On 14 October 2020: The aim of the meeting was to introduce the new Project/staff as well as discussing different ways of during the project implementation.

The project Team Leader, Mr. Aqim Emurli informed the Rector and his staff that ‘HERAS Plus’ is a continuation of the previous project funded by ADA and stated that the project will engage with all public universities, including UHZ in Peja, in development of capacities for conducting their own baseline assessments, providing support to internationalization and mobility, fostering Human Rights based Approach (HRBA) and Social Dimension, providing an opportunity to benefit from grants and programmatic partnership as foreseen in the approved Project Document.

In in the other side, Mr. Fadil Millaku, the Rector of UHZ in Peja, while providing an overview of the progress made by the UHZ in Peja, stressed the challenges they have faced with the institutional accreditation, and the importance that the UHZ in Peja has assigned to drafting a reliable Strategic Plan for the period 2020-2024. The Rector noted that the University has designated a special Committee to overview the implementation of the Strategic Plan. The Committee reports on the strategic plan implementation on quarterly bases using the tools and indicators foreseen in the strategic plan. This enables the University management to monitor the progress, as well as identify and remedy the shortcomings as they happen. Further, The Rector, highlighted the UHZ promotes the Research & Innovation work through: (1) promoting typical academic research and attendance and organization of scientific conferences, (2) promoting and supporting the small-scale developmental research & innovation projects conducted by small teams composed by at least one academic staff and a few students, (3) promoting and supporting the small-scale applied science projects conducted by small teams composed by at least one academic staff and a few students.

In general, the meeting showed that the leadership of UHZ in Peja appreciates the Project’s determination to work with Reginal Universities and see the potential advantages from engaging together with the ‘HERAS Plus’ Project in utilizing the Project expertise and other support and development activities. The project and the University senior management agreed to remain in close contacts during the overall implementation of the project. .