Quality of the partnership

The project consortium consists of three of the largest state universities in Serbia, two state universities from Bosnia and Herzegovina, one private university from Montenegro, three universities from EU, and two large enterprises, one from Serbia and one from Bosnia and Herzegovina. For each of the partner in the consortium a role has been devised that best suits its potentials and experience in the subject matter.

All participant universities from the region are committed to establishing stronger relations among themselves and provide opportunities for mobility of their students and teachers. In addition to that they realize the importance of developing and strengthening relations with large regional enterprises, which are potential employers of their students.

University of Belgrade is the largest university in Serbia with a considerable experience with TEMPUS projects. Covering a broad range of disciplines, it has gained considerable experience in e-learning and distance learning, and is highly rated for its ICT programs. It will play the central role in establishing the BAEKTEL network and portal, and providing multilingual terminological resources and services. University of Niš has already taken steps in modernization of its education processes by designing and implementing pilot e-learning systems. Within the project this university will concentrate on possibilities offered by technology enhanced learning (TEL) to remove traditional boundaries and restrictions to knowledge sharing via virtual mobility it offers. University of Kragujevac has a long and very fruitful collaboration with other regional universities in joint TEMPUS projects, especially those aimed at improving the quality of e-learning and distance education. It expects to broaden and enhance this collaboration within this project by building a joint development strategy for incorporation of OER materials and policies into teaching curricula, based on its highly professional and recognized skills gained by participating in DL projects in WB countries.

University of Banja Luka was one of the first universities to implement e-learning and distance learning in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to that, inspired by the MIT OCW initiative, its Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering was a pioneer in introducing open courseware content within the university by creating video lectures. The valuable experience that this university has thus gained will greatly contribute to defining the procedures and methodology for creation of high quality OCW content for partner organizations. University of Tuzla has to offer its great experience in the actual HE setting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as in the implementation of Tempus projects. In addition to that, it is experienced in the development of methods for technology supported distance education systems and has created its own university distance learning center. Its team members have already contributed actively in the past to the development of quality assurance and e-learning in HE in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mediterranean University is the first private University in Montenegro, fully accredited, and has already gained considerable experience in applied ICT. It is very highly ranked both for the academic quality of its ICT programs and its involvement in ICT product and service market in Montenegro and the region. It will benefit from this position to introduce the concept and practice of OER in Montenegrin academic and entrepreneurial circles within the scope of this project.

University of Basilicata is a young but very dynamic and fast developing university, ranking now third among the ‘small’ Italian universities with less than 10.000 students. Unburdened by tradition, its academic staff is following the latest developments in HE education, combining knowledge management and technology enhanced learning (TEL). Its moderate size makes it more flexible and capable of acting efficiently in its role as coordinator. Technical University of Iasi is highly rated by the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education as an academic institution that provides a high level of QA for study programs. Combined with its considerable experience in technologic transfer to industrial companies, this university can contribute to QA of OER content developed at both universities and enterprises within this project. University of Ljubljana has not only academic, but also strong historical and cultural relations with WB universities. Within the project it will share the results of its rich tradition in development and evaluation of the efficiency of various learning methods, at all levels of education, focusing on the role of ICT, including the implementation of several e-learning projects in its academic curricula.

The Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS) is one of the biggest oil companies in South East Europe, employing around 9000 people. It has already established various forms of cooperation with Serbian universities and strives to broaden this cooperation by offering its expert knowledge in development of OER content. ArcelorMittal Prijedor operates within ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel and mining company conducting business in 60 countries and employing about 245,000 people. This company possesses a considerable amount of expert knowledge and is willing to provide expert consultancy in development of materials for OER repositories, as well as contribute to the development of terminological resources for supporting OER multilingualism in its field of expertise.

Composed in such a way, from regional and European universities, and representatives of major regional enterprises, the project consortium should, through synergy of its participants, be able to fulfill the project goal of blending academic and entrepreneurial knowledge within a technologically advanced setting.