6th Steering Committee Online Meeting
Project title: “Enhancing capacity of universities to initiate and to participate in clusters development on innovation and sustainability principles” (UniClaD)
Reference number: 609944-EPP-1-2019-1-LT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP
Date: 15th December 2021.
At the beginning of the meeting, the project coordinator Irma Servaite greeted the participants. She also introduced the new future project coordinator Vytaute Giedraitiene.
V. Giedraitiene presented the financial report of the project, which partners have absorbed how much funds for different activities. The most obvious problem was the absorption of travel funds. The lack involvement of the partner Suliddinoglu Agricultural Farm in the project activities was also discussed.
The low involvement of the partner Suliddinoglu Agricultural Farm in the project activities was also discussed, as well as how they can be better reached and encouraged to join the project activities. K. Mammadova from ASAU explained that there are several main problems with the farm. First of all, it is a dairy farm, but due to the pandemic, it has reduced its farm and its output drastically and conditions have become quite poor. The second problem is with registration and other documents. The part of documents are lost. I. Komlosi suggests asking the Suliddinoglu Agricultural Farm what they plan to do and how to deal with the situation. If they still want to be involved in the project, they should be supported to find a way out of this situation. However, if they do not want to participate, each partner would have to vote and the partner would not be able to participate in further activities of the project. The farm should also write a letter explaining the economic and other problems and thus initiate withdrawal from the project. It was decided to organise an online meeting with the farm in January to discuss their participation in the project.
Expertise Centre and Pilot Project: a Review, Leticia Chico Santamarta, UVA, Spain & Istvan Komlosi, UD, Hungary.
L. Chico Santamarta presented an overview of the Expertise Centres in the pipeline and made some comments on what should be improved. She reviewed the roadmap of the pilot projects and briefly commented on which activities are in place and which are delayed. The main criteria reviewed were project title, materials and methods. L. Chico Santamarta presented the project plan prepared by each institution, based on the documents they had sent, and commented on what needed to be added and improved. The next steps for the pilot project and the centre of expertise were also presented.
Quality Insurance Within the Project. Quality Evaluation of First International Meeting. Ludmila Stepura, Olga Getya, HPHE, Ukraine.
L.Stepura presented the results of the evaluation of the first International Meeting and 6th Steering Committee Meeting in Ukraine. 56 people attended the meeting, but only 15 people completed the evaluation questionnaire. In future, partners should be more involved in the evaluation of the meetings. This is the only way to ensure their quality. Strengths and weaknesses were identified and suggestions were made on how to improve for future meetings.
Development of the Postcards and Legal Framework for Expertise Centers, Izabela Lipinska, PULS, Poland
I. Lipinska presented the Establishment of centres plan. She reiterated the steps to be taken, the implementation and the documents to be prepared. She also gave an overview of the partners' progress until December 2021. The progress of each partner in the process of developing the Centres was also presented, and it was discussed whether the partners had presented the Approval of Ministry and Sub-division.
The template of postcard was presented as well.
Study Tours Planning. Project dissemination activities. Emmanuela Montenegro, Noureddin Driouech, CIHEAM Bari, Italy.
E. Montenegro presented study tour planning and updates and what is expected from these tours. She explained the scheme of the study tours, which MD, AZ and UK partners will visit the EU partners when and for what purpose.
N. Driouech reiterated the importance of the dissemination plan and the essential elements that must be followed. He reviewed what has been done during the period, what innovations have been made and what needs to be improved. He also reminded that the project folder contains materials and methodologies for partners to improve Dissemination activities.
An important point N. Driouech highlighted was that he is waiting for feedback on the project flyer - whether it should be translated into UA, MD and AZ languages. Also, if partners from UA, MD and AZ have any important news they would like to publish in the newsletter, they should send it. He reminded the partners to follow up and record all dissemination related information.
Planning of the Development of the Training Modules and Student Mobility, Veronika Hager, Sabine Kahrer, UCAEP, Austria.
S. Kahrer Presented the development and introduction of new courses for Masters and PhD students and the plan to implement them. Expected outcome: e-guides will be produced in three languages and made available on the project's web portal; other pedagogical support (guides, e-films...). She also gave a brief overview of what had been decided at the 22 November working group meeting – content table, outcomes and methods of each course.