Deliverables

WP 1 – PREPARATION

Description
The aim of this WP is to reach common understanding of the concepts and content as a basis for the adoption of new pedagogical and working model of the internationalization and project cycle management, as very important subjects to develop.

Initiation of project implementation work package includes:
Organization of the workshop on project management;
Organization of the kick-off meeting where project bodies will be established;
Preparation of an international relation and project cycle management strategy to cover all project areas and skills mismatches that this action aims to address.
This WP will begin with the Kick-off meeting, following by online platform and Kosovar and Albanian network. The Kick off meeting is the first meeting of the project and therefore during the meeting principles and procedures of the project management will be introduced.
The lead organization is UKZ, which will create an online platform, in order to better communicate with partners in advance. The content of the Kick-Off-seminar is entrusted to Programme partners.
All mobility acitivites will be also include students, but due to the budgt form, we chose only staff, but together with partners, we have foreseen to include students as much as possible, when having mobility activities, whenever there is importance to include them, in which case they will increase the value of outputs.

Deliverables
1.1 Kick off meeting was held at UKZ
1.2 Workshop on project management was held in UKZ and Action Plan was developed
1.3. Development of the International Relation and project cycle management strategy plan – including the action plan the strategy for IC and PM development
1.4. Visit by senior staff from the region to EU partners

WP 2 – DEVELOPMENT (Establish/functionalization of International Relations and project Management Centers)

Description
The work package on Development 2 include the IC/PM Offices establishment, which will need from 1-6 months, depends on the situation on each university in Kosovo and Albania. This hiring process admnistratively will be supported by MEST in Kosovo and Albania, in order to become as soon as possible active in theri work.
Successful conduction of one study visit at ULBF (list of participants, materials from the study visit, agenda); Staff members of new offices and other professors and students will have the opportunity to participate in the study visit, which will be done in that way that will be organized workshops and see the best practice examples. This study visit will be done prior the trainings that are planned for Kosovo and Albania universities.
Training of the IC/PM staff at EU universities realized (list of participants, agenda); The training of IC/PM staff will be developed and held in all Kosovo and Albania universities and will be done after the visit in ULBF.
Successful conduction of second study visit at UNISTRAPG (list of participants, materials from the study visit, agenda); Staff members of new offices and other professors and students will have the opportunity to participate in the study visit, which will be done in that way that will be organized workshops and see best practice examples. The second study visit will be done after the completion of trainings in Kosovo and Albania universities.
On-going support to the offices and structure given by all project partners on an on-going basis, and roundtable discussions, where will be discussed the main successes and challlenges, by prioritizing the way ahead.
All mobility acitivites will be also include students, but due to the budgt form, we chose only staff, but together with partners, we have foreseen to include students as much as possible, when having mobility activities, whenever there is importance to include them, in which case they will increase the value of outputs.

Deliverables
2.1.Establish /functionalization support the IC/PM structures
2.2. Trainings needs analysis of IC/PM Offices
2.3. Study visit and workshop
2.4.Job descriptions for the IC/PMC officers
2.5. Round – table discussion
2.6. Ongoing support to the IC/PM Offices
2.7. Trainings for the IC Officers
2.8. Trainings for the PMC Officers
2.9. Visit and workshop by senior staff from the region to EU partner

WP 3 – DEVELOPMENT – Equipment purchase

Description
Within this WP equipment will be purchased for equipping the IC/PMs, in order to improve its infrastructure. This way the condition for performing the tasks of IC/PMs office will be improved, and the HEIs in the region will be able to more effectively perform related tasks to enhance the quality in teaching, learning, students’ services and administration. In order to enable the purchase of equipment, the WP comprises of following deliverables: Identification / checking the needed equipment; Preparation of the tender procedure; Launch of the tender; Equipment purchase and contracting.
There are 8 steps of procurement procedures, according to the law in Kosovo :

Planning of the process of procurement ;
Plannig of the tender value and contract clasification ;
The finalization of the procurement procedure ;
Preparation of the tender dossier ;
Publishing of the tender ;
Opening and the evaluation of the tender ;
Announcement of the winner and the signing procedure of the contrat ;
Managing the contract.
This process of procurement can last in Kosovo up to maximum six months.

