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Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window - Lot 9
Partnership Project Management Meeting
tent 23 - 24 October 2008
Organized by Westminister International University in Tashkent
Minutes Minutes
23 October 2008
A welcome speech was presented by Prof. Abdujabar the rector of WIUT and Mrs. Aziza Abdurakhmanova the local coordinator from the National Tempus Office.
1. Introduction:
A general presentation about the policy context of the programme was given by Carlos Machado.
2. Learning Agreement & Diploma Supplement:
A short presentation about the definition and use of the learning agreement and diploma supplement was given by Enrique Lopez Veloso, a short discussion was made among partners to stress the need for the learning agreement and diploma supplement, it was agreed that the study period abroad should be recognized taking into consideration the internal regulations and mechanisms of both the host and home universities.
3. Credit Transfer and Study Recognition:
A short presentation was given by Tomasz Kollat an exchange student from Poznan University who spent a one-semester study in Uzbekistan about his own experience in getting his study period recognized at home university. A discussion among partners was made and the following comments and suggestions arose:
The student will be asked to prepare information about the modules' syllabus when preparing the leaning agreement or after receiving the transcript of record to make the recognition process possible.
- A study plan that contains the list of courses the student will be taking or a description of the study abroad goals (e.g. diploma thesis, internship.. .etc.) will be asked as an additional document to be part of the application supporting documents (all coordinators will be asked to update the info sheets that were prepared in the second call, the section about how to find information about courses/possibilities offered at the host institutions will strictly be filled in, this could be a link to a web page (this link should work and should be in English or a language that a student would understand!) or incase of no web pages available a word document can be attached to the info sheet).
A new section about the credit system for EU universities and recognition procedure for CA universities will be added to the info sheet.
- Incase the courses taken were not recognized as compulsory courses at the home university, courses will be recognized as non-compulsory courses and will be part of the students home transcript of record and diploma supplement (if it is not possible to add it to the diploma supplement, then it will serve as an attachment to the diploma supplement).
A minimum number of ECTS credits is to be decided on within the consortium to make sure that the students are following the requested educational plan and fulfilling the main goals and recommendations given by the EU commission. Students are expected to take courses that are relative to their main field of study at their home university.
4. Promotion and Visibility:
A presentation about the promotion and visibility of the programme including the communication strategy was made by Carlos Machado; he introduced new ideas and plans to be realized immediately:
- A poster was designed for the purpose of disseminating the programme properly among candidates, this will be sent electronically to all partners to be able to print it out and make it visible for all interested future candidates in different places.
Other Central Asian non-partner universities are to be approached to make this programme visible for candidates of Group II
- A leaflet will be printed out and distributed among partners to make it available to all candidates; this leaflet will be a source of information for applicants. A booklet/brochure will be designed; this will contain rather more practical information for nominated students/teachers. It will contain all possible information including documents needed, visa instructions, examples how to fill in the different needed documents such as Learning Agreement, credit system and recognition procedure of each university, FAQ, travel.. .etc. a draft will be prepared by Carlos Machado with the help of volunteer partners, this will be sent to all partners for suggestions, final version should be ready by the end of December 2008. Seminars about the programme will be organized at the different CA universities to help promote the programme, Carlos Machado and Jean Pierre Roose will take part in those seminars.
5. Web Pages - Improvements:
A presentation was made by Carlos, Abdumalik and Amal concerning the improvments that could be made to the web pages of the programme. The following ideas and plans were made:
It is a necessity to remake the current web pages to make it clearer, better structured and more user friendly for interested applicants. Web pages should contain the following:
î Clear information about the programme: to be as clear as possible, containing general information about the programme and its goals, universities offered, fields of study offered, application procedure and deadlines.
î Information about the partner universities: through info sheets, this will be updated every year before the opening of the application form (info sheets will be updated by coordinators, Amal Al Khatib will collect them (via email)).
î Online application form: will be improved so students/CA coordinators can upload supporting documents online.
î Alumni block: to exchange experiences among students who were already abroad and provide information to interested future applicants.
î Database of online application forms: available for all coordinators to check and download all the applications and supporting documents, this database should contain a filtering facility based on different criteria; this will help making things more clear and have all applications in one place.
