QUADIC Project

609786-EPP-1-2019-1-XK-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

The overall goal of this project is to improve higher education provision in Kosovo and Albania, by building institutional capacity for international relations whereby establishing or making fully functional respective offices (including capacity for project cycle management) in all nine Kosovo and five Albanian consortium members.

This project will build institutional capacity for the internationalization of HE in Kosovo and Albania, by improving capacity for project development and management through international expertise made available by European HEIs partnering in this project and exchange of good practice between the consortium members. This will make way for local higher education institutions to engage confidently in various academic and research cooperation initiatives in the region, in Europe and wider.

The aim of the project is establish and develop fourteen fully functional offices of international cooperation that will also include the function of project cycle management.  Currently, none of the new public universities in Kosovo and Albania has the capacity to fully run an International Cooperation Office, at a time when over 50% of students in European Higher Education institutions are studying or participating in one or another form of international studies and when a significant part of university life takes place in the form of various exchanges and mobilities. This makes it of paramount importance to build respective capacity for all members. This will ultimately contribute substantially to the quality of provision and will enrich university life and experiences of the student population in Kosovo and Albania.

Therefore, having in mind the possibility of Erasmus + project to support this idea, we initiated the work as a consortium on developing this idea. The project will have very high importance in addressing increasing isolation, lack of quality international cooperation and lack of project initiatives from Kosovo and Albania universities. The project is falling under the Erasmus + Reg. Priorities, Cat. C-Improving management and operation of HEIs/internationalization of HEIs, where the elements of subject area of governance, strategic planning and management of HEIs is also present. It also meets one of objectives of Kosovo and Albania Education plan: HE Upgrading the quality and competitiveness of HE through the promotion of excellence in teaching, scientific research, artistic creation, innovation and internationalization

The project is comprised of the following specific objectives:

-Establish nine (9) fully functional International Cooperation Offices in all Kosovo Consortium members and develop the ICO

-Establish five (5) fully functional International Cooperation Offices in all Albanian Consortium members and develop the ICO

-Develop capacities of partner HEIS in International Cooperation development and management

-Develop capacity for project cycle management

-Facilitate management of international mobilities by developing operational online platform for qualitative international cooperation

-Increase the number of international projects, mobilities and international agreements

Project is designed as a platform for the establishment of dialogue among target groups. Project will impact regional education institutions involved in the current project through modernization and capacity building of the international relation offices and project management. Strengthening the project interdisciplinary, is in line with the Initiative on Modernization of HE, and in the same time promotes new approach and therefore impacts existing educational mainstream in other Partner countries.