earliest, to test the system in mid January. This is very late.

    "It has not yet been decided if candidates will be allowed to print out the examination papers. This will depend on the functions of the digital solution selected."

    It seems that it was realized that (for a majority of candidates) print-outs are extremely crucial, and not only a nice-to-have feature.

    Can't you simply select one of the digital solutions identified in your market research that allows for a very broad functionality (print out/annotations/mark up/copy-paste).

    Do you really think this would be too much of a courtesy for the 2021 candidates? Would it lower the standards to test if we are fit to practice? I don't think so.

    The online EQE was announced more than 2 months ago. Now, we are exactly 5 months before the exam. It is simply an additional and completely unnecessary obstacle to not give us more detailed information at this point. How long do you want to keep us speculating (considering all the 2020 main exam candidates have already been through)? Please, Examination Committee, you can do better!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Stop moaning! Covid-19 is not Exam Committee's fault. But a free pass in 2020 would have been nice, i do have to admit! I've forgotten everything I learnt and my firm refuses to pay for courses this year!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Of course Covid-19 is not the Exam Committee's fault.

    But the communication style (refusing to commit to a version allowing for printing and giving us no further details about the functionality of the digital solution, along with no or a much too late time frame) is a choice of the Exam Committee.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi all,

    At the moment one thing is clear-EQE will be on-line. This imply that most probably handwritten/scanned answers will not be allowed. Now it's a good moment to start training typing the answers. On exam most probably answers will be typed and send electronicallly. I'm ok with that.

    Another thing is sure - most candidates and I would need paper copies of the exam papers, i.e. printing – especially for C, and for A and B too. Even 2 screens are not ok; for paper C, A, B I need the paper copies.
    If there are no paper copies of exam papers - this would be a big burden; catastrophic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some choices seem to have been taken by the organization, as you may read on the new, extended version of the e-EQE FAQ that has been published earlier today.

      E.g., no handwritten answers, only typed using a dedicate editor in a locked browser; only 1 screen allowed; parts of the paper can be printed but not the full paper.

      See the new version of the FAQ and its summary in our new blog post":
      http://eqe-deltapatents.blogspot.com/2020/10/new-version-of-e-eqe-faq-available.html

      Delete
  10. What happens if due to force majeur and despite all due care the system fails (my computer, the proctoring system, internet, the EQE system, or something unidentifiable), and I cannot finish the exam paper?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same worries here.

      Since COVID-19 home working, our office became heavy user of MS Teams. But Teams often freezes or crashes. Can then not communicate. Sometimes also makes other applications get stalled too. My wife has similar problems with Zoom in her online lessons (she is a teacher).

      Systems which are used by millions of people are not even robust. Beyond control of the user.

      Makes me worry about online EQE. What happens if that suddenly fails? Recovery takes time, exam time lost, Work already done may have been lost, result is failed exam.

      Delete
    2. Do not you think that the working group is very much aware of all those risks?

      Can you not trust them that they are selecting systems that promise to be robust for problems that will certainly occur with at least some candidates?

      And trust that the testing that they will certainly do with a large group under e-EQE conditions will, if needed, result in improvements such that the real system is robust?

      And that in case of very exceptional force majeur that the system cannot handle, if any, there will be a fair solution?

      They promised to give more information in due course. Please give them some time before believing that there will be problems!

      Delete
  11. A new, extended version of the e-EQE FAQ has been published

    See our new blog post http://eqe-deltapatents.blogspot.com/2020/10/new-version-of-e-eqe-faq-available.html

    ReplyDelete

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