î Intranet: an internal server which can be accessed by every coordinator,
documents for reporting obligations can be downloaded from this server, those documents will be clearly classified (when to sign it, how to fill it in, who should sign it... .etc.).
- A suggestion was made to find a new person/company who will design, programme, update and maintain the new web pages of the programme, this person/company will be assigned from Central Asia under the supervision of the Central Asia coordinator WIUT. Part of the programme's budget will be assigned for this purpose.
6. Application and Selection Procedures:
A discussion about the improvements of the selection procedure for the third call was made, the following points, ideas and plans arose:
Application form will be available in two forms:
î Online application form available on the programme's web pages, supporting documents to be scanned and uploaded online.
î A paper application form available for applicants who do not have an easy access to the internet, such application forms and supporting documents are to be scanned and sent by email to the coordinator of the programme (Carlos Machado) before the deadline (with the new application database, a possibility to upload those scanned paper applications and documents to the database so that all applications are put in one place).
- The following new application and selection schedule will be adapted for the third call:
î 1st April 2009: application procedure will start (online application and paper application will become available).
and the ability of the student to fulfill the requirements of this study exchange. The following decisions were made:
- Monitoring reports are to be filled in by the students and their supervisors regularly (once by the end of the semester). Supervisors will be able to give their opinion on the students' educational progress and give recommendations, such recommendation could be to terminate the students scholarship incase he/she is not able to fulfill the expected educational requirements.
Make sure that the students are not away on their summer vacation longer than one month. If they stay longer, their scholarship will be shortened and EU coordinator has the right to terminate their study if their longer absence is not justified and is breaking the academic regulations of the host university. Better communication between coordinators, students and teachers is a must.
8. Changes in the programme:
Changes in the Erasmus Mundus programme in general and the EMECW programme in particular were presented by Carlos Machado including future plans and suggestions to insure the sustainability of the programme (this is to be discussed more on the second day of the meeting!).
9. Report:
A report on the PhD., post doc. and teaching staff nomination list was revised, issues were solved, and special arrangements were made for candidates nominated in the second call who have not started their mobility yet.
10. Actions, Things to do:
Create a module syllabus form which will be unified for all students, this will be an attachment to the learning agreement or the transcript of records, this syllabus form will be prepared by the student for every module with the assistance of the coordinator and teachers at Host University (Suggestion: deadline 31 December 2008).
Create a study plan form to be unified for all students. This form will be filled in as
part of the application form (something similar to the learning agreement, but without
the signature of the coordinators since this form will be filled in by the time of
application) (Suggestion: deadline 31 December 2008).
Update the info sheet so that it contains clearer information especially about the
courses offered at the host EU University, add a section about the credit system for EU
universities and recognition procedure for CA universities (Amal).
Send the updated info sheet to all partners to prepare before the third call is
announced. (Suggestion: deadline 31 December 2008) (Amal).
Poster to be finalized and sent electronically to all partners (Suggestion: 30 November
2008).
Leaflet to be finalized and sent to all partners (Suggestion: 30 November 2008).
Booklet/Brochure to be finalized and sent to all partners (Suggestion: 31 December
2008).
Start arranging for the new application forms' database, Amal will find a person to do
the work, Carlos will finance that from the programme's budget (Suggestion: deadline
for getting the trial version of the database ready is 15 February 2009).
Carlos will check the intranet that Jean Pierre has already prepared in the first call,
login name and password is to be sent to all partners again, reporting documents to be
put in this intranet (Suggestion: deadline 30 January 2009).
Abdumlik will make the arrangements to find a suitable person/company who will be
able to design, programme, update and maintain the new web pages of the programme
with the help of the consortium's feedback (Suggestion: deadline 7 November 2008,
Carlos and other volunteer partners start thinking of the new structure (same
deadline!)).
update and send the excel sheet of the fields of study offered at the different EU
universities to all EU partners and decide on a general idea of how many students to
be sent where and through which fields of study. This can be prepared by Carlos with
the help of EU volunteer partner (Suggestion: deadline 31 December 2008).
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