Belgrade: WUS Austria proudly announces that the “Crystal Award” for best youth project in Serbia in 2009 was given to the Zoran Djindjic Fund for “Experiencing Europe - Serbian Young Serbian Professionals in Austria - Zoran Đinđić Internship Program”, a project that is designed and implemented under the auspices of the Dr. Zoran Đinđić Fund, prepared and implemented by WUS Austria, and financed by the ADC (Austrian Development Cooperation).

“Experiencing Europe: Serbian Young Professionals in Austria – Zoran Đinđić Internship Programme” aims at supporting the socio-economic development of Serbia by increasing the employability of the Serbian youth on the one hand and the understanding of European integration on the other.

43 different projects had applied for this award. The decisive factor for selecting “Experiencing Europe” was, according to the chairman of the jury, Danilo Milić, Olf Palme Centre Coordinator for Serbia, that the project promotes cooperation and contributions of individuals, civil society organi zations, institutions and the business sector, as well as international cooperation.

The “Cristal Award” is provided by Olof Palme International Centre, Stari Grad Municipality, Berlit z Language School, the Agency for Cooperation with NGOs and European Integration, the Belgrade Office for Youth and the Ministry for Youth and Sports.

Belgrade, September 14, 2009. From August 31 to September 11, the 49 participants of Experience Europe: Serbian Young Professionals in Austria – Zoran Djindjic Internship Programme attended the Introductory Module in Belgrade. The project, which is financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation and the Serbian Dr. Zoran Djindjic Fund and implemented by WUS Austria, takes place already for the third time and offers excellent final-year students and young professionals from Serbia the opportunity of gaining three months of work experience in Austrian companies and institutions.

The Introductory Module consists of a two week German language course and of classes on European Integration. The participants attend the language classes in five small groups at the Austrian Institute in Belgrade where they were able either to learn the basics of German or to upgrade their previous knowledge in order to facilitate their work and life in Austria. The classes on European Integration were held at the Austrian Cultural Forum in Belgrade on September 5 and 6, and gave the participants an insight in the political, environmental and cultural status quo of Serbia in the process of becoming a member of the European Union. In the frame of seven different lectures held by highly recognized Serbian experts, the participants were made familiar with the history of Serbia’s way to the EU and with the necessary prerequisites for Serbia for joining the EU. At the end of the lecture circle, Alumni of the programme provided the new candidates with relevant information on life and work in Austria, and shared their experiences with the new generation.

The highlight of the INM was the traditional farewell cocktail organized in the villa of the Serbian National Bank on September 12, where the Serbian President Boris Tadic and the Austrian Ambassador Klemens Koja held speeches on the value of the programme for the Serbian youth and for the relations between Austria and Serbia. Boris Tadic again welcomed the project as a valuable tool for Serbian students and young professionals to contribute to Serbia’s EU Integration and the democratization of the country which had always been the main objective for Zoran Djindjic; Klemens Koja underlined that such projects did not only help young people from Serbia to start their career, but also facilitated the knowledge transfer between the two countries and encouraged Austrian companies to expand their business to Serbia. The last speech was held by Igor Dencic, law student and participant of the programme, who gave an insight of what it means for the Serbian youth to take part in such projects and who underlined that all participants were eager to expand their knowledge and establish auspicious ties with potential employers in order to make Serbia a better place to live once they return from their internships. During the following buffet, the participants had the opportunity to meet with the Alumni from the previous generations and with different figures of the political life in Serbia.

On September 20, the first group of 25 participants will leave for Austria where they will start their internships one day later in companies and institutions in Vienna, Graz and Villach. The second group will attend the internships from January 18 to April 16.

Vienna. During her keynote speech “The Balkans – A Future in Present Tense” for the BCC 2009 on the 7th July in Vienna, Biljana Srbljanovic made a clear stand for a different concept of society aside the predominant ideologies of patriotism, nationalism and neo-liberalism. The statement of the Serbian Author and political activist had a highly controversial impact on the auditorium formed by young students from the various countries of South East Europe.

“I would like all of us to agree on patriotism”. Already the first sentence of Mrs. Srbljanovic's speech proved to be a guarantee for very controversial reactions. It has to be of high importance for each society to overcome a shallow concept of nationalism that only breeds new conflicts and find a way to really bring people together, the author stated. This is especially true for the Balkans which societies’ were coined by a violent and brutal recent history. In the course of her speech Mrs. Srbljanovic heavily criticized what she called the “Nationalist Diaspora”, i.e. persons who live abroad but nevertheless actively foster nationalism in their home countries. Patriotism, she claimed, needs to be a common attitude of citizens towards their own society, not solely a mean of the political or intellectual elite of a country to promote and prolong mutual hatred between neighboring countries. Such a new concept of nationalism and solidarity, Mrs. Srbljanovic said further, is even more necessary nowadays, as nationalism often enough entails neo-liberalism, which makes it very difficult for the already weak civic societies of the Balkan countries to prevail. Neo-liberalism, on the other hand, pushes people to only look after themselves. In the consequence, others – notably persons from other countries – are very easily turned into scapegoats for one’s own misery, concluded Mrs. Srbljanovic. Therefore she ended her speech with the vivid plea: “We must get together and come to an agreement on what the world should be that we want to live in.”

As one can imagine, the reactions to this rather harsh critique of dominant ideologies couldn’t have been more different. Many of the listeners in the audience interpreted Mrs. Srbljanovic’s statements as a critique of values they were raised upon and that they strongly believe in. Therefore they felt that the speech was a direct critique of them as a person. On the other hand, other persons in the audience welcomed the plea to overcome violent nationalism and start a new era of relationship, based on mutual respect rather than a tradition of hatred and despise. Put aside which opinion one personally has regarding this matter, Mrs. Srbljanovic made one thing very clear: Nationalism and patriotism are not obsolete concepts and are still growing strong, especially in South East Europe. To foster, overcome or alter them in any way will be the task of those young people that were gathered together in the venerable halls of the University of Vienna that very day.

Read the full speech of Biljana Srbljanovic here.

Graz. From September 17-18, 2009, the second conference in the frame of the Tempus project COMPETENCE took place at the University of Zenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Seven different countries shared their knowledge and good practices with regard to matching competences developed at universities with those required by the labour market.The project COMPETENCE aims at developing tools for improving the match between competences developed by higher education institutions and those required by the labour market.

More than 40 participants – representatives of eight international project partners, local business representatives as well as the Minister of Education of the Zenica-Doboj Canton – attended this very interesting conference which was organized by Prof. Darko Petkovic and Nino Serdarevic from the University of Zenica.

In his key-note-speech, Mr. Peter Wilhelmer, Head of Quality Development and Management at the University of Applied Sciences FH Joanneum, Austria, gave a general assessment of Austrian universities of applied sciences. In particular he pointed out how his university tries to meet the labour market needs when developing and modernising curricula. Furthermore, Mr. Wilhelmer addressed problems and challenges related to competence based curriculum development in Austria. His speech was followed by a lively discussion involving stakeholders from SEE as well as from the EU. The presentation can be downloaded here. 

In a subsequent workshop the project partners from the EU presented the “competence-matching-tools” which they use at their institutions. Furthermore, the new COMPETENCE webpage, which serves as an information and download centre for all involved project partners, was introduced.

The presentation of the first part of the “COMPETENCE Manual” marked the opening of the 2nd conference day. This manual – which will finally consist of four parts - aims at serving as a guideline for competence based curriculum development at the partner universities.

The project partners from the Western Balkan (WB) countries presented the current developments with regard to the project implementation at their home universities. The managers for the newly to be established “Competence and Observation Centres” are nominated and an action plan for setting up and equipping the centres has already been developed by each WB partner university. Moreover, two partners conducted already focus groups in order to have a baseline for the development of detailed competence-questionnaires which will be handed out at each WB partner university in 2010.