Deliverables
3.1. Contact with the regional partners to confirm the list of equipment;
3.2. Preparation of tender dossier and technical specification;
3.3. Public launch of the tender;
3.4. Contracting and equipment purchase

WP 4 – DEVELOPMENT – Development of software applications and online platforms

Description
The project foresees development of tailor made software applications to (i) manage projects and (ii) to manage staff and student mobilities, and an online platform for international cooperation and partnerships.
The platform will easen the process of managing the internationalization mobilities, projects, cooperation, etc. It will be an online platform, where each university can use from their country. In that regard, the software will be under constant development, having in mind that we will open it for other universities in WB and EU universities, which would want to join the platform.

Deliverables
4.1. Development of the software application for management of projects
4.2. Development of the software application for management of staff and student mobilities
4.3. Development of the online platform for international cooperation and partnerships

WP 5 – DEVELOPMENT – Trainings at all levels

Description
A number of management, teaching and administrative staff will be trained respectively in project writing, international relations, and in managing staff and student mobilities. All training will be hands-on with concrete products at the end of the training. Training will be implemented jointly by trained and certified IC and PM office staff pairing with respective trainers from EU partner institutions. All materials used for project staff will also be used for training of management, teaching and administrative staff whenever applicable.
Training/workshops for project management and training for management of staff and student mobilities will also be implemented using the tailor made software developed through activities of the WP 4.1 and WP 4.2.
All mobility acitivites will be also include students, but due to the budget form, we chose only staff, but together with partners, we have foreseen to include students as much as possible, when having mobility activities, whenever there is importance to include them, in which case they will increase the value of outputs.
Training/workshops: 1 : 08/09/2021-10/09/2021 UET in Tirana
Training/workshops: 2 : 13/10/2021-15/10/2021 Heimerer in Prishtina
Training/workshops: 3 : 19/01/2021-21/01/2022 UAMD, Durres
Training/workshops: 4 : 24/02/2022-26/02/2022 UKZ, Gjilan
Training/workshops: 16/03/2022-18/03/2022 UHZ, Peja

Deliverables
5.1. Training for management and teaching staff in project writing;
5.2. Training for management and academic staff in international relations and mobilities:
5.3. Training of administrative staff in managing student and staff mobilities;

WP 6 – IC/PM Strategy

Description
Project Steering Committee members, project management, and 1-2 responsible staff from the member institutions (totalling around 50 persons) will convene regionally in two workshops to work on the IC / PM vision, mission and strategies. In these events, participants will agree on joint initiatives (including the Regional Cooperation Network in Higher Education), joint project proposals for EU funding, strategies for international cooperation, potential joint programmes regionally and internationally, facilitation of mutual recognition of credits, new partnerships, innovative and best practices in internationalization of higher education and project management, and so on. The workshops will be moderated by one regional and one international expert. The moderators will also coordinate writing of the agreed documents.
Part of the process will also be an agreed communication and visibility strategy. The strategy will be approved by the rectors of all member institutions.
Deliverables
6.1. Development of IC/PM Strategy;
6.2. Organization of the study visit and workshop
6.3 Online Coaching

WP 7 – HEI Association Establishment – RECON

Description
The RECON foundation will happen at a 5-days working meeting at TUS. Thus we will have enough time to discuss the Association’s Statute, mission, and vision. 3 teachers from all the institutions will be present working on developing the statute and the strategic document of the Association that will contain its mission and its vision. Prior to that UP, UKZ, UNIKO, TUS, will develop a working draft of these documents and through workshopping partners will come to an ideal version. UKZ is in charge of publishing this document. We will choose the president and the secretary of the Association to coordinate the Association work for 3 years, after which the Association members will vote for the new coordination pair. UP, UKZ, UNIKO and TUS will invest 20 manager, 5 technician, and 10 administrative days in organizing this event and reporting. UKZ will invest additional 10 manager days in publishing the documents, in English and local languages, and distributing them widely.
Deliverables
7.1. Establishment of cooperation between project partners as well as within partners’ network;
7.2. Study visit at TUS and workshop on Establishment of Western Balkans HEIs Association.
7.3. Development of mechanisms for active education and scientific exchanges between consortium partners, with agreed tools of coordination/communication, networking.
7.4. Western Balkans HEIs Association International Conference.

