Domain language
Ontology
Unambiguous concepts, synonyms, classes and relationships, with stable IDs and traceable changes.
Open standards
An open standard can carry opportunity across borders.
OSC connects meaning, evidence and interfaces so people can carry their capabilities across education, work, regions and systems — without depending on a single vendor.
Nonprofit · Global public good
- Open to use
- Globally interoperable
- Human-centered
What this is about
A skill needs more than a name.
For systems to exchange skills reliably, meaning, relationships, origin and version must travel with the data.
OSC defines a shared core. Organizations can add it to their existing systems and extend it step by step.
The shared core
Four layers, kept clearly separate.
The distinction matters: a similar term is not evidence of a skill, and an AI signal is not an expert decision.
Context
Knowledge Graph
Connects skills to roles, learning offers, projects, sources and other real objects.
Documents
Evidence
Records who assessed a competency, how, in what context and for how long the claim remains valid.
Supporting signals
Embeddings
Support search and matching. They remain labelled as calculated signals and never replace evidence.
In practice
What a system should provide at minimum.
The exact shape depends on the use case. These fields are the starting point for an OSC pilot.
| Area | Minimum fields | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Skill | ID, label, definition, language, version | The concept remains unambiguous outside its source system. |
| Relationship | Type, target, source and validity | Hierarchy, similarity and prerequisites are not mixed together. |
| Evidence | Issuer, method, level, date and status | Receiving systems can interpret the claim correctly. |
| Change | Version, date, author and reason for change | Integrations stay maintainable and decisions traceable. |
Status
The reference framework is being refined through pilots.
What that means today
Fields, example payloads and review questions can already be used in pilots. They do not yet imply production SLAs, certification or general conformance.