Finally, during a project planning workshop led by WUS Austria, the activities timetable for the coming twelve months was adapted and it was agreed upon the next trainings and study visits in Graz, Skopje, Girona and Novi Sad.

WUS Austria uses this opportunity to thank the University of Zenica for organising and hosting this meeting and all project partners for their active participation and contributions.

Prishtina. Training seminar organized in Prishtina, at the Videoconference Room in the Faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering, of the University of Prishtina during September 25th - 26th, 2009.

“How to develop a labor market oriented curriculum” is one of the questions that this seminar tried to find an answer for the academic staff of the University of Prishtina and especially for the professors involved in four new Master Programs being developed through Master Study Development Program  and financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation.

The Seminar started at 09:30 on September 25^th, and the keynote speeches were given by:

• Prof. Dr. Enver Hoxhaj, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology of the Republic of Kosova
• Prof. Dr. Mujë Rugova, Rector of the University of Prishtina
• Mr. Christian Geosits, Austrian Development Cooperation
• Ms. Nina Taso, Head Office Graz
• Mr. But Dedaj, WUS Austria Office in Prishtina

This issue seems to be a very important question also for the persons in the highest positions, responsible for managing overall Education System in Kosova. In this regard Prof. Dr. Enver Hoxhaj among others stated that “Ministry is fully committed in helping and supporting the Higher Education, more specifically the University of Prishtina, for creating a labor market oriented curriculum and highly appreciated the organization of the seminar”. He concluded “Recommendations from this seminar will be read with high attention, and the possibility of putting them in and immediate action will be considered”.

Newly appointed Rector of the University of Prishtina, Prof. Dr. Mujë Rugova reconfirmed the commitment of the University of Prishtina on offering qualitative and practice oriented study programs. He welcomed the initiative of such a seminar that is trying to solve one of the biggest actual concerns of the UP. During his speech, Rector acknowledged the Republic of Austria for its contribution to the Republic of Kosova. Moreover, he emphasized the significance of support of the Austrian Development Cooperation to the University of Prishtina given through WUS Austria.

On behalf of the Austrian Development Cooperation, Mr. Christian Geosits, pointed out the commitment of Austrian Development Cooperation to support the University of Prishtina for developing further the education system that contributes on poverty reduction, by fostering the development of labor market oriented curricula. Further, he reconfirmed the importance of paying a high attention on incorporating gender sensitivity into curricula.

At the end of the Opening Session, Ms. Nina Taso from Head Office Graz and But Dedaj from WUS Austria Prishtina welcomed the participants.    

Two-day seminar consisted of lecturing and training part (click here to download the agenda). Topics of the seminar were presented by the following international and national experts:

1. The framework for higher education and the labor market – Prof. Dr. George W. Francis, University of Bergen, Norway
2. Labor market oriented curricula - Bernadette Frech, “FH Joanneum” University of Applied Sciences, Graz-Austria
3. Higher Education and Labor Market – Local experiences and perspectives, Safet Gerxhaliu, Vice President of the Kosova Chamber of Commerce, Prishtine
4. Master level programs – David Baldinger, Bologna Service Point, Austria
5. Developing Gender Sensitive Curricula - Dr. Marlen Bidwell-Steiner, Head of the Gender Research Office at the University of Vienna
6. ECTS, Learning Outcomes and student workload - Ferdije Zhushi, Local ECTS expert  

The Master Studies Development Project (MSDP) supports interested faculties to create tailor-­made master programs, whose graduates are most needed at the local labour market. This pilot project should also challenge other Higher Education (HE) institutions in Kosovo to follow its example and introduce labour market relevant reforms and programs. Through the project the following four Master Programs are being introduced at the University of Prishtina:

1. Master in Mechatronics - Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
2. Master in Health Management - Faculty of Medicine
3. Master in International Law Faculty of Law
4. Master in Civil and Property Law - Faculty of Law

MSDP belongs to the Project “Building Quality, Knowledge and Skills for Social and Economic Development”, for supporting the reforms of Higher Education in Kosova during 2008-2011, financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation.

On Thursday, September 17th 2009, a ‘Selection Panel’ meeting for WUS Austria’s Curriculum Development Program Plus (CDP+) was held in WUS, Prishtina Office. CDP+ is being implemented within WUS Austria’s program: “Building Quality, Knowledge & Skills for Social and Economic Development, Support to Reforms of Higher Education in Kosovo 2008–2011”. The program is financed by: Austrian Development Cooperation.

The aim of CDP+ is to support the course development at the University of Prishtina (UP), with regard to the integration into the European Higher Education Area, by the provision of means for the introduction and/or improvement of courses.    

Among 7 CDP+ applications that were received on the Second Call, the Selection Panel, composed by representatives from: Ministry of Education Science and Technology of Kosova, University of Prishtina, Austrian Development Cooperation-Office in Prishtina and WUS-Austria-Office in Prishtina, decided to support the following projects:

1. CDP+ Project no.: 07/09, “Introduction to Bioelectromagnetics”, lectured by: Prof. Dr. Luan Ahma & Mr. Sc. Mimoza Ibrani from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering (The course is supported with equipment). 

2. CDP+ Project no.: 08/09, “Learning Difficulties”, lectured by: Msc. Linda Salihu from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Philosophy – Department of Pedagogy.      

3. CDP+ Project no.: 09/09, “Identity & Society”, lectured by: Msc. Hasnija Ilazi from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Philosophy – Department of Philosophy.

4. CDP+ project no.: 10/09, “Organized Crime”, lectured by: Prof. Dr. Rexhep Gashi from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Law – Department of Criminal Law.  

5. CDP+ project no.: 11/09, “Inclusive Education”, lectured by: Prof Dr. Naser Zabeli from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Philosophy – Department of Pedagogy.

6. CDP+ project no.: 12/09, “Sociology of the Family:, lectured by: Prof. Dr. Anton K. Berishaj from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Philosophy – Department of Sociology, and

7. CDP+ project no.: 13/09, “Heart Failure”, lectured by: Dr. Gani Bajraktari from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Medicine – Department of Internal Medicine (The course is supported with equipment; if there will be remaining funds).

Final decisions were based on results of pre-selection procedures which included: technical course assessment, technical assessment of equipments (if the applications included equipments), peer review evaluation, and pre-monitoring meetings.   

All the supported projects will be financed in cooperation with the University of Prishtina.

Belgrade. WUS Austria Belgrade Office organized a seminar on linking Serbian HE institutions with local labour market (seminar venue: Grand hotel and Sunny Heights conference center, Kopaonik, Serbia). The aim of the seminar was to cover topics related to linking HE and economy as well as instruments for establishment of that link, thus facilitating the implementation of supported MSDP projects (for some basic facts related to MSDP program click here). This seminar leaned to the first one held in March 2009, and is a step forward by covering major topic of putting labour market oriented curricula into practice.

The seminar brought together the lecturers from supported projects along with the university representatives, EU and local experts, and representatives of the government and labour market partner companies (for the list of participants click here).

On the first day (for the agenda of the seminar click here) several plenary sessions were organized. During these sessions the participants had an opportunity to hear about the experiences from EU and the country (for the experts’ presentations click here) and to obtain additional information through open discussions.

On the second day, the participants were engaged in discussions through their respective working groups. The group work was focused on more direct and practical approach by dealing with various relevant issues and tools for linking HE and economy. Working groups were set up according to the subjects of their courses:

- Working group one: Master in Remote Control, Technical Faculty, Čačak, University of Kragujevac; Master Program in Electronics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad.

