higher education

On September 23rd started the International Deans' Course Latin America 2019/20 at the University of Alicante. The course has been opened by the rector, Manuel Palomar and the academic director of Institutional Projects, Joaquín Marhuenda. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK), the Universities of Saarland (Germany) and Alicante (Spain), in cooperation with the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation (AvH), are jointly organising the DIES-International Deans’ Course for Latin America. This intensive training course is part of the DIES programme (Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies) which has been jointly coordinated by the DAAD and HRK since 2001. Saarland University and the University of Alicante are the academic coordinators of the course. Both institutions have been cooperating for a long period of time, including projects for the evaluation, development and improvement of university management in Latin American higher education institutions.

INDOEDUC4ALL project members reunited in Alicante in order to participate in a training on Assistive Technology delivered by the experts from the Student Support Center of the University of Alicante from 16^th to 20^th Sept. 14 representatives from the Indonesian HEIs visited the University of Alicante and partook in the capacity building initiative, being introduced to innovative tools on inclusion and teaching methodologies across all ranges of disability, centered around Assistive Technologies (AT). This activity was held within the framework of the INDOEDUC4ALL project, an Erasmus+ project for Capacity Building in Higher Education cofounded by the European Union.

By doing so, INDOEDUC4ALL reinforces the AT Equipment purchase, an activity held within the framework of the WP4 of the project, generating sharing knowledge on AT management and application of these tools to the environment of the Indonesian HE system. In addition, partners also took the opportunity to organize a project meeting polishing the last strategies to finalise INDOEDUC4ALL project.

Hosted by Universidad Tecnológica de Panamá, the FREE Network Final Conference “Generating Innovation from research-based entrepreneurship: the Role of Higher Education Institutions in Central America” took place on the 10^th and 11^th September 2019, in Ciudad de Panamá, Panamá, organised by the International Project Management Office of the University of Alicante with the support of Universidad del Istmo.

The main objective of the conference was to promote the project visibility and present the project results, specifically officially launch the Innovation Support Offices (ISOs) Network established in the framework of the project in order to promote memberships from new members.  Also, the aim of the conference was to raise awareness of the key role of the ISOs for supporting spin-off creation in Central America. In this sense, the recently established ISOs were presented by project partners.  

On the 12h July the UA team took part of the ICSE conference “Elevating Innovation for Sustainable Development of Special Needs Education-ICSE” conference organized by UNESA. 

During the Plenary Session, Dr. Roberto Escarré presented the INDOEDUC4ALL project and discussed about the Implementation of Inclusive Education in Higher Education in Europe. INDOEDUC4ALL is a capacity building project, funded by the European Commission, aimed at supporting Indonesian Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the development of capacities of its members in addressing the educational need of students with disabilities. The project will also help partner universities to ensure education accessibility for students with disabilities, building up Disability Support Units equipped with assistive technologies.

On July 15 and 16 took place the first ANTENA Project’s First National Round Table and Coordination Meeting, held at De La Salle University (DLSU) in Manila (The Philippines). ANTENA Project, an initiative co-funded by the European Commission and coordinated by OGPI, aims to boost the internationalization of Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs).

During the event initial findings from the national survey it conducted on internationalization in and of Philippine HEIs. ADMU School of Management-Business Resource Center Director John Luis Lagdameo pointed out the top four barriers to mobility in three sectors (student, faculty, and administration and staff):

Institutional Entrepreneurship & Employability Programme manager, Víctor Climent and OGPI Senior Project Manager, Noelia López, participated on 9^th and 10^th of July 2019, in the 4^th INSPIRE Project Meeting and Mentoring workshop that took place at Cracow University of Economics in Poland. During the management meeting, the current state of project activities and results were discussed, the mid-term report and first external evaluation report were presented and participants met with social entrepreneurs and the local Department of Entrepreneurship. Indonesian partners presented the outcomes of the Business Plan Competition and selected examples of business plans of social enterprises. Most of these students’ projects focused on local resources, traditions and empowering local communities.

Dr. Oana M. Driha, Assist. Professor, Department of Applied Economics International Economy, Institute of Tourism Research and OGPI Senior Project Manager, Noelia López, participated from the 12th until the 14th of June 2019, in the 3rd TOURIST project management meeting that took place at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The first two days were devoted to discuss the progress of the project and to fully concentrate on the technical and operational implementation of the seven competence centres at partner universities as well as the creation of an international network to increase impacts of sustainability in tourism.
The third day of the meeting was dedicated to a study visit that focused on getting to more know about community-based tourism in the area of Chiang Mai.

Members of the EMINENT project participated in succeeding Study Visits in Vienna (Austria) and Cork (Ireland) from May 27^th to May 31^st. These activities have been devised with the intention to generate a space to share practices and foster mutual learning between the European and Haitian partners within the framework of capacity building action.

As such, during the first segment of the Study Visits in Vienna (Austria), EMINENT partners were hosted by  Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation in Austria (AQ Austria). For two days, Haitian, Irish and Spanish colleagues were introduced to accreditation and audit practices within the field of Quality Assurance in Higher Education. EMINENT consortium made the most of the opportunity to build upon the shared expertise, reflecting and orientating project activities within the area of Quality Assurance units definition as well as networking frameworks.

The REACT project and the REACT Network for Climate Change Research and Education in Southeast Asia are organising an International Conference on Climate Change in Ho Chi Minh City from September 19 - 20, 2019.

The International Conference CLIMATE CHANGE CHALLENGES FOR THE LOWER MEKONG BASIN REGION: FINDINGS, CRUCIAL PROBLEMS AND LESSONS LEARNED FROM ACTION PLANS TO DATE aims to bring together scholars and researchers of Higher Education and research institutions from the region in order to create a stronger network and foster intraregional collaboration in CC research and innovation. Stakeholders from industry, NGOs, government and other institutions from the region will be invited in order to take part in the discussions of the findings. The goal is to convey and unite the efforts of researchers and stakeholders in order to reflect and build up on the existing knowledge and boost the efforts in CC related research and actions in the region.

Representatives of 12 Libyan Higher Education Institutions, members of the  WHEEL project, congregated from 8th April 2019 to 11th April 2019 to celebrate the Kick Off Meeting of the project. WHEEL is a Capacity Building Higher Education project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, which is coordinated by Università Degli Studi di Genova.

The project aims to improve management and operation of the Libyan higher education institutions. WHEEL will achieve that goal by setting up a Network of Libyan universities as a learning platform to foster the modernization and strategic planning of the university system in the country, as well as, devising concrete policy proposals to meet the social and political challenges of Libya. The University of Alicante, relying upon its expertise on international project management and capacity building, will provide support to this project as partners.