WP 1 Capacity building for members of the National SQF Development Committees

  • National SQF Development Committees (SQFDC)
  • Training package for professional retraining
  • Trained members of the SQF Development Committees
  • In-house workshops

 

WP 2 Platform for stakeholder dialogue and involvement

  • Project SQF Management Unit (SQFMU) for managing SQF on-going development
  • Study tour for the SQFMU
  • Database for SQFMU activities’ support
  • Tools for collecting data for the Database
  • Regulations on Database management
  • Final version of the Database

 

WP 3 Development of SQFs on informatics and management

  • Concept outline on Sectorial qualifications on informatics and management: general principles
  • National versions of the concept
  • Stakeholder and EU partners, tested SQFs
  • Guidelines on developing sectorial qualifications framework: basic principles
  • Final version of national SQF
  • Handbooks in national languages.

 

WP 4 Development of learning outcomes for bachelor and master programmes

  • Intended learning outcomes for informatics and management by SQFDCs
  • Peer-review of the learning outcomes by EU partners
  • Handbooks on methodology of developing learning outcomes
  • Final local versions of the learning outcomes

 

WP 5 Dissemination

  • Project web-site and e-forum for stakeholder involvement
  • Brochures and publications
  • Meetings and conferences

 

WP 6 Quality control and monitoring

  • Biannual reports of SQFDC and SQFMD
  • Annual site-visits by the Project Management Board
  • Annual presentations in the national Ministries of Education with invitation of stakeholders
  • Mutual evaluations of SQF development progress by Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian SQFDCs
  • Reports of sub-contracted external experts
  • Financial audit of the project

 

WP 7 Sustainability

  • Self-certification of the SQFs by a special project SQF Self-Certification Committee
  • Final adoption of the SQFs by the Ministries of Education and Science
  • Adoption of the learning outcomes by the respective university Academic Councils
  • Financial projections for SQF maintenance

 

WP 8 Project management

  • Kick-off meeting
  • Project Governing Board
  • Biannual coordination meetings
  • Day-to-day operational and financial management

 


 

WP 1 Capacity building for the SQF development committees

The project will launch with a kick off (month 1) meeting in UMCS during which all the partners will be introduced todiscuss time planning, deliverables, tasks, and management. To develop a sectorial qualifications framework NationalSQF Development Committees (SQFDCs) will be established in each PC, which will involve the academic staff that will bedirectly involved in the developments. The Committees will also include EU partners to ensure comparability with the EUstandards. Capacity building of the direct implementers insures long-term sustainability of the endeavour and legitimacyof the developments. Thus, an intensive one-week training and workshop for building on the capacity of the academicstaff intended to develop the SQFs for each PC is envisioned. Since the project envisions learning from the EU partners’experience and exchange of the existing one, the EU partners will embark on the development of the training package(months 2-3). The training/workshop will evolve around methodologies of qualifications framework development,learning outcome development, quality assurance of the qualifications, legitimization and their implementation. 30 PCpartners (including SQFDCs members) from Russia, Ukraine and Armenia (10 per country and 5 per sector: informaticsand management) will travel to UKOLD for the trainings. The trainings will be interactive including a series of workshopsduring which the participants will be invited to practice development of different parts of sectorial qualificationsframework and learning outcomes for academic programmes. The training materials, respective assignments and theoutcomes will be translated into native languages of the PCs and will feed into the final training kit envisioned for alarger population of users. To have a multiplier effect the trainees will organize 2-day in-house workshops at homeinstitutions by training 20 staff members from each PC University.

 

WP 2 Platform for stakeholder dialogue and involvement

Effective implementation of the NQF and therefore SQFs is not feasible without a strong networking of all stakeholders,including civil society and social partners. Thus, establishment of a platform where the various stakeholders wouldengage in an active dialogue on the relevance of qualifications and quality of their provisions is envisioned in months4-5. An SQF Management Unit (SQFMU) with its Board (SQFMB) will be established in the leading universities of each PC:SEUA in Armenia, CMC-MSU in Russia and KhNU in Ukraine. The units will be managed by the SQFMB and the mainfunctions will evolve around SQF on-going development, management and coordination of the assessment andvalidation of experiences in private companies. To ensure the MU staff has the necessary capacity to run the functionsthe SQFMB staff members, 3 per each PC country, will have a 6-day study tour to TUKE, WUS and FLC to get a first-handexposure to the experience of their counterparts. The study tour methodology will involve practical approaches:shadowing the staff at EU counterpart units and workshops. On their return the SQFMB members will embark on thedevelopment of the platform for stakeholder involvement: the database, electronic forum and tools for data collection.The developed concepts and drafts of the database, e-forum and tools will be peer reviewed by EU partners and externalexperts, refined to pilot operationalize the platform. Regular teleconferencing with the consortium members will beorganized to ensure involvement of various stakeholders and their inputs as well as relevance and quality of thedevelopments.