- Working group two: Master in Biochemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Belgrade; Environmental Protection in Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade.

- Working group three: Master in Regional Policies and Development, University of Novi Sad; Master in HE Management, State University of Novi Pazar.

On the final day of the event (for the photographs of the seminar click here), representatives of each working group have presented the outcomes of their session to the participants of the seminar (for the outcomes of the working groups click here). The work on these topics provided necessary information and concrete tools for the implementation and quality assurance of Master programs supported through MSDP. 

Furthermore, it leads to developing conclusions, concrete tasks and recommendations (for the outcome of participants’ evaluations click here).

Members of the organizing committee would like to express their gratitude to all participants for their efforts, great presentations and fruitful and vivid discussions.

Sarajevo. In the frame of the Tempus IV project “Creating R&D Capacities and Instruments for boosting Higher Education - Economy Cooperations” a conference with all project partners was held from the 28th to the 29th of September in Sarajevo.

The title of the 2 day conference “Adopting research structures to enhance university knowledge transfer” already made clear that the focus of this project is an ambitious one: due to the war in the 1990ies the whole region of South East Europe has to deal with a massive drawback of research and development (R&D) activities as well as a weak connection of their universities with stakeholder of the private sector of this region. The project now directly addresses these shortcomings by installing R&D Service Centres and hiring R&D Manager at the University of Sarajevo (BA), the University of Prishtina (Kosovo), the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University Skopje (MK) and the Universityof Montenegro (ME).

The first day of the conference was reserved for the project partners to present the findings of a self-assessment of their university’s R&D situation. This assessment’s aim was to analyze the as-it situation and to have a strategic document which will serve as basis to create an action plan for further activities. In the course of the presentations on this self-assessment it became more and more visible, that all four partner country universities face avery similar situation. There often is a lack of a coherent legal framework and an overall R&D strategy. Alongside, most of the universities are heavily undercharged in terms of budget allocated to research and development. But all project partners are strongly committed to turn things around together. Therefore they all can see the “same light at the end of the tunnel” as one participant put it very pictorially. As the partner country universities join forces, they can strengthen their capacities and establish new networks in the whole region. The individual experts emphasized the importance of such small steps towards creating a new and successful R&D environment. It’s the small victories that make it all happen!

The second day of the conference was open for the public and addressed more general issues on R&D. During this day of the conference many different topics were covered, including presentations on the national innovation systems, research services, technology transfer and good practice examples of the project partners of theEuropean Union, like the University of Leoben (AT), CIRPS – Sapienza Universityof Rome (IT) and the University of Oxford (UK). To change the way a society produces new knowledge is a very difficult task which has to involve stakeholder from the academic, the political and the private sector. Therefore it was very encouraging to see political representatives present at theconference such as the Prime Minister of the Canton Sarajevo, Mr. Besim Mehmedić.

All project partners concluded that the conference was a very important step forward in the overall project. It opened up the possibility to strengthen existing networks and to exchange experiences and share ideas. For the audience invited to the Rector Hall of the University of Sarajevo it was a good opportunity to get firsthand information on important topics on research and development.

Once again, WUS Austria wants to thank all involved partner for their valuable contributions to the conference and their commitment to push the project further. Besides, WUS Austria especially wants to thank the University of Sarajevo and its staff for their very heartily welcome and their generous hospitality.

If you liketo know more about the Tempus Project “R&D Capacities” and its aims and goals please visit the project’s webpage here.

Podgorica. A three-day training seminar on Labour Market Oriented Curricula development was organised in the hotel Queen of Montenegro in Becici in the period from 14th to 16th September 2009.

New Austrian Ambassador to Montenegro, HE Martin Pammer on his first day on duty opened the Labour Market Oriented Curriculum Programme (LMOCP) training seminar in Becici on 14^th September 2009. He took the opportunity to reconfirm Austria’s commitment to cooperate with and support Montenegro in the field of education and especially Higher Education, which is further reinforced by the recently signed Cooperation Agreement in the field of Science between Austrian and Montenegrin Ministers of Science. Ambassador Pammer emphasised the importance of the seminar and the topic since “in times of the economic crisis, it is clear that especially higher education and research needs good attention and resources, as universities are the ones which inject new innovations in the economy and therefore the labour market.”

Professor Andjelko Lojpur, Vice-Rector for Teaching at the University of Montenegro, said that it was evident that connection between higher education and economy in Montenegro was high on the political agenda, having in mind the EU accession process, therefore the support that WUS Austria offered to the University of Montenegro and the country itself, was of a great importance.

Labour Market Oriented Curriculum seminar dealt with the establishment of concrete cooperation mechanisms between universities and the business sector when it comes to curricula development and students skills and knowledge development which will foster higher rate of graduates employability, increase their abilities to keep the newly-found jobs as well as their flexibility to find new employment. The seminar consisted of plenary seesions on the first day, which were open to wider auditorium, and workshops which were organised on the second and third day of the seminar for the project grantees and their corporate partners. Seminar agenda can be downloaded here.The project grantees are the following four faculties of the University of Montenegro:

1)      Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management, Tourism Masters study programme

2)      Faculty of Maritime studies, Advances in Marine Technologies

3)      Faculty of Applied Physiotherapy, Professional skills development and reflective practice

4)      Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Experimental Biology and Biotechnology

Through best practice examples on cooperation between economy and univeristies in creating and constant upgrading of curricula in the EU and South East Europe, the seminar served also as an incentive to create initiatives for structured partnerships between universities and the business sector, in order to increase interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity of study programmes. At the same time, the university, while preserving its autonomy, would be more open for interaction with the wider society, not only the business sector, in the creation of knowledge.  This is especially important when having in mind that today’s trend in the EU and the world is that graduates, once they are on the labour market, have to prove that in addition to the theoretical knowledge they also acquired certain competences through learning and learning outcomes. Nowadays, employers require not only professional, but also generic soft skills, such as analytical and critical thinking, ability to work in a team, problem solving, communication and presentation skills, ability to apply acquired knoweldge in new situations, as well as civic knowledge and engagement, ethical reasoning and action and intercultural knowledge and competence.

Presentations at the seminar were given by prominent international and home education experts as well as professionals from the business sector:

• The new, and old, challenges for the future higher education Ossi Lindqvist, Professor Emeritus, University of Kuopio, Finland
• New skills, new jobs, new curricula: university-enterprise cooperation and curriculum design Mag. David Baldinger, Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH)
• Thoughts on the changing quality of learning that we should expect at the different levels of higher education Dr Jenny Moon, Bournemouth University, UK
• Graduate employment as a performance indicator for higher educationPredrag Lazetić, Centre for Entrepreneurship, Beograd
• Student employability profile Dr Marko Savić, State University of Novi Pazar
• Mechanisms of cooperation between HE institution and corporate partner Zoran Paunovic, Institute Dr Simo Milosevic in Igalo
• Employability – the Way Forward: The Perspective of the University of Vienna Mag. Gisela Kriegler Kastelic (presentation), Centre for Teaching and Learning (CFL), University of Vienna
• Case study method as teaching and learning tool Dr Johannes Leitner, Vienna University of Economics and Business

Labour Market Oriented Curriculum training seminar was organised as one of the activites envisaged under the programme „Support to Higher Education in Montenegro 2007-2010“ financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation.

