On 30 April 2021, the Project HERAS Plus launched the Baseline Assessment Report for the University “Isa Boletini” in Mitrovica (UIBM). The Report is an overview of UIBM’s institutional development. In addition it provides valuable recommendations for progress.

Mr. Aqim Emurli, Team Leader of HERAS Plus Project, on this occasion noted that the Baseline Assessments (BA), which are currently being conducted for all the seven public Universities, in fact, are the first ones of its kind in Kosovo. The assessments, and the BA Reports, are a modest contribution, but in the right direction and using the correct approach, with an impact reaching beyond the public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Kosovo. The Project is working to advance the overall higher education and research system the in Kosovo, in order to make it better governed, more international, coherent, effective and efficient, fostering students’ employability and the third mission of universities.

The Report launching event was witnessed by Ms. Sandra Horina, the head of local office in Prishtina from the Austrian Development Agency, who congratulated UIBM and HERAS Plus for the great steps taken in assessing the overall developmental situation of the University along with identifying the areas for improvement, which in the Report are expressed in the form of Recommendations with clear mechanisms and indicators. Further, Ms. Horina expressed satisfaction that Austrian funds and Austrian support is not only made available to the public Universities in Kosovo, but also the funds and the support are utilized in the most efficient manner. In this regard, Ms. Horina praised the HERAS Plus Project as the “Austrian Flagship Project in Kosovo” and encouraged the Rector of the UIBM, the academic staff, and the students to make a good use of all opportunities provided by the Project.

In return, the Rector, Mr. Alush Musaj, expressed his enthusiasm and hope to see the great cooperation between the UIBM and HERAS Plus continue and develop beyond the support in conducting the BA. In this regards, the Rector highlighted that he, and the University leadership team, are looking forward to the Project’s support also in implementing the key recommendations that came from the BA.

The event concluded with the ceremonial signing of the MoU between the Project and UIBM, thus setting the frame for a well-structured cooperation.

On 12 January 2021, the Project Team met with the senior management of University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” (UMIB). Ms. Merita Shala, Vice Rector for Teaching, Student Affairs and Quality Assurance, and Mr. Behxhet Shala, Vice-Rector for International Cooperation and Research received the Project Team at the UMIB Campus.

On behalf of ‘HERAS Plus’, Mr. Nehat Dervishi, Thematic Coordinator for Higher Education, and Ms. Fitore Fazliu, Thematic Coordinator for Research and Innovation, briefed the Vice-Rectors on the opportunities offered by HERAS+ Project, and engaged in exploring the best feasible options to deliver institutional development support for UMIB.

The Vice-rectors presented the team with the current processes and plans for advancing the scope and quality of educational offerings as well as quality assurance within UMIB. In addition, the Vice-rectors, identified specific areas and activities for potential support, mainly of strategic and institutional development nature. Both parties agreed to continue cooperation by engaging in further follow-up meetings and concrete actions for the agreed support activities. .

On 4^th November 2020, the HERAS Plus and Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA) formalized a new cooperation within the HERAS Plus project by signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), through which the KAA will benefit institutional and technical support in strengthening the capacities to develop and regulate higher education and fulfill the required criteria to return of Kosovo Accreditation Agency in the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).

Kosovo Accreditation Agency Director, Mr. Naim Gashi, stated that by implementing this memorandum, the KAA will almost round up the criteria fulfillment for the return of the Agency in ENQA. Mr. Gashi stated that the Memorandum targets the main needs of the Kosovo Accreditation Agency towards developing and ensuring quality in higher education (as one of the main national priorities of Kosovo) that enable the preconditions to connect higher education with the job market.

The Project Team Leader of HERAS+, Mr. Aqim Emurli stated that this is a great opportunity for both parties involved in this cooperation (KAA and HERAS Plus Project) since the Memorandum contains specifications of all activities to be addressed during the project implementation (2020-2023) with the principal aim of returning KAA in The European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA).

Through this MoU, the Kosovo Accreditation Agency will benefit support with international legal expertise towards completion of the legislation and other juridical acts; will map a guideline and manual for International experts training – who are part of the accreditation process in Kosovo; will offer support in standards review, especially the standard related to the number of students that can be accommodated in a study program; support will be offered also in developing the Strategic Plan of the Agency; developing of guidelines and processes for external quality assurance for Institutions and applied sciences programs; there will be study visits for experience exchanges between Kosovo and Austria, etc.

On 20 October 2020, ‘HERAS Plus’ Project Team met with the Senior Management of the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina” (UPHP). The purpose of the meeting was to introduce the Project, and the Project Team, to the newly appointed senior management of the University (UPHP). Moreover, the meeting served as a platform for initiating cooperation and working relationship between the Project Team and the new management of UPHP.

