A joint meeting of Tempus project coordinators and the National Tempus Offices’ coordinators was organized in Brussels, between March 15 and 17, 2010, also attended by the representative of the Agency for Science and Higher Education.
The purpose of this meeting was to establish contacts and exchange information on management of Tempus projects, Tempus program itself, as well as changes and trends in higher education in Europe in general.
The main ideas and conclusions are the following ones:
• Financial audit will be introduced for all projects approved under the third call for proposals in the Tempus IV program, with a grant above 750.000 Euros, within five years after the end of the project eligibility period;
• Results of the third call for proposals under the Tempus IV program should be published in September 2010;
• A ministerial conference should be organized at the beginning of Winter 2010, dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Tempus program, accompanied with an adequate brochure;
• The study on university governance in Tempus partner countries, which should be published soon, has shown that greatest challenges related to university governance lie in finding the balance between autonomy and responsibility, and between the conservative academic culture and the need for a fresh approach. The key problems also occur in different perspectives by the universities and the ministries, as well as various university components. Although a rise of autonomy has been noticed, accrediation procedures are still considered to be slow and conservative. Managerial structures lack outside stakeholders, students’ role is limitted, staff is not sufficiently motivated, and there is a need for better financial management. It can be concluded from all said above that education of all levels on university governance is necessary.
• A publication of the study on current state of play regarding the Bologna process in Tempus partner countries is also expected soon. The study states Western Balkans countries as the most advanced ones in the application of the Bologna process, and Croatia is mentioned as one of eight Tempus partner countries (outside of EU) that has an indendent agency for quality assurance;
• The study on impact of Tempus III program on beneficiary countries, which should also be published soon, shows that the program has had highly positive results, however attention still needs to be paid to projects related to equal access to studying and the governance reform, that joint studies should be supported, and that strategic orientation and dissemination of project results should be strenghtened.
• A public platform for dissemination and exploation of project results, EVE, has been published: http://www.ec.europa.eu/eve;
• The European commission launched, in December 2008, EaP – Eastern Partnership, with an aim of stronger integration between EU and partner countries: http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/eastern/index_en.htm;