Prishtina. Representatives of European Commission for TEMPUS Projects which are implemented at the University of Prishtina (UP) conducted a visit to the UP with the aim of evaluating the Videoconference Room at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Presentation about the role and the importance of Videoconference Room was done by Regional Manager of WUS Austria in Prishtina Mr. But Dedaj. During his presentation, among others, Mr. Dedaj emphasized the role that this Videoconference Room has in establishing the new era for the UP. “This Videoconference Room made possible to the UP staff and students to communicate with different universities worldwide, with the aim of advancing further new learning methods and teaching processes”, said Mr. Dedaj. Furthermore, Mr. Dedaj explained to the representatives of European Commission that “the launch of Videoconference Room plays substantial role for the UP in its rout of being competitive with the contemporary western universities in fulfilling the Bologna Objectives and getting closer to the European Higher Education Area”.

This project is financed through the “eCUP” TEMPUS Project and by the “Austrian Development Cooperation”.

Videoconference Room, even though is located at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engendering, serve all the Faculties of the UP.   

Graz. The Tempus project “Competence: Matching Competences in higher education and economy” was the reason why academic staff from different universities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia came together to participate in a training on labour market oriented teaching and studying at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum and at the WUS Austria Head Office in Graz.

Nowadays higher education institutions don’t longer have the privilege to cooperate with the world of work solely on some occasion, they are forced to do so constantly. But how can universities and companies work together, if they speak different languages? How can they match their different competences in various fields?
This is exactly the problem that the project “Competence Matching Competences in higher education and economy” wants to address. By bridging the gap between higher education institutions and stakeholders of the private sector the project aims at improving the overall employability of graduates in the partner countries. The study visit to Graz - undertaken from the 19th to the 20th October 2009 - offered the partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia the opportunity to get insights in new ways of connecting universities to the labour market. By showing best practice examples by the staff from the University of Applied Sciences FH Joanneum the academic staff from the partner countries’ universities were able to receive first hand information on labour oriented teaching and studying. One of these key insights was the fact that today it’s not enough to provide students with technical skills and knowledge. Furthermore it’s also of crucial importance to foster their soft skills in the same breath (e.g. teamwork, language skills etc.). This demand can be successfully met by making internships and teamwork a very prominent part of the curriculum.

During an onsite visit of the facilities of the University all partners could exchange experiences and gather new ideas. For instance they had the possibility to visit the “Vision Space Lab” and the IT technology department “Feel IT”. Beside, the project members had the chance to see labs in the automotive facilities that even students of the university are not allowed to see. After these very informative but also entertaining visits the group attended a workshop session that focused on the creation of a labour oriented curriculum development. With the help and input of experts from the University FH Joanneum the group crafted a fictional curriculum for a bachelor of mechanical engineering with a strong focus on generic competences such as soft skills.

The second day of the visit was used to concretise the next steps within the project and to keep the partners up to date with recently finished activities (such as the new forum inside the project website and the conduction of focus groups at the partner universities). Besides, all involved persons could sum up their impressions of the training and formulate topics which ought to be addressed in further stages of the project. Taken together, the study visit contributed to the capacity building of the involved project partners and took them one step closer to match their competences.

Prishtina, October 26, 2009. A meeting between: Prof. Dr. Bajram Berisha, Vice Rector for Teaching & Scientific Research, Deans and Vice-deans of the University of the Prishtina and But Dedaj, Regional Manager of WUS Austria, Prishtina Office, was held at the Rectorate of the UP. The purpose of these meeting was to inform the newly appointed managerial staff – Deans and Vice-deans – of 17 academic units of UP about the programs that WUS Austria is implementing – MSDP, BGP+ and CDP+ and BCC.

Vice-rector Berisha, after the welcoming speech, emphasized the role that WUS played during the years in the Kosova HE and the benefits of UP in this close cooperation. Meanwhile, Mr. Dedaj, after informed the participants about the programs that WUS currently is implementing, highlighted the role that the Austrian State, through WUS-Austria, has played to date in reforming and modernizing the UP through its programs and opportunities that this organization offers to UP with the aim of integrate the it into the European Higher Education Area.

Graz. In March 2009 the brand new WUS Austria homepage was launched. Since then it has become the number one information platform for our activities. As the end of the year approaches it’s time to take a look at its impact factor.

Thanks to the statistical tool “Google Analytics” it’s easy to track down these numbers. With the help of this instrument we are able to check how many people visited the WUS Austria webpage since March 2009 until now. It was a staggering number of over 14.000, with over 50 % of new visits. As you can see in the diagram on the right the average number of visitors is around 500 people per month. The number of overall hits in the above mentioned time span is a little bit over 26.000, most of them targeted the subpage “all ongoing projects” (3618 hits) and the page “staff overview” (3547 hits).
Besides that we can also identify the origins of these hits in terms of country and/or region. With over 4.400 the largest number of hits originated from Austria followed by Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina. All in all it becomes clear that most hits of the WUS webpage come – not very surprisingly - from countries of South East Europe.

That’s it for the numbers. We hope you will enjoy reading news and gathering information from our homepage in the future as well as you obviously did in the past. Until then we thank you for your interest in our activities and stay tuned, for more information about WUS Austria are to come.

Prishtina. At the premises of the Rectorate of the University of Prishina the official contract were signed for the commencement of two new Master study programs in the Faculty of Law of the University of Prishitna – master in:

·         International Law and

·         Civil and Property Law.

This agreement foresees to develop new master programs according to the labor market requirements which provide an opportunity for UP to develop their programs in twinning cooperation with partner universities in Austria. Considering this, the Master Programs in International Law and in Civil and Property Law will be developed through the twining cooperation with University of Graz. Thus, through twinning component with Austrian Higher Education Institutions the University of Prishtina, in this case Faculty of Law, is having the opportunity to exchange experiences and build up the existing knowledge to meet in best way the labor market requirements.  

The contract signing ceremony was addressed by: Prof. Dr. Mujë Rugova, Rector of the UP, Mr. Hubert Baidinger, Consul of the Austrian Embassy in Kosovo and Mr. But Dedaj, Regional Manager of WUS Austria, Prishtina Office. Three of them in their speeches agreed that: the Implementation of these two programs will contribute to the reformation process through which the University of Pristina is passing, with the aim of meeting the goals arising from the Bologna Agreement.

The establishment of these two new Master programs in UP is made possible through Master Development Program (MSDP), which is implemented by WUS Austria Office in Prishtina, and financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation.

As a part of the Balkan Case Challenge project, a workshop aimed at the academic staff of the public and private universities in Macedonia was organized by WUS Austria and the local partner, Institute for Strategic Research and Education – ISIE, at the Faculty of economics in Prilep on 30 October 2009.

Over 30 professors and teaching assistants in the field of law, technical sciences, education, business and economy as well as university management staff attended the workshop.

The participants were welcomed by WUS Austria local coordinator, Miso Dokmanovic.The trainers at the workshop were Marika Baseska – Gorgieska, Vice Dean of the Faculty of economics in Prilep and Markus Hollerer, Assistant Professor at WU Vienna University for Business and Economics. 

Prishtina. WUS Austria is very pleased to inform all the interested candidates that the application period for the four Master Programs, being financed through Austrian Development Cooperation has been launched from the University of Prishtina.

Application period for all four Master Programs, being developed through Master Studies Development Program has been opened. All interested candidates in accordance to their field of studies can apply for one of the following four programs:

·        Master in Mechatronics, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Faculty of Mechanical Engineering

·         LL.M. in International Law, Faculty of Law

·         LL.M. in Civil & Property Law, Faculty of Law

·         Master in Health Management, Faculty of Medicine

Application deadline is November 9, 2009. For more information please download  here the announcement of the University of Prishtina published on the daily national newspapers. All the information are obtainable via the University of Prishtina.

Additionally, on October 30^th, the Senate of the University of Prishtina approved the curricula of all four Master programs as one package. Prior to the Curricula Senate Approval, Programs has been accredited by the Kosovo Accreditation Agency.