The Rector of UPHP, Mr. Naser Sahiti, welcomed the Project Team and expressed his interest to cooperate with the Project. The new management of the University, noted the Rector, is committed to improving the quality of services offered by UPHP, including the Programs and Research & Innovation. Next, the management is devoted to advancing the quality of institutional management and to maintaining and developing the working relationship with all international donors and Projects including ‘HERAS Plus’. The Rector, further, noted the positive impressions he has about the previous HERAS project, and expressed his, and his team’s interest to know more about the current Project, namely the ‘HERAS Plus’.

Mr. Aqim Emurli, ‘HERAS Plus’ Team Leader, offered a brief presentation of the Project. The Team Leader highlighted that ‘HERAS Plus’ is a continuation of the previous project funded by ADA, and implemented by the three-party Consortium: WUS Austria (Lead), ZSI and OeAD. He further noted that the Project will engage with all public universities, primarily with UPHP as the largest public HEI, 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.

On the other side, the Rector emphasized that the actual action plan of the new University management of UPHP is strictly based on UPHP Strategic Plan. In this context, the UPHP management will engage in identifying the potential areas of cooperation between the Project and the UPHP. Among other areas, the Rector suggested, could be a potential cooperation on the topic of improving the credibility of performance appraisals process for the Academic Staff, and integrity and reliability of the Students’ Evaluations instrument (for academic staff), which is being implemented at UPHP. In this matter, the management of UPHP would highly appreciate if ‘HERAS Plus’ could step-in to provide some support based on the Austrian experience and utilizing the Austrian expertise.

Another area of potential cooperation, mentioned during the meeting, was to explore the possibility of benefiting from the Project’s support in the area of Research and Innovation. The research activity, undergoing at UPHP, is mainly streamlined towards contributing to academic staff advancement. The new management of UPHP is interested to enrich this experience by investing in research activity that is steered towards developmental projects.

In general, the meeting showed that the senior management of UPHP sees the potential advantage from engaging together with the ‘HERAS Plus’ Project in utilizing the Project expertise and other support and development activities. The Project Team and the University management agreed to remain in close contacts during the coming period to coordinate the launch of the joint activities.

On 14 October 2020: ‘HERAS Plus’ project team had an introductory meeting with the leadership of the University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” (UMIB). The Rector of UMIB, Mr. Alush Musaj, welcomed the Project Team and expressed his enthusiasm to cooperate with the Project. UMIB is a quickly developing University, which has recently moved to a brand-new University Campus with a modern infrastructure. The University leadership is seriously engaged in improving the quality of educational services, including the quality of programs offered, the quality of institutional management and the quality of research & innovation conducted within UMIB institution.

In his welcome remark, the Rector, in addition to providing an overview of the tangible progress made by UMIB, also addressed the challenges that University has faced during the last academic year, when the University was not accredited by KAA (i.e. the University was considered as not meeting the standards for institutional accreditation). The Rector, despite having some reservations with the current legal framework, and the actual practice of conducting institutional accreditation on the public HEIs, noted that UMIB has successfully overcome the challenge and even came out of it in a much better shape. Concerning this matter, the Rector encouraged the Project to work with Central institutions in redefining the policy regarding the institutional accreditation for public HEIs. UMIB representatives confirmed that they see an interest in cooperating with ‘HERAS Plus’ Project and welcomed that idea that this cooperation starts with conducting a Baseline Assessment. They further suggested that ‘HERAS Plus’ Team conducts an info session with all the academic staff of UMIB with the aim of further explaining the research grants, programmatic partnership and scholarships that are available (upon qualification) as part of the Project. Moreover, the UMIB representatives briefed the Project Team about the Committee that is appointed to oversee the implementation of the strategic plan and the idea that the University shall soon engage in the process of drafting a separate strategic plan for scientific research.

In the other side, Mr. Aqim Emurli, ‘HERAS Plus’ Team Leader, commended the Rector for his successful management of the issue faced by UMIB regarding institutional accreditation. The Team Leader, next offered a brief presentation of the Project by highlighting the fact that ‘HERAS Plus’ is a continuation of the previous project funded by ADA, and implemented by the three-party Consortium: WUS Austria (Lead), ZSI and OeAD. The Project will engage with all public universities, including UMIB, 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.

HERAS+ Team was happy to hear that UMIB is monitoring the implementation of the strategic plan and that the University is planning to draft an additional strategy on Scientific Research.  In this regard, the Project Team suggested that this strategic plan may be inserted as a separate heading into the main Strategic Plan of UMIB, if this will be the recommendation of the Committee that is overseeing the implementation of the strategic plan. ‘HERSA Plus’ pledged support to the drafting of the Strategic Plan heading on scientific research, if requested by UMIB, and offered to cooperate with UMIB in organizing an info session that may be open to everyone interested (academic staff or students), in which the Project Team can present and discuss the opportunities offered by the Project. .