WP 8 – Quality Control and Monitoring

Description
The work package Quality assurance includes procedures, activities and events necessary to reach in order to maintain a high level of quality of the project and its outputs. The package includes drafting and developing of its main reports.
The aim of this WP is to ensure that the Project is implemented as it is planned in terms of time, quality and cost. The empowerment method is applied from the beginning, which triggers a relatively higher level of active participation by the partners, and is associated with great potential of remedial.
The internal evaluation team which will be led by the UGJFA, consists of representatives from UKZ, UNS, UNISTRAPG, UET, and UNIKO. The HEIs have the main responsibility of the evaluation and are also provided resources for that. UKZ coordinates the visits and reports of the external evaluator. Its work methods include checklists, peer- reviews, empowerment evaluations and meeting minutes. It closely coordinates the quality control procedures and needed modifications with the Steering Committee.
The regular monitoring contributes to three dimensions: 1. Ensure that the processes and outputs are being implemented at the adequate level of quality, 2. Stimulate collaboration between partners, and 3. Develops relevant competences to be used in the post-project development of internationalization and project cycle management.
The digital platform will be extensively utilized for ensuring the proper flow of information; meetings minutes, checklist and short report based on the empowerment evaluations for each WP will be published on it. The leader of each WP is responsible to update the respective checklist. Other forms of ensuring the accuracy of information are emails and phone calls. Whenever any deviation occurs, remedial actions will be undertaken by the consortium members.
Lastly, reports to the Erasmus+ office and to the project actors will be delivered twice a year.
Deliverables
8.1 Development of the Quality Monitoring Plan
8.2 Meeting of the Committee for Quality Assurance
8.3 External evaluation report.
External audit and Evaluation Report

WP 9 – Dissemination (DISS)

Description
Dissemination and exploitation of results is an integral part of the project framework and dissemination activities are essential to the project’s success and sustainability, and have been built into this project from its early stages. Using a variety of dissemination techniques, the outcomes of the project will be made available to a wider audience of potential beneficiaries throughout Kosovo, Region and Europe.
First of all, dissemination is a key aim of the project’s awareness-raising campaign and dissemination campaign. The campaign(s) will launch immediately in the beginning of the project and will run until the end of the project, even after the project, we will keep alive the idea, which has increased our capacities in two ways – Internationalization and project management in HEI.
In the beggining of the Project implementation phase, a project web-site will be created, which will be the main source of all information for the Project activities and its results. This web-site will be also directly linked to the websites of all partner institutions of this project.
A project Brochure, containing the main features of the project will be printed and distributed to different stakeholders of the Project. The summary of the book of best practices that will provides thoughtful and practical direction to student learning, supported by relevant research and best experience of the EU and regional partners will be published.
A project Newsletter will also be published on a quarterly basis and distributed to a data base of students, university managers, stakeholders and project participants as well as interested parties outside the Consortia such as ministries, institutes and other stakeholders.
Specific events of the Project such as meetings, workshops and seminars of the various topics are seen themselves as dissemination events and will be publicised using fliers, formal brochures, posters, data CDs and local radio advertising, supported by planned media appearances by local project leaders.
Also are foreseen immediately after each activity a local dissemination events in all consortium countries, run by each HEI and its participants– those will focus on sharing good practice in internationalizations work with other academic and administrative staff – professionals in their communities – education institutions, national and local government authorities and international organisations that suport HEI in Kosovo.
Social networking media such as Facebook and Twitter will also be utilised to publicise and disseminate the activities and outcomes of the Project.
A press kit, containing a press release, short article and video clip of the project and its actiities will be developed each year and supplied to the media – who will also be invited to the main project events.
MEST, exclusively the Director of Higher Education department will be specifically kept in the loop of events, by informing them of the progress of the project to ensure that the lessons of this project are taken on board at policy level.
Local dissemination events in all consortium countries, run by participants that were attending trainings, which will be in the format of short 1-day workshops on the use of different online awareness-raising campaign, managed by the project Communications Team.
This will be run through a dedicated website and on social media: we plan to set up a Facebook page, a Twitter feed, a Youtube channel and an Instagram account; This will happen also through all the consortium member websites and facebook pages as well.
The online campaign will consist of two elements: centralised, using outputs generated at the workshop, training, mobility, and using project publications (newsletters) and decentralised level – local campaigning materials developed by each of the consortium member, including their dissemination event materials;
Large scale event in Gjilan, in co-operation with MEST, Kosovo Accreditation Agency, EU Office in Kosovo, GIZ, USAID, etc and we will team up with Kosovo media and local education establishments to bring together more than 50 persons from different institutions to discuss their views on international cooperation and to share activities with them; we aim to obtain support by the Kosovo Government and Kosovo Accreditation Agency and other International Organizations, which will assure high media attention and will allow us to further disseminate project results and also assure visibility of the EU and Erasmus+ Programme as our main sponsor.
As mentioned above, our project aims to be a springboard for long-term co-operation. We will keep the brand (Internationalization and project management of HEI in Kosovo) and use it to set up a sustainable network of organisations that will address international cooperation and project management, using training and campaigning techniques developed within this project.
Exploitation of Results. Some of the project results will be exploited during the life of the project at all Project Partner HEI. These results will begin to be produced from about the second half of the year of the Project, while other Project results will appear in a later stage, after the start of activities. And as well, some of the results of the project will appear after the end of the project and will continue to be exploited then. These, of course, will contribute to the sustainability of project achievements.
Deliverables
9.1. Dissemination through web-page
9.2. Dissemination through events & other activities (social media, newspaper, posters, news, radios, leaflets, newsletters, brochures, book of best practices etc).

