Informatik

DEQUE Coordination Meeting Comments of EACEA on our intermediate report

Prof. Dr. Serge Chernyshenko Prof. Dr. Klaus G. Troitzsch Universitt Koblenz-Landau

Informatik

National Agency
We would like to know the state of implementation of the activities related to the establishment of the National Agency (i..e. what has been done concretely so far, what should be done and which steps are planned by the project team for the second year of project implementation).

2/8

Informatik

Centres for Quality Assurance

On the establishment of Centres for Quality Assurance at the partner institutions in Turkmenistan, the report only mentions that those new structures are expected to be opened during the project lifetime. It is also generically mentioned that progresses have been made- We would like to receive more details on the implementation of the related activities (what has been done concretely so far, the results achieved, the next steps and benchmarks).
3/8

Informatik

Difficulties encountered in the project

We take note of the difficulties encountered by the project mainly due to Iengthy and heavy bureaucratic procedures and different understanding of quality assurance issues. These shortcomings might jeopardise the achievement of the project objectives. We would kindly ask you to indicate under "Obstacle and Shortcomings" which measures have been taken or the project team plans to take to address these problems.
4/8

Informatik

Staff training
As for staff training, we would kindly ask you to provide additional information on. the training carried out in May 2011 (who provided the training, the content, the number of staff trained and their home institution, the outcomes of the training), on the English courses - if carried out (length, number of staff trained and their home institutions) and the Summer Academy (outcomes and concrete outputs/deliverables if applicable -- of the training).
5/8

Informatik

Academic council
In particular, based on the monitoring findings, it appears that the Academic Council only includes representatives of the EU partners and it is not operational. It would seem that there is not real academic coordination amongst EU partners nor a concrete contribution or the EU co-beneficiaries in project management (in terms of planning or reviewing of activities); each EU co-beneficiary has been assigned with a role/topic but they work in isolation one from the other and there are not regular exchanges.
6/8

Informatik

Communication and coordination

Communication and coordination between the EU partners and the Turkmen partners is also a weak point of project implementation. The local partners regret that besides the three meetings (where some of the partners could not be present) there is not continuity in communication or follow-up activities.

7/8

Informatik

Inauguration of the centre

Partners were surprised to learn that the inauguration of the Centre is still planned for February (as it seem not realistic) and were not aware of the establishment of a draft development plan for the Centres. They could not show such a document, nor the draft project for Quality Assurance Standards. According to the local project team, no English courses have taken place contrary to what is stated in the report.
01/06/2012 Quality assessment at the University of Koblenz-Landau

8/8

Informatik

Difficulties in the implementation

The members of the local team met during the field monitoring visit showed high interest and good commitment in achieving the project's objectives even if they also underlined the difficulties in implementing mobilities and in fostering changes in the Iocal context. The monitoring team advised to review the project plan, and readapt it to the actual local reality. In particular, it was suggested to plan a piloting phase of the QA standards to be developed in one or more Turkmen partner institutions.
01/06/2012 Quality assessment at the University of Koblenz-Landau

9/8

Informatik

Practical applications
The local team confirmed that the topic of the project is very relevant for Turkmenistan, but they regret that trainings so far were very theoretical with no practical applications. It would be advisable for future training to have more interactive sessions seeking for a proposal on how to translate the EU standards to Turkmen reality and understanding, with greater focus on their possible practical application.

01/06/2012

Quality assessment at the University of Koblenz-Landau

10/8

Informatik

Extension of the eligibility period

The project is registering serious delays and at the same time its objectives seem very ambitious. The monitors would support the idea of an extension of the eligibility period. However, the formal request to EACEA should be accompanied by a thorough review of the results achieved so far, delays and actions needed to address the main difficulties, and by an updated workplan covering the period of extension. This should be discussed and agreed amongst all project partners beforehand.
01/06/2012 Quality assessment at the University of Koblenz-Landau

11/8