On 05 September 2023, the project team visited the UUHP and attended the official ceremony of handing over the new equipment funded by the HERAS Plus. The equipment will enhance the ‘research activities in the relevant fields within the Faculty of Environmental Sciences: Quantitative & qualitative gene expression analysis; miRNA analysis; Genetic mapping; Genetic fingerprinting; NGS library quantification; Pathogen quantification’.

The Rector of the UUHP Mr. Mentor Alishani thanked HERAS Plus, the implementing consortium (WUS Austria, ZSI and OeAD) as well as Austrian Development Agency for this great support and stated that this intervention supports the implementation of their strategy terms of promoting research inputs/outputs.

During the visit, the Rector of the UHHP Mr. Mentor Alishani and the Team Leader Mr. Aqim Emurli also discussed about the ongoing and upcoming cooperation between UUHP and HERAS Plus. To this end, they both agreed to continue the cooperation towards the revision of the UUHP statute, training of the academic staff on improving the teaching research capacities as well as study programme development.

The National Stakeholder Conference on Social Cohesion and Equality in Kosovo, held on March 7th, coincided with National Teachers Day and marked a significant milestone for the Programmatic Partnership “Research capacity building to strengthen Empirical Education Research on Social Cohesion and Equity in Kosovo (EduReaKos) – funded under the HERAS Plus Programmatic Partnerships Scheme.” This partnership is coordinated by the University of Graz in partnership with three Public Higher Education Institutions in Kosovo: University “Isa Boletini” Mitrovica (UIBM), University “Ukshin Hoti” Prizren (UUHP), and University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina” (UP). The conference aimed to highlight issues related to educational equality and bring them to the policy agenda, focusing on large-scale assessments of data from PISA and TIMSS.

During the opening session, Mr. Aqim Emurli, HERAS Plus Team Leader, emphasised that this project (funded by HERAS Plus) is highly significant because it addresses crucial issues related to Human Rights and Gender Equality. He further commended the project’s achievements and emphasised the valuable capacity-building opportunities that emerged from the collaboration, particularly for the young researchers involved.

Additionally, Mr. Qerim Qerimi, Rector of the University of Prishtina, emphasised the conference’s importance as a contribution to advancing education in Kosovo, beyond its academic and research purposes. He expressed gratitude for the continued support offered by HERAS Plus.

The EduReaKos project has focused on capacity building, collaboration, and networking to strengthen young academics’ empirical education research and research competencies in teacher education and related disciplines. These efforts aim to build a robust knowledge base on social cohesion and equity within the Kosovan schooling system. The project’s research outcomes have been presented at four international conferences in Austria, Armenia, Germany, and Norway, in the form of a keynote, a symposium, four papers, and three posters.

On 26-27 November 2022, HERAS Plus Project was happy to further support the University “Ukshin Hoti” in Prizren (UUHP) in the process of preparing for institutional accreditation. The two-day workshop is the second phase of support provided by the Project that aim at improving the overall Quality Assurance mechanisms in place at UUHP.

During the first phase, 20 quality assurance instruments were reviewed by the engaged expert, including internal regulations, guidelines, questionnaires and reporting templates).  In this phase the support focused on reviewing and discussing the Self Evaluation Report and reflecting on the requirements of the accreditation standards. The two days’ Workshop was attended by the managerial, academic and administrative staff of UUHP involved and contributing to the preparations for the Institutional accreditation. The Project will continue to support UUHP to further streamline the quality assurance process and mechanisms.

HERAS Plus Project is engaged in enhancing public HEIs leadership capacities, strategic development and competitiveness. The workshop with UUHP on institutional accreditation working group is part of support provided to UUHP under earmarked fund for strategic development.

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study visit

On 21-22 October 2022 the Project was happy to provide a two-day advanced Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop on ‘Teaching Methodologies directed toward Competency Development’ with the University “Ukshin Hoti” in Prizren (UUHP).

The tailormade workshop is part of the support offered to UUHP in the context of functionalizing its Center for Excellence in Teaching (CET). The event was follow-up, and relate to, the previous interventions conducted with CET

The training focused on discussing the modern teaching methods, syllabus design, learning outcomes, and evaluation. The aim of the event was to support a core team of academic staff of UUHP who distinguished themselves as future trainers within CET.

The event provided an opportunity to identify the concrete topics, and also rehears the potential training sessions that are to be delivered by CET. The Project will offer follow-up support to the core team of trainers in the coming period in the process of developing at least one Training Modul on the area of Competence Based Teaching Methods.

study visit

Delighted to support the University “Ukshin Hoti” in Prizren (UUHP) in the process of reviewing and revising the quality assurance instruments. The Project has reviewed over 20 instruments (including internal regulations, guidelines, questionnaires, and reporting templates) that are currently being used in the quality assurance (QA) process at the UUHP. The workshop to present the findings and discuss the recommendations took place on 01 September 2022.

During the workshop the Project Team provided expert opinion on how to improve the QA instruments and collected feedback from the main actors involved in the QA process at UUHP. Improvement of the overall system of QA instruments is considered an imperative for enhancing the quality assurance process in general. HERAS Plus will continue to support the UUHP in the preparation process for institutional accreditation including reviewing the draft Self Evaluation Report and also organizing mock simulations of the interview process with international accreditation experts.

On Wednesday, June 15 2022, the Project facilitated a tailormade event for the University “Ukshin Hoti” in Prizren (UUHP) on the topic of the third mission of universities, based on the experiences and perspectives of Austria.

The workshop was facilitated by Ms. Gudrun Feucht, an international expert with extensive experience on the subject matter. The concept of the third mission of universities was elaborated in the light of concrete examples on how the third mission projects and activities are developed and implemented at three Austrian universities, namely, the University of Vienna, Technical University of Graz, and the Vienna University of Business.

Through these activities, HERAS Plus aims at building the capacities of the public higher education institution (HEI), for designing, implementing and promoting their third mission aspects – as complementary effort to teaching, learning and research. Similar activities are plan in future for the other public HEIs too.

Happy to launch the Baseline Assessment (BA) Report for the University “Ukshin Hoti” in Prizren (UUHP). The Report is a concise, but comprehensive, overview of the University’s current institutional development. The assessment is made in 13 different dimensions. In addition, the Report identifies a significant number of areas for improvement, which are expressed in the form of Recommendations with clear mechanisms and indicators.

The Report launching event was addressed by Ms. Sandra Horina, the head of Austrian Development Cooperation office in Prishtina, who congratulated both the UUHP and HERAS Plus for the great approach in addressing the University needs for institutional development.

In this occasion, Mr. Aqim Emurli, Team Leader of HERAS Plus Project, during this occasion noted that the assessment, and the BA Report, is a modest contribution, but with an impact reaching beyond the public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Kosovo. The BAs are currently being conducted for all the seven public Universities

Whereas, the Rector, Mr. Ismet Temaj, also praised the Project for being the most reliable partner in University’s path for development and expressed his confidence that the great cooperation between the UUHP and HERAS Plus will continue in the process of implementing the Recommendations from the BA Report.

The event concluded with the ceremonial signing of the MoU between the Project and UUHP, commit on working together in the areas of strategic development of the university.