Erasmus+ CBHE project SSAPI

Project Overview

The Erasmus+ Capacity Building (CBHE) project Strategic Support for Accreditation of Programs and Internationalization at South Asian Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) - SSAPI has been funded by the European Union. It started in January 2021 and has a duration of three years. Dr. Amir Qayyum, Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST), Pakistan, initiated and coordinates the project. The European partners are the University of Bremen (UniHB), particularly the IGS, and the University of Évora, Portugal. Eight further universities are partners in SSAPI. They are from Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives. The CBHE aims to create learning and practicing opportunities for partner country HEIs’ staff, including administrative staff, faculty, students, and researchers. Training will focus on learning from EU partners and developing procedures to modernize the local education systems. This project will contribute effectively to creating reforms in the overall higher education system of the partner universities. Due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consortium decided in the beginning to make some adjustments to the initial work plan and added a phase of online training units to the training concept. The following measures have been implemented by now:

Preparation and Project Meetings

  • As a first step to gaining knowledge about the readiness for accreditation of programs of the partner HEIs, a questionnaire has been developed by the IGS by September 2021. Questions from various accreditation agencies were put together to create a detailed set of questions and topics to gather any information needed for accreditation from and for the Asian partner HEIs.

  • In October 2021, the local project coordinator, Dr.-Ing. Ingrid Rügge traveled to the second European partner, the University of Evora, Portugal, to analyze the input from the Asian partner HEIs and to develop an Action and Training plan.

  • The IGS implemented an extended questionnaire, which was evaluated and shared with all partners in December 2021 as an online form. The IGS analyzed the answers and provided feedback on the information to the partners. These digital assessments ended in February 2022.

  • Several face-to-face project meetings took place in Bremen in July 2022 because it was the first opportunity for some SSAPI partners to meet in person.

  • In Malé, the first SSAPI project meeting took place in February 2023, where Dr.-Ing. Ingrid Rügge joined in as local project coordinator for Bremen.

  • In May and June 2023, Prof. Dr. Teresa Goncalves from the University of Evora stayed for a few days in Bremen to prepare for the upcoming training in Portugal.

  • A project meeting took place in Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, in which local project coordinator Dr.-Ing. Ingrid Rügge participated in in December 2023.

  • From March 6-9, 2024, a project meeting in Thimphu, Bhutan, took place, in which Dr.-Ing. Ingrid Rügge took part as local project coordinator.

Online Training

  • Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IGS developed an online training format that simulates an accreditation visit. UniHB conducted three online trainings. Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Dietrich Haasis held the first training unit in March 2022 by giving an overview of different accreditation forms (program and institutional/system accreditations), introducing agencies, and simulating an accreditation discussion in the second online training. He used the documents of a Bachelor’s program of Business Administration and Management of one SSAPI partner as an example. Staff from all other SSAPI partner HEIs joined as listeners to learn and improve their answers.

  • In June 2022, the IGS delivered another online training. Prof. Dr.‐Ing. habil. Klaus‐Dieter Thoben and Svenja Schell simulated a second accreditation discussion based on an example of another Asian partner. It was a Bachelor’s program in Industrial Engineering. All three units have been recorded. An excerpt of the recordings is internally available as training material for the SSAPI partners.

On-site Training in Europe

  • In July 2022, it was possible to provide the first on-site training in Bremen - with only a few restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The IGS organized the event with 40 participants from all Asian SSAPI HEIs. Some further simulations of accreditation discussions took place, as well as workshops, visits to the library of UniHB, visits to several laboratories, internships in lectures and teaching units, as well as several guided tours to external destinations.

  • The University of Bremen contributed to the on-site training in Evora, at the University of Evora, in July 2023 by sending three experts on accreditation and internationalization, Svenja Schell, Britta Schowe, and Dr.-Ing. Ingrid Rügge, to Portugal.

On-site Training in Asia

  • A few weeks after the training in Bremen, the first on-site training in Asia took place. The spokesman of the IGS, Prof. Dr. Aseem Kinra, joint a conference in Malé, Maldives, and provided training on teaching methods to both local partners, the Maldives National University (MNU) and Villa College (VC). In January 2023 a second training in Malé by another lecturer of the University of Bremen followed. Dr. Matthias Burwinkel is Managing Director of the LogDynamics Lab and a staff member at BIBA. The training material has been translated into English and was shared internally with all SSAPI partners.

  • In September 2023 Dr. Tobias Sprodowski provided an on-site training in Islamabad to all three partners, Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST), National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES) and Riphah International University (RIU), in Pakistan.

  • The training was followed by another one in October in Phuentsholing, Thimpu and other locations os both of the Bhutanese partners, Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) and Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan (KGUMSB), provided by Prof. Walter Lang and Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Thoben.

  • In Peradeniya and Padukka, Sri Lanka, at the University of Peradeniya (UoP) and SLT Campus (SLTC), training provided by Dr.-Ing. Ingrid Rügge and Britta Schowe of the University of Bremen took place in December 2023.

  • Following the project meeting in Bhutan, Prof. Dr. Teresa Goncalves from the University of Evora and Dr.-Ing. Ingrid Rügge of the University of Bremen held a training on internationalization in Phuentsholing and Thimphu, Bhutan, at the Royal University of Bhutan (RUB) and Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan (KGUMSB), in March 2024.

  • Kay Burow of the University in Bremen and staff member at BIBA provides the next SSAPI training in April 2024, in Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, at the University of Peradeniya (UoP), with the other Sri Lankan partner SLT Campus (SLTC) joining.

Results

  • On the 19th of January, 2023, a delegation from Sri Lanka visited LogDynamics, the BIBA, and UniHB to explore the possibilities of further cooperation. It followed an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility of two lecturers from SLTC in April/May/June.

  • SSAPI contributed to the SKIMA conference to share the knowledge and experience gained on accreditation and internationalization with other Asian partners. The SKIMA conference was held in Malaysia from the 8th to the 10th of December, 2023.

  • Prof. Dr. Anna Förster extends her network in Sri Lanka by visiting SLTC and UoP in February 2024 to discuss her research and excellent teaching methods.

The next SSAPI project meeting will take place in June 2024.

 

The first on-site meeting with all SSAPI partners, held in Bremen in July 2022

SSAPI (Strategic Support for Accreditation of Programs and Internationalization at South Asian Higher Education Institutes) is a project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Capacity Building Programme of the European Union: Project Ref No. 619438-EPP-1-2020-1-PK-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP

 

Disclaimer: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This website reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.