Master Programs are characterized with the international dimension as they are being developed in close cooperation with the Austrian Higher Education Institutions. In this regard, Master in Mechatronics realizes a close cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences, FH Joanneum in Graz; Master in Health Management is being designed and developing its curricula in the same line as it is at the Medical University in Vienna; LL.M. in Civil and Property Law and LL.M. in International Law are being developed with the support of the University of Graz. Austrian Higher Education Institutions are supporting the development of the programs by various ways and means.

Last but not least, Master Programs have also a very strong cooperation with the Kosovar labor market partners to enable this way in strengthening the ties among the Higher Education of Kosova and Economy. Local labor market partners are supporting the programs by giving the inputs to design the curricula, offering internships for students, enable the students to work for their master thesis and other type of support that would facilitate to bring closer the linkage.

Belgrade. Cultural Center DamaD from Novi Pazar organized first case study competition for students from Sandžak region at Zlatar from October 30th till November 1st.

Mr. Samid Sarenkapić, competition coordinator was one of BCC 2006 participants and the idea for organizing competition was to promote this kind of competitions among students from Sandžak.

The competition it self had same disciplines as BCC (Business case competition, Law Moot Court and Model European Council). Competition was in Serbian language and was organized for final year students from public and private universities in Sandžak region.

The organization of competition was supported by WUS Austria Belgrade office.

During the competition Milica Čičovački, BCC coordinator for Serbia presented WUS Austria programs that are interesting for participants, and had the honour and pleasure of being present at the awarding ceremony.

What was extremely important for WUS Austria is the fact that members of organizing committee (competition coordinator, case coordinators and jury members) were former participants from BCC competitions in Serbia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

The whole competition was financed by Fund for Open Society.

Graz. For the 9th and 10th time the book “Reclaiming Democracy – Civil Society and Electoral Change in Central Europe” was presented in the frame of a panel discussion in Bucharest and Budapest. These two events marked the end of a very successful guest lecturing series that portraits how people in Central and Eastern European countries fought with energy and courage to reclaim their democracies.

“New democracy does not emerge easily”, says Vaclav Havel in the preface of the book. “It is, indeed, an ongoing process, one that has not been completed even now.” Democracy is more than just a set of rules. It also depends on the day to day commitment of people to fill it with life. Often it’s the so called civil society that fosters or initially allows the democratic development of its country. The anthology “Reclaiming Democracy”, financed by ERSTE Foundation illuminates the role of civil societies inside various countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In order to communicate the insights of the book to a broader audience WUS Austria organized several panel discussions. Those were held at universities in Belgrade, Szedged, Podgorica, Bratislava, Brno, Cluj-Napoca, Kiev and Zagreb and just recently during the 14th and 15th October in Bucharest and Budapest.

At the National School of Political and Administrative studies in Bucharest, the students and other participants of the panel discussion rated this event as either excellent or very good. They appreciated the possibility to talk to the authors as well as to have the chance to have an open discussion about the presented topics. A total of 34 people attended the event; many amongst them were PhD students of Political Science. The discussion was moderated by Prof. Mihaela Miroiu.

As the evaluation showed, the persons who attended the discussion panel at the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest generally were very satisfied with the event, too. They were impressed by the direct testimonials from the participants of political events and the various methods to mobilize the masses for a cause. Besides, participants liked the interactivity of the discussion and the hands-on experience the book communicated. Therefore it was no surprise that a great majority found the overall panel discussion good to excellent. Similarly, more than three quarter of the participants found the format of the panel discussion and to book presentation good or excellent for conveying such topics to students. The participants also found the book “Reclaiming Democracy” interesting since a large number of participants claimed they would like to use the book further in their studies.

All in all the ten panel discussions as well as the book as such were very well rated by the several audiences. This is not only a success for the authors and the guest lecturers but is also a clear sign of the high interest in these political topics. WUS Austria and ERSTE Foundation are very happy that with the book “Reclaiming Democracy” and the panel discussions they were able to contribute a little bit to the growth and development of the young but nevertheless strong democracies in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Graz/Prishtina. Members of all 17 Faculties at the University of Prishtina and experts from four partner countries participated in the “Quality Week” in the frame of the TEMPUS project “Fostering and Developing the Quality Culture at the University of Prishtina” from Nov. 23rd – 26th.

This TEMPUS project addresses the importance of a ‘Quality Culture’ as a prerequisite for a functioning and lasting quality assurance system within the University of Prishtina (UP). The main challenge for the UP is to transform its informal and implicit approaches towards quality into a formal and explicit quality culture.
Therefore, experts from three different EU partner universities as well as Dino Mujkic, QA expert from WUS Austria, Sarajevo Office, held workshops on different quality related topics at all Faculties at UP. Prof. Norma Ryan from the University College Cork, Ireland, opened the workshops with a presentation about “The Role of QA in a University”. Prof. Peter Eckl from the University of Salzburg, Austria, focused on “QA in Research”, whereas Prof. Gerhard Rott from the University of Wuppertal, Germany, pointed out the importance of “QA of Student Services”. Dino Mujkic, WUS Austria, closed the workshops by giving an overview of “Regional QA Practices”.

These workshops constituted an important instrument in order to ensure the involvement and to get the commitment of all stakeholders. Moreover, an exchange of ideas on how to solve specific quality related issues took place between the participants and workshop leaders.

Next to the “Quality Week”, the 2nd project consortium meeting was organised by the UP. Apart from the discussion and clarification of open questions related to project management the consortium jointly planned the next steps and necessary steering measures within the project.
The next activities in the frame of the project will be the “Week of Student Involvement in the QA Process” from Dec. 15th – 18th and the launch of the project website as part of the UP’s website.

Please find more information on the project here.

Podgorica. The Selection Committee convened in WUS Austria Podgorica Office on Wednesday 25th of November 2009 in order to select the best applications for Innovative Project Ideas in the Field of Academic Cooperation and Exchange between Austrian and Montenegrin Higher Education Institutions. The project is being implemented within the framework of WUS Austria programme: “Support to Higher Education in Montenegro 2007-2010”, which is financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation.

Six applications were received until the second call deadline 31^st of September 2009. The decision was made by the Selection Committee consisting of the representatives of the Austrian Development Cooperation Mr Gerhard Schaumberger, representative of the University of Montenegro Ms Mira Vukcevic, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and WUS Austria Ms Ivana Zivaljevic and Ms Mladenka Tesic.

The Selection Committee decided to support the following projects:

1.      No. 09/2009, “Methods of DaF/DaZ – Contrasts in theory and practice in an intercultural approach”, coordinated by Jelena Knezevic, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Montenegro;

2.      No. 11/2009, “Systematic and Molecular Genetic Assessment of Aquatic Biodiversity in Montenegro (II part)”, coordinated by Danilo Mrdak, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Montenegro;

3.      No. 12/2009, “Jazz Language Application and Communication in the Repertory Ensemble”, coordinated by Vladimir Bockarjov, Academy of Music, University of Montenegro.

Projects which are supported through the Innovative Project Ideas in the Field of Academic Cooperation and Exchange between Austrian and Montenegrin Higher Education Institutions will be realised until November 2010.

Following the great interest for the project among Montenegrin teaching staff and students, two calls were open, when 13 applications were received altogether. The selection of eligible applications after two calls (first from 24th December 2008 to 31st March 2009, and second call from 15th May to 30th September 2009) will result in seventeen exchange visits including 24 teaching staff and 55 students from Austria and Montenegro.

WUS Austria would like to congratulate all grantees!

Prishtina. Master in Health Management, developed in close cooperation with the Medical University of Vienna, has started lectures on January 8th, 2010.

