higher education

On January 23rd & 24th, 2020, the Erasmus+ project REACH "Reinforcing Access to Cross Border Employment at Palestinian Higher Education Institutions" held its Kick-off Meeting at the University of Ljubjlana in Slovenia. REACH aims to enhance the capacity of Palestinian HEIs in promoting cross border employability of graduates, providing them with the capabilities for effective cross border working so that they can develop their potential and also participate actively in sustainable economic development in Palestine.

From 4th to 7th February 2020, the Erasmus+ project ENTENDER “Enabling Students with Neurodiversity” held its Kick-Off meeting and good practice visit at Coventry University’s Centre for Global Learning: Education and Attainment (UK). The University of Alicante, partner in this project, was represented by Eric Sánchez, OGPI IT Expert. The general aim of ENTENDER is to improve access, retention, attainment and employment prospects of people with neurodiverse conditions (Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Dyscalculia, Autistic Spectrum and Tourette’s Syndrome) in Argentina and Mexico, allowing them to achieve their full potential by capacity building of neurodiversity support across higher education and employment sectors, fostering inclusion, and building knowledge.

The University of Alicante took part in the Kick Off Meeting held from 16^th to 17^th January 2020 in Meknes (Morocco). Representatives from 7 Dutch, Moroccan, Lebanese and Tunisian Higher Education Institutions and 1 NGO from Greece, together with different NGO professionals from the region, assembled to celebrate the Kick Off Meeting of the  DEMOS project. This project is part of the  Capacity Building Higher Education initiative, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and aims at developing a 2-year multidisciplinary Master program in Democratic Governance & Human Rights in Morocco, Tunisia and Lebanon.

The project is coordinated by the Université Moulay Ismail (Morocco) and with the collaboration from Eurotraining (Greece), Universiteit Utrecht (Netherlands) and the University of Alicante (Spain) will coordinate different activities to generate 6 Master programmes on Human Rights and Governance, blending online and traditional teaching. In addition, they will also set-up 6 DEMOS research units, a series of Capacity Building courses as well as the Demos&Rights Learning Environment which will become the digital platform to coordinate this curricula development action.

20 representatives from the EMINENT project consortium celebrated the II and III Modules- Train of Trainers in Camaguey (Cuba), extended from Wednesday 27th November to Wednesday 4th December. The capacity building action was led by experts from the University College Cork (UCC) and the Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation from Austria (AQ Austria). Delegates from 5 Higher Education Institutions in Haiti were introduced to the wide array of tools, resources, and methodologies in order to start designing their own Internal Quality Assurance Systems and carrying out the Self Evaluation of their programmes.

Due to the persistent socio-political crisis in Haiti, EMINENT partners were forced to find an alternative location to celebrate their capacity building actions. As such, EMINENT Consortium opted to organize their meeting in the city of Camaguey, setting up a long week of intense hard-work to facilitate transfer skills which have laid the knowledge foundation for the roll-out of the project pilot exercises.

INDOEDUC4ALL Final conference took place in Yogyakarta (Indonesia) on 3rd - 4th December. In this meeting, organised by UIN SUKA, were represented 6 Indonesian HEIs, 1 NGO SIGAB, 3 European universities together with the representatives of two Ministries (Ministry of Higher Education and Culture and Ministry on Religious Affairs) and general public representing university community and all engaged stakeholders.

This event was a great opportunity to showcase the INDOEDUC4ALL outputs, and in particular recently established National Network of Support Centres KOPERTINA as well as to raise awareness about the progress made on students with disabilities learning conditions, their social inclusion and employability.

On 28^th November around 100 representatives of more than 30 Cambodian Higher Education Institutions attended the first BALANCE National Conference titled “Trends in Financial Management of Universities: reflecting on current status and potential improvements. European and Cambodian perspectives”, which took place at the Royal university of Phnom Penh in Cambodia capital. The event was organized in the framework of the BALANCE  project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, which contributes to strengthen financial autonomy and accountability of HEIs in Cambodia via modernisation of financial management practices and legal framework.

The University of Alicante participated in the MORALE Kick Off Meeting held from 14^th October to 16^th October 2019 in Beirut (Lebanon). Delegates from 7 Lebanese and Syrian Higher Education Institutions, 1 NGO from Greece, 1 German University, together with different NGO professionals from the region, assembled to celebrate the Kick Off Meeting of the  MORALE project. This project is part of the  Capacity Building Higher Education initiative, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and coordinated by the Beirut Arab University.

The project aims to strengthen to the capacities of Syrian & Lebanese HEIs to train a new generation of high skilled professionals trained by PC HEIs to effectively manage and operate in NGO environment, enhancing inclusion of refugees and the rebuilding of the South Mediterranean society. MORALE will achieve this goal by delivering capacity building actions and trainings, modernizing curricula offers at partner countries as well as devising lifelong learning courses for professionals on the field.

From 8th October to 10th October 2019, a representative of the International Project Management Office (OGPI) participated in the PACES Workshop on Employability of Higher Education:  “Progression of Accessibility Centers in Higher Education for Students with Disabilities in North Africa" and  the PACES Management Meeting held in the city of Rabat (Morocco).

During the event, PACES project gathered colleagues from 4 universities from Morocco, 4 Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from  Egypt, 1 from Slovenia, 1 from Greece and 1 from United Kingdom, hosted by the University Mohammed V from Rabat. The action allowed to launch a very productive space to share good practices on inclusive policies for students with disabilities in the context of Higher Education. The event counted with the participation of different representatives  from the Ministry of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Ministry of Women affaires, Solidarity, Family, and Social Development and the Ministry of Labor from Morocco.

Universities are an essential agent for positive social changes in current societies. This has been evidenced in the 2nd Southeast Asian Social Innovation Network Event which, held in Bangkok (Thailand) on October 8th and 9th. During this event, and SEASIN under the moto of “Shaping Futures. New ways for Universities to make change happen", different Professors, researchers and managers from more than a dozen university centers have shared regional good practices that result in the increase of well-being in their territories.

More than 25 members from the EMINENT project consortium celebrated the I Module- Train of Trainers in Port-Au-Prince (Haiti), stretching from Monday 23^th September to Wednesday 25^th September. This activity was facilitated by experts from the University of Alicante who trained representatives from 5 Higher Educations Institutions (HEIs) of the country on cutting edge issues within the field of Quality Assurance in Higher Education (HE), laying the foundation for the continuity of the capacity building action and adaptation of knowledge to Haiti. Partners were also able to celebrate a project meeting in order to orientate project action in the following months.