AS WE PREPARE FOR THE ROAD AHEAD
INVEST alliance is proud to announce its midterm report for the period- from 01/11/2020 to 30/04/2022. The report addressed and successfully met the following areas:
1. For management and coordination, all partner institutions, created a specialized team to effectively head and implement, governess structure, academic board, research, innovation, quality management technical/administrative needs.
These are ongoing tasks and activities and will be running during the whole project duration. Therefore, organized transnational project meetings and Rectors' Assembly meetings took place and are regular at specified dates and intervals. Planning, monitoring, and reporting were and are solely for the purpose of in-time recognition, mapping, and analyzing deviations in the project work. The project management overall strategy outlines the major project management principles, the key phases of project methodology and work plan, the structure, and quality of the consortium, budget management, as well as the paths of effective cooperation and communication among the partners.
2. For the newly established cooperation model, quality assurance system, and evaluation, all partners set up strategic guidelines and joint development.
Therefore, areas and aspects achieved by the consortium were: staff and development, education and studies, a common academic calendar, study programs and courses, admission requirements and application, student learning pathways using EDUC8EU, Virtual Campus, shared research centers, Living Labs, scientific events and publications, Learning Communities, open science and research, international relations and mobility, students and staff mobility, winter and summer schools, and training practices abroad. INVEST also designed and developed a common Quality Assurance System (QAS) along with appropriate impact assessment tools to provide a new educational paradigm.
3. For study programs, courses, learning strategies, and supporting tools.
INVEST alliance designed and implemented a model of joint pedagogy for Higher Education Institutes, as well as joint degrees (Bachelor, Master, and Doctor level) centered around the focal points of INVEST. Additionally, a new methodology of innovative teaching, learning, and learning strategy was developed. All studies are tailored with specific multilingual studies corresponding to the regions/sites of program offerings. At the same time, INVEST educational staff co-creates the development of lifelong learning courses including in-service training and flexible study paths with the associated partners and stakeholders in the fields of the focal points of INVEST. Last but not least, topical winter and summer schools as well as research projects, and field studies give the opportunity for high student and staff mobility.
4. For co-creation of student and staff competencies and sustainable INVEST tools.
International and interregional opportunities are created for study program pilot tools. These too are ongoing tasks and activities which will be running until the end of the project. Specific tasks include the creation of a systemic pilot process and tools for curriculum development following the implementation of agile development and continuous improvement towards newly scheduled degrees for development. The process is built in synergy with curriculum development and quality systems. Also, physical, and digital mobilities were established by the INVEST mobility team. Apart from the physical and virtual participation of students and staff in the winter and summer schools, mobilities are also planned with the immediate start of bachelor’s study programs in September 2022.
5. For sustainability and dissemination
INVEST alliance, designed, and integrated a dissemination and communication plan, giving an integrated toolkit to all partners to use to maximize INVEST’s impact both nationally and internationally. Using major electronic media (websites, social media, focus groups, advertisements, as well as public and private stakeholder consultations), INVEST almost daily informs students and societal groups about the project’s activities and achievements. A complete communication package, along with a series of planned activities is used extensively to achieve preset KPI’s and to promote the ideas of joint pedagogy and joint degrees in Europe so that, the European University initiative will set the statute for legal entities. This will give INVEST the sustainability needed for the years to come and the establishment at European level.
Above all, the INVEST alliance has critically and seriously contributed towards:
• A HIGHER LEVEL OF ENHANCED COOPERATION BETWEEN THE PARTNER INSTITUTIONS
• QUALITY, PERFORMANCE, ATTRACTIVENESS, AND INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS
• A COOPERATION MODEL, QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM, AND EVALUATION
• REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• THE PROMOTION OF COMMON EUROPEAN VALUES AND A STRENGTHENED EUROPEAN IDENTITY
• THE EUROPEAN EDUCATION AREA
• MOBILITIES AND PROGRESS TOWARDS STUDENT MOBILITIES
• THE PROMOTION OF COMMON EUROPEAN VALUES AND A STRENGTHENED EUROPEAN IDENTITY
Written and Curated by Andriana Gerondis