The Official Ceremony was organized for welcoming the students in the Program. In the Ceremony took part: Prof. Dr. Muje Rugova, Rector of the University of Prishtina, Prof. Dr. Bajram Berisha, Vice-Rector for Teaching and Scientific Research, Prof. Dr. Gani Bajraktari, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Mr. Christian Geosits, Austrian Development Cooperation and other program’s professors.

Rector of the University of Prishtina, emphasized the importance for the University of Prishtina on developing such a Master Program in close cooperation with the Medical University of Vienna. Furthermore, he pointed out that that: such cooperation should be used as a model for developing other study programs demanded by the Kosovar society. The audience was addressed also from Prof. Dr. Bajram Berisha, Vice-Rector for Teaching and Scientific Research, Prof. Dr. Gani Bajraktari, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, Mr. Christian Geosits, Austrian Development Cooperation, Prof. Dr. Shemsedin Dreshaj, Program Coordinator and But Dedaj, WUS Austria.

Master in Health Management at the Faculty of Medicine is being developed in twinning partnership with the Medical University of Vienna. The program curriculum is designed similar to the Medical University of Vienna, and adopted at a certain degree to the needs of Kosova.  Medical University of Vienna gives invaluable support to the Program by: enabling the Kosovar professors to conduct visits, develop their course etc. There will be also some Austrian professors to hold lectures at the University of Prishtina .

Program will be taught entirely in the English Language by the Kosovar Professors. This represents the second Program within the MSDP that started in an international language. The first Program that has started in the English language is Master in Mechatronics. Otherwise, both Programs represent the first study programs at the University of Prishtina to be organized in an international language from the national professors.

In the program are enrolled 36 students, and upon study completion they will be awarded with Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Health Management.

Lectures for other three Master Programs (Master in Mechatronics, LL.M. in Civil & Property Law and LL.M. in International Law) developed through the MSDP Project, and financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation started in December 2009.

Sarajevo. On Monday, December 7th 2009, a Selection Committee meeting for Implementation of Specific QA Measures at BH Universities was held at WUS Austria Sarajevo Office. Projects for Implementation of Specific QA Measures at BH Universities are being implemented as a second component within WUS Austria’s project “Strategic and Structural Development of Quality Assurance in BH Higher Education 2008-2010”, which is financed by Austrian Development Cooperation and Liechtenstein Government.

Within the second component and on the basis of an open call for proposals, BH universities were given the opportunity to individually apply for grants (in the maximum amount of 45.000,00 EUR) in line with the published criteria and selection procedures, and, hence, implement specific measures adapted to their needs and priorities.

WUS Austria’s long standing tradition is to invite Secretary Generals from all 8 BH public universities, as well as representatives of the Austrian Development Cooperation, to take part in the Selection Panel. The Selection Committee meeting was attended by:

• Amira Omanovic (Austrian Coordination Office)
• Dusanka Dragic (Secretary General, University of Banja Luka)
• Zoran Kazazic (Secretary General,  University Džemal Bijedić in Mostar)
• Jasmina Berbic (Secretary General, University of Tuzla)
• Zoran Seleskovic (Secretary General, University of Sarajevo)
• Dino Mujkic (WUS Austria Regional Manager for B&H)
• Nina Kovac (WUS Austria Project Manager)
• Selma Emirhafizovic (WUS Austria Project Assistant)

Final decisions were based on results of selection procedures which included: MUST criteria fulfillment, technical assessment, EU expert evaluations and pre-monitoring meetings. Out of 4 received applications, the following ones were approved:

1. Project number: QA_02/MO-ZE/09

• Applicant university/ies: University of Mostar and University of Zenica
• Project title: Development of information system for quality assurance – DISQA
• Requested budget: 69,158.00 EUR

• Co-financing amount: 37,274.00 EUR 

2. Project number: QA_03/IS-BL/09

• Applicant university/ies: University of East Sarajevo and University of Banja Luka
• Project title: Establishing of Quality Assurance System Auditing Practice at the University of East Sarajevo and University of Banja Luka – QASAP
• Requested budget: 49,228.30 EUR

• Co-financing amount: 26,722.92 

The following application was conditionally approved:

3. Project number: QA_04/TZ-DzB/09

• Applicant university/ies: University of Tuzla and University “Dzemal Bijedic“ of Mostar
• Project title: Information System for Support of Internal Quality Assurance at the Universities of  Tuzla and “Dzemal Bijedic“ of Mostar – QA InfoSys
• Requested budget: 68,250.00 EUR
• Co-financing amount: 36,750.00 EUR

We use the opportunity to congratulate all the grantees and wish them successful project implementation!

Graz. MSDP, DDS, LMOCP – sometimes names imply that something is more complicated than it really is. WUS Austria wants to make you a little more familiar with its labour marked oriented study programs. Please read on, if you want to learn what’s behind these abbreviations and if you want to get to know the facts & figures of these projects.

The project “Development of Labour Market Relevant Master, PhD and Chair Programs” – a component of the “Support to Higher Education” program, financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation – supports interested Higher Education institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia in the creation of tailor-made study programs. What is special about these study programs is that they focus explicitly on the needs of the local labour market. The project has different names according to its target country. In Serbia and Kosovo it is entitled “Master Studies Development Program – MSDP”, in Bosnia and Herzegovina it is named “Degree Development Structure – DDS” and in Montenegro it answers to the name of “Labour Market Oriented Chair Program – LMOCP”. Although the labels may differ, the goals are similar: First the project aims at enhancing the employability of graduates. Second it wants to support mutual cooperation between South Eastern European universities, Austrian universities or other EU universities as well as stakeholders of the private sector, like companies. The grantees of these programs are supported through several measures, such as: scholarships, teacher training activities; literature purchase and study visits just to name a few.

As for now, in Serbia, 4 out of 6 new Master programs started with lectures this semester. For instance, 25 out of 40 applicants were admitted to the course “Higher Education Management” at the University of Novi Pazar. Even more students - 33 to be precise - attend a lecture in “Electronics” at the University of Novi Sad. But these lectures sometimes are more exclusive. At the faculty of Chemistry, a charmed circle of 7 students enrolled in the newly developed Master course in Biochemistry.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina 3 Master Programs and one PhD program are up and running. The Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences works in close cooperation with the University of Technology of Graz and the University of Vienna in order to offer their students up to date lectures. So far, 8 of them seized this chance. The two other Master programs – “Quality Management in Health” and “Mechanical Engineering” are realized at the University of Sarajevo and, respectively, the University of Bihac. At the University of Banka Luka they are even one step ahead, offering 7 PhD students the chance to follow lectures in the field of ICT that are developed in close cooperation with the University of Paderborn in Germany.

As far as it comes down to sheer numbers the Chair Program “Tourism” at the University of Montenegro has the lead with a total number of 114 students enrolled. Aside this course, taken together, 69 students participate in the three Chair Programs, with topics ranging from “Experimental Biology and Biotechnology” and “Advances in Marina Technologies” to “Professional Skills Development and Reflective Practice”.

Last but certainly not least let’s have a look at the numbers from Kosovo: The four Master Programs at the University of Prishtina have managed to all be accredited by the national Kosovan Accreditation Agency. The topics covered by these programs are very different. There is an “MBA in Health Management” that already attracted over 90 students of whom 36 are successfully enrolled. For the “M.Sc. in Mechatronics” 23 student applications have been granted. Taken together lectures in the frame of two “LL.M. in International Law” and in “Civil and Property Law” are attended by 46 students of the University of Prishtina.

To give you a rough overview: Over 400 students at 9 universities in 4 countries are enrolled in 16 Master, PhD or Chair Programs, with 2 more Master Programs on their way. If these numbers didn’t manage to already confuse you too much, you are very welcome to check out even more information at our project website. WUS Austria is very happy to offer the students of Higher Education institutions in South East Europe the opportunity to enrol in these new and labour market oriented study programs. We also want to take the opportunity to express our gratitude towards all involved partners in this project, notably the 8 universities from Austria and the universities from other EU member states that helped significantly to develop these programs by sharing their knowledge and experiences.