 

WP 3 Development of SQFs on informatics and management

The development and implementation of SQFs in the 3 PC countries will be conducted drawing on the CEDEFOP (2010)methodology and the good practice in EU countries. The following stages of development will be covered:

  1. conceptualisation and design: the PC countries will define a general concept and main policy objectives of the futureSQF for informatics and management, in many cases resulting in an outline providing the basis for wider disseminationand discussion with the stakeholders. Drawing on the general concept each PC country will refine it to the specificcountry needs and produce a national concept for SQFs in informatics and management;
  2. consultation and testing: the SQF proposals will be presented to and discussed within a broader group ofstakeholders. An external peer-review of the SQFs will be undertaken by EU partners to ensure comparability with theEuropean standards;
  3. official establishment/adoption: to ensure sustainability of the developments the SQFs will be adopted by respectivegovernments, which will take the form of a decree of the Minister of Education and Science of respective countries;
  4. practical implementation; this stage moves the framework towards full scale applied practice and the PC universitieswill integrate the new structures and methods meanwhile informing the potential end-users about the purposes andbenefits of the framework.

To culminate the SQF development and to ensure the SQFs are applied, meet the needs of academe and labour marketand serve their aim of promoting mutual recognition and trust, the respective QA agencies in the PCs will undertake selfcertificationof the SQFs. An expert panel per each PC, including international experts, will be set up to conduct selfcertificationprocess during months 20-24. The expert panel will undertake a site-visit for self-certification purposesdrawing on EU standards and guidelines for self-certification. The final output will be reflected in the report on each PCto be made publicly available.The experience gained during the development of the SQFs will feed into guidelines, which will be translated intonational languages and published for broader dissemination and application in different sectors.

 

WP 4 Development of learning outcomes for bachelor and master programmes

Without this systematic shift in the way the qualifications are defined and described it is difficult to see how the SQFs willbe operationalized. Thus, the next step of the project would be to design and develop intended LOs drawing on theSQFs for informatics and management. The academic staff involved in the SQF Development Committee will embark onthe development of LOs drawing on the Tuning methodology. The newly developed LOs will be circulated among theacademic staff at target universities and ultimately presented at PC universities. To ensure the LOs are comparable withthe European ones peer-review by EU partners and external experts will be undertaken. The LOs will be further definedto meet the needs of local markets. LOs will be adapted to local regional labour-market conditions of each PC university,and a local LO version will be validated by decision of the Academic Council of corresponding university. Lastly, guidelines on the LO development methodology and handbooks for the national LOs will be produced in Armenian,Russian, Ukrainian and English languages.

 

WP 5 Dissemination

The project dissemination strategy revolves around knowledge exchange through peer learning, in-house workshops,trainings, publications and e-sources. The target groups are national didactic committees, academic staff and potentialemployers, students, other sectors, PCIs who find the project outcomes beneficial; governments at national/regionallevel interested in adaptability and employability of staff in labour market; national Tempus offices; representatives ofother sectors interested in adopting the SQF development methodology. First, interactive project website withinformation on the project for publication of project deliverables, posting SQF developments, operationalizing theplatform, with automatic news mailing and interfaces to the project database system and the stakeholder forum will beestablished. The necessary information will be posted on websites of partners and National Tempus Offices. Next,development, launch and maintenance of the electronic forum for stakeholder involvement in SQFs development andmaintenance will be undertaken. Further, brochures informing the project deliverables, achievements and time frameswill be published. Newsletters, twice a year, will be posted on project website and circulated among partners and targetgroups. The Guidelines on SQF development and database operationalization will be published in English and PC nativelanguage. Articles in local papers and relevant mass media will also be involved. Another dissemination channel includesworkshops, trainings, in-house trainings, and two conferences with target groups to share best practices, experience ofthe project.

 

WP 6 Quality control and monitoring

For ensuring quality of the project, activities aimed at monitoring each workpackage implementation are envisioned attwo levels: PC level and project level. To begin with, at PC level the Contact Person will undertake site-visits to eachuniversity upon the completion of each workpackage. Next, each PC will submit biannual reports on projectdevelopments, which will include the results of the Contact Person’s site-visits. Apart from the PC level, annual reviewsundertaken by the Project Management Board on annual basis are envisioned, which will feed into project annual andfinal report. Recommendations for improvement will be provided by international experts as well as through thefeedback of local experts. Another quality assurance element would be annual presentations in the national Ministries ofEducation with participation of stakeholders. Peer-reviews of SQF development progress by Russian, Ukrainian andArmenian SQFDCs is envisioned to promote the dialogue between the PCs and improve the communication andcollaboration. Lastly, external evaluation of the project by sub-contracted EU and PC peers will be undertaken.

 

WP 7 Sustainability

To ensure project sustainability and applicability after life-time first of all capacity building of the local developers will beundertaken so that newly gained expertise is kept and disseminated. Next, the SQFs will undergo self-certification byrespective QA agencies drawing on EU standards and criteria and approval by Ministries, which will guarantee its longtermapplicability. Another sustainability element is approval of the learning outcomes by the respective universityAcademic Councils and Ministries. The latter will ensure wider application of the newly developed SQFs and LOs. Lastly,financial projections and strategies will be developed for SQFs maintenance and on-going improvement after theproject’s life-time.

 

WP 8 Project management

The management of the project will be undertaken at two levels: PC and overall project. First of all, at project levelProject Governing Board (PGB) will be established, which will involve one representative per EU country and two per PC.The PGB will convene once per month via teleconferencing to discuss the project recent developments. At each PC aproject management group (PMG) will be established. The PMGs will make sure the project runs efficiently andeffectively at institutional level. Next, for each PC the contact person should ensure harmony of workpackage implementation at each PC and timely management of the project, quality control and monitoring visits at local level.Lastly, at overall project level the grantholder will establish a project management team, which will manage dailyerrands, finances, operational distribution and redistribution of activities, project coordination meetings as well asquality control and monitoring visits.