The organisational model for the EVS is based on a network of higher education institutions sharing expertise and investing staff time and resources. It is a bottom-up approach without formal, top-down institutional arrangements.
Institutions can become partners in an EVS run at three different levels:
- students and an institutional coordinator participate
- also a tutor participates
- a case study is provided as well and the expert participates.
The cooperation between the partner institutions can be described as a joint process of ongoing development of the EVS in educational and organisational respects. Since the pilot in 2001, the network has undergone substantial enlargement and the EVS has been organised once a year.
The coordinators at the partner institutions are responsible for organising the EVS in such a way that their students receive credit points. At present, the EVS is a compulsory component of the curriculum at some partner institutions, and an optional course at some other institutions.