Sarajevo. WUS Austria organised the Seminar "Measuring Performance of Universities: Understanding and Using Key Performance Indicators" on 19th and 20th January 2010 at the ACCESS Center.

The seminar Measuring Performance of Universities: Understanding and Using Key Performance Indicators was foreseen through the Tempus project “From Quality Assurance to Strategy Development”, implemented by WUS Austria in cooperation with the University of Graz, University of Girona and all 8 universities in BiH. The overall aim of the project is to contribute to a coherent and far-reaching reform of higher education in BiH in accordance with the Bologna Process and in accordance with the society and market needs. In order for this objective to be achieved, universities in BiH need to develop modern, student-oriented strategies, which will pave the path towards the university's long-term goals. Owing to the fact that “one-for-all” model does not exist, each BiH University first needs to conduct a thorough analysis, i.e. assessment of its environment, operations, structure, and results so as to be able to customize and develop a proactive strategy in line with its needs and priorities.

The main purpose of the seminar was to familiarize the BiH academic community with European practical experiences in defining and using metrics and management systems based on Key Performance Indicators – KPI.

The seminar was attended by over 30 participants. As foreseen in the project, the seminar participants were QA coordinators and management from each BiH university. Furthermore, the seminar was also attended by representatives of the Agency for Higher Education Development and Quality Assurance, SUS BiH and GOPA.

The seminar was organized in the form of plenary sessions where the keynote lecture was held by Mr. Ronan O Dubhghaill, Head of Institutional Research at the University College Cork.

Furthermore, a presentation on the overview of project outcomes and objectives as well as the description of seminar objectives was held by Mrs. Nina Kovač, WUS Austria Project Manager.

Additionally, the seminar was enriched by a presentation held by dr. Nihad Fejzić, Director of  the Agency for Higher Education Development and Quality Assurance BiH on the following topic “Quality Assurance at Higher Education Institutions: Development, Actors and Challenges”.

On the second day of the seminar, 20th January 2010, seminar participants worked on defining tasks and responsibilities for the upcoming workshop “Measuring Performance of Universities: Understanding and Using Key Performance Indicators” that is to be held on January 27, 2010.

*(The Agenda of the seminar as well as the presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the hyperlink.)

WUS Austria prepared a questionnaire to assess satisfaction of the seminar participants in terms of the seminar organisation, topics and lecturers. Based on the received feedback, 100% of participants judged the seminar as successful.

Graz. The Austrian scientist Dr. Barbara Hey, MBA - researching and teaching about gender equality at the University of Graz – has developed a comprehensive guideline on gender fair curriculum development. This piece of work is now available to download on our homepage.

Gender equality nowadays has become some sort of buzzword that you encounter in the course of various situations. Unfortunately, often people don’t realize the deeper purpose and the goal of measures that aim at enhancing gender equality. Therefore, terms like gender equality or gender fairness frequently and very regrettably remain a shallow expression. So, apart from fairness, what is the deeper purpose of gender equality?

This very question is addressed by Dr. Barbara Hey, MBA a scientist at the University of Graz, who works on different gender equality topics. One amongst them deals with curriculum reforms, a measure that often is at the heart of WUS Austria’s projects, like LMOC or MSDP, DDS just to name some. In order to take gender fairness serious and not to reduce the issue to an empty phrase it has become clear that every level of society, notably education, has to be addressed. Therefore it is self-evident to incorporate gender fairness into the design and development of curricula at universities.

The following are only some of the topics the “Guidelines on Gender Fair Development” tackle.

• Expand access to higher education and consequently the participation in relevant knowledge and labour markets
• Improve competitiveness through increased number of citizens with higher education degrees
• Exploit the full potential of society of - both female and male - talents, creativity and innovativeness
• Improve the outcome quality of research and teaching by identifying and fostering talents without prejudices, as well as excluding subject-irrelevant criteria (e.g. gender bias)
• Promote innovativeness through diversity (for an explanation of and information on the benefits of diversity please refer to the Supplement)

“Curricula hold the potential to enhance the inequality of opportunities existing in society, to address one gender more strongly than the other, to generate unequal success opportunities, and even to strengthen the already existing gender role stereotypes.” Mrs. Hey states. “Only with a proper, background knowledge-based perspective can relevant aspects for gender fairness be identified.”

If you are interested, you can download the Guidelines on Gender Fair Curriculum Development at our homepage or reserve a hard copy in one of our offices.

Belgrade. On Friday, January 15th 2010 at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, professor Sofija Pekic – Quarrie and her associates made a presentaton of Multidisciplinary International Master Environmental Protection in Agriculture (EPA) to the next generation of students. This program is one out of six supported through Master Study Development Program (MSDP) – other study programs supported (about which we are going to inform you as well) differs both in terms of scientific fields (from biochemistry to regional development) but also geographically (from Novi Pazar to Cacak).

Major learning objective of EPA program is to create experts in environmental protection who will be capable for monitoring and application of both protection and prevention measures as well as for environmental auditing. Potential employers are agricultural companies, municipality services for environmental protection, consulting companies, agricultural institutes, governmental institutions, NGOs etc.

Program is implemented in close cooperation with BOKU University, Vienna, Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Belgrade and several companies from the local labour market. It is important to emphasize the fact that out of more than 40 students who attended the event, and who will enroll the program, more than 90 percents are already employed, which is very important not only because of the lifelong learning effect, but because of the fact that it is not the common situation in the region (at least not in Serbia) as well.

On behalf of WUS Austria, we wish professors, assistants and students involved to succesfully implement the program in years to come.

Dusan Bugarski

WUS Belgrade

Sarajevo. WUS Austria organized the workshop "Measuring Performance of Universities: Understanding and Using Key Performance Indicators" on 27th January 2010 at UNITIC Business Center.

Organization of the workshop Measuring Performance of Universities: Understanding and Using Key Performance Indicators was foreseen through the Tempus project “From Quality Assurance to Strategy Development”, implemented by WUS Austria in cooperation with the University of Graz, University of Girona and all 8 public universities in BiH. The aim of the project is to support universities in BiH in developing quality and modern strategies on the basis of results of previously performed self-evaluations. With the adoption of strategies comes their implementation as well as an ongoing monitoring of strategy implementation. One of the more effective, and certainly one of the most widespread, tracking systems is one based on key performance indicators (KPI).

The workshop was planned as a complimentary measure to the seminar "Measuring Performance of Universities: Understanding and Using Key Performance Indicators", held on 19^th and 20^th January 2010. Whereas the seminar provided BiH universities representatives with “theoretical” inputs, the workshop served the purpose of offering “practical” implementation of these inputs with regard to defining (preferably joint) lists of key performance indicators in BiH public higher education.

Furthermore, in order to ensure synergy with the work of the Agency for Higher Education Development and Quality Assurance, and as suggested by seminar participants, the workshop was attended by the representatives of the Agency. Additionally, with the aim of preparing better for the workshop, University of Zenica sent all workshop participants questionnaires used by the European University Association and Slovenian State Agency for External Evaluation.  

The workshop was attended by over 30 participants. As foreseen in the project, the workshop participants were QA coordinators and management from each BiH university. Furthermore, the workshop was also attended by representatives of the Agency for Higher Education Development and Quality Assurance, SUS BiH and GOPA.

The workshop was envisaged as a discussion platform and, hence, the workshop agenda was defined on a more general basis in order to provide flexibility for BiH university representatives in identifying the best working mode, with the aim of defining, in a more efficient way, indicators at individual universities as well as in BiH higher education in general.