WP 10 – Management

Description
UKZ has been involved in many international projects, collaborating with different European partners. Consecutively, the staff of UKZ has the necessary competences to manage all aspects of the project. The cooperation with all partners has been going on for the last five years now, whereas with the Kosovar partners it has strong cooperation since our existence. The preparation and communication about the respective initiative has begun around one and a half years ago. Effective communication prevails through the project timespan.
The aim is to properly manage the project, including administrative, finance, monitoring, and coordinating aspects. The main purpose is to draft a commonly agreed work plan based on the SMART principles, ensuring the effective monitoring of the implementation of planned processes and outputs. This will be produced in the first project meeting in conjunction with the Kick-off seminar. It is also important to produce necessary documentation relating to project management and administration and to ensure effective communication. Also a consolidated mobility plan will be produced. Besides, project partners will jointly plan the sustainability, quality control and dissemination strategies.
This WP aims at effective and transparent coordination and management of the project with a management structure and methodology that will ensure the timely implementation of activities and achievement of objectives. A Steering Committee composed of all contact persons of the project consortium will be responsible for the overall management and oversight of the project. A Project Management Board, made up of the representative of each partners will look after the day to day affairs of the project. The Project’s Leader will work with all partners and ensure that all the documentation needed for the financial management for the project are collected and transferred safely. Management working package consists of financial, administrative, programmatic and logistical management of the project. All project partners will have their role in project implementation and reporting responsibilities. The partners will sign Partnership Agreements, as well as agree on management procedures and all other project management issues.
Apart from overall project coordination, EU HEI consortium partners will provide expertise for :

Mobility activities (workshop, exchange/study visit and training) programme (including needs assessment, development of the programme and its implementation jointly with local experts, whenever available);
Drafting of the strategy on international cooperation/project cycle management;
Planning and implementation of the study visit;
4,. Creating the online platform for quality international cooperation and project management;
Development of the monitoring framework.
The local partners – members of the WB HEI partners – will be responsible for
Active participation in drafting of the strategy;
Active participation in the training, study visit and workshops;
Planning and implementation of the training of the university staff;
Day to day management of the project activities in the local universities ;
Active participation on building the online platform for IC/PM and
Active participation on building the WB network association – RECON.

Monitoring of project activities: early in the project period PSC will coordinate designing and will approve the project monitoring framework; the PSC will also identify a team of three persons from among the member universities and one expert/member of the Erasmus+ staff to engage in the monitoring of implementation of the project activities. The team will engage in regular monitoring of project activities/deliverables based on the monitoring framework.
During the preparation phase the working group identified several threats to the successful project implementation and strategies how to address/overcome the same:
Availability of resources (human and financial) to establish IC/PM offices in every member university: each university engaged in early efforts to identify one or more staff members who could serve as IC/PM officers;
-Readiness and commitment of the personnel of each university to take part in project activities: cooperation and commitment of the staff to contribute to this joint project proposal showed high level of commitment by all staff members – including senior management;
Support of the senior management of all consortium members to fully support this project idea.
Deliverables
10.1. Project management Board established project working documents drafted and adopted
10.2 Meetings of the project board
10.3 Project finances and administration