*(The Agenda of the workshop can be downloaded by clicking on the hyperlink.)

WUS Austria prepared a questionnaire to assess satisfaction of the workshop participants in terms of the workshop organization and topics. Based on the received feedback, 100% of participants judged the workshop as successful.

Sarajevo. WUS Austria organized a Conference "From Quality Assurance to Strategy Development" on 28th January 2010 at UNITIC Business Center.

The Conference From Quality Assurance to Strategy Development was planned as the final activity within the two-and-half-year Tempus project “From Quality Assurance to Strategy Development”, implemented by WUS Austria in cooperation with the University of Graz, University of Girona and all 8 public universities in BiH. The overall aim of the project is to contribute to a coherent and far-reaching reform of higher education in BiH in accordance with the Bologna Process and in accordance with the society and market needs. In order for this objective to be achieved, universities in BiH need to develop modern, student-oriented strategies, which will pave the path towards the university's long-term goals. Owing to the fact that “one-for-all” model does not exist,each BiH University first needs to conduct a thorough analysis, i.e. assessment of its environment, operations, structure, and results so as to be able to customize and develop a proactive strategy in line with its needs and priorities.

The main aims of the Conference were to exchange experiences with regard to internal QA methodologies and modern university management, to present to the wider BiH and regional academic community all the project achievements and outcomes, and lessons learnt with a special focus on university strategies, and networking between local and regional university management and administration structures and relevant institutions/ organizations (e.g. QA Agencies).

The Conference was attended by over 80 participants. As foreseen in the project, the Conference participants were QA coordinators and management representatives from each BiH university. Furthermore, the Conference audience was widened to include Ministries of Education (state, entity and cantonal), international and local institutions/ organizations supporting higher education (Tempus Office, Austrian Development Cooperation, SUS BiH, GOPA etc.) and all other interested academic stakeholders.

Please find below a list of presentations:

WUS Austria support to quality assurance system development at BiH public universities, Nina Kovač, WUS Austria Project Manager

Tempus: Modernising higher education, Suad Muhibić, Head of Tempus Office Sarajevo

External quality assurance at higher education institutions: development and challenges, Nihad Fejzić, Director of the Agency for Higher Education Development and Quality Assurance BiH

Development of strategies at BiH universities, Haris Muhić, Director of SUS BiH

University of Banja Luka, dr. Simo Jokanović, Vice-rector for Teaching and Student Issues

Implemented activities of the project “From Quality Assurance to Strategy Development”, QA and future activities at the University of East Sarajevo, Nenad Marković, QA coordinator

University “Džemal Bijedić” of Mostar and future challenges, dr. Sead Pašić, Vice-rector and Alim Abazović, QA coordinator

Quality Assurance and Strategic Challenges at the University of Tuzla, dr. Edin Delić, Vice-rector

QA system at the University of Zenica – achievements in the project and experiences in implementing institutional self-evaluations and strategy development, dr. Darko Petković, Vice-rector and Ibrahim Plančić, QA coordinator

Integrative restructuring of universities and quality assurance, Stefan Dukiandjiev, GOPA Key Expert

Tempus: EU standards for accreditation of study programmes on BH universities, dr. Dejan Bokonjić, University of East Sarajevo

On the second day, 29th January 2010, a final meeting of the project consortium was held at the UNITIC Centre. The meeting was attended by representatives of BiH public universities, University of Graz and University of Girona.

*(The Agenda of the Conference and the Agenda of the final meeting of the project consortium, as well as the presentations can be downloaded by clicking on the hyperlink.)

WUS Austria prepared a questionnaire to assess satisfaction of the Conference participants in terms of the organisation, topics and lecturers. Based on the received feedback, 100% of participants judged the Conference as successful.

Podgorica. One-day training seminar “Organisation and work of the Commissions for provision and promotion of the quality assurance system of the units of the University of Montenegro” took place on 18th of December 2009 at the University of Montenegro. This was the second out of six one-day seminars that will be organised within the “Quality Assurance Project”.

Director of the QA Center at the University of Montenegro Mr Mitar Misovic moderated the seminar where the regional QA experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina shared their experiences in implementation of the quality assurance system at the University of Mostar. Three experts from the University of Mostar Ms Snjezana Rezic, Ms Ivana Milinkovic-Rosic and Ms Marijana Bandic-Glavas presented concepts, aims, quality criteria, indicators, procedures for internal quality assurance and problems faced in the implementation of the QA system at the University of Mostar.

Presentations at the seminar were the follows:

- “Quality Assurance at the University of Mostar”, Prof.dr.Snjezana Rezic

- “Student counseling service”, Marijana Bandic-Glavas

- “Quality assurance system at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science”, Ivana Milinkovic-Rosic

The seminar was attended by the Rector of the University of Montenegro and around thirty participants of the University staff, management and professors. A number of questions were raised and QA contested issues discussed.

Feedback from the participants from the evaluation forms you can find here.

“Organisation and work of the Commissions for provision and promotion of the quality assurance system of the units of the University of Montenegro” seminar was organised as one of the activites envisaged under the programme „Support to Higher Education in Montenegro 2007-2010“ financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation. Next seminar focusing on teacher training skills will take place in March 2010.

Agenda of the seminar you can download here.

Prishtina. On Thursday, February 16, 2010, a ‘Selection Panel’ for Curriculum Development Program Plus (CDP+) was held in the WUS Austria, Office in Prishtina. CDP+ is being implemented within WUS Austria’s program: “Building Quality, Knowledge and Skills for Social and Economic Development, Support to Reforms of Higher Education 2008-2011”

The goal of CDP+ is to support the course development at the University of Prishtina, with regard to it’s integration into the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), by the provision of means for the introduction and/or improvement of new developed courses.

Among 11 CDP+ applications that were received on the Third call, the Selection Panel composed by representatives from: Ministry of Education Science and Technology of Kosova, University of Prishtina, Austrian Development cooperation and the WUS-Austria-Office in Prishtina, decided to support the following 8 projects:  

1. CDP+ Project no.: 01/10, “Constitutional Judiciary”, lectured by: Prof. Dr. Visar Morina from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Law – Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law.

2. CDP+ Project no.: 02/10, “Action Research”, lectured by: Dr. Sc. Eda Vula from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Education – Department of Primary Education.  

3. CDP+ Project no.: 03/10, “Applied Ecology”, lectured by: Dr. Sc. Behxhet Mustafa and Msc. Avni Hajdari, from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences – Department of Biology.

4. CDP+ Project no.: 04/10, “Thermal Machines”, lectured by: Prof. Rexhep Selimaj from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering – Department of Termoenergetics and Termotecnics.

5. CDP+ Project no.: 05/10, “Methodic of Turkish Language and Literature”, lectured by: Prof. Ass. Dr. Suzana Canhasi from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Philology – Department of Turkish Language and Literature.

6. CDP+ Project no.: 06/10, “Water and wastewater treatment technology”, lectured by: Msc. Figene Ahmedi from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Civil Engineering  - Department of Hydrotechnic.

7. CDP+ Project no.: 07/10, “Electronic Business”, lectured by: Prof. Mihane Berisha-Nimani from University of Prishtina, Faculty of Economics – Department of Management and Informatics.

8. CDP+ Project no.: 08/10, “Polymer Materials”, lectured by: Prof. Dr. Naser Kabashifrom University of Prishtina, Faculty of Engineering – Department of Materials and Constructions.

Final decisions were based on results of pre-selection procedures which included: technical course assessment, peer review evaluation, and pre-monitoring meetings.

All the supported projects will be financed in cooperation with the University of Prishtina.