Quality, Accountability, Integrity and Transparency in Higher Education in Kosovo



Contract partner: Konsortium - Kosova Education Center (3 Organisationen) Country: Kosovo Funding amount: € 1.000.000,00 Project start: 01.04.2019 End: 31.10.2022

Short Description:

Overall goal


The Outcome of this Action is the Kosovo higher education system intrinsically acting on internationally aligned quality, transparency, integrity and accountability standards. The long-term Impact of the Action is improved quality and competitiveness of the higher education sector which contributes to social and economic development of the country.


Expected results


Output 1. Enhanced capacity of the Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA) to monitor providers of higher education and advise the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) on results of the quality assessment, and improved credibility of the accreditation process.

Output 2. Improved transparency, integrity and accountability in the higher education sector.

Output 3. Improved legislation (regulations, procedures and practices) related to aca-demic issues in higher education.

Output 4. Enhanced capacity of young faculty members (young university assistants and/or post-docs) for research-guided teaching.

 


Target group / Beneficiaries


The target groups for this Action are: 1) Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA), a national body responsible for external quality assurance in HE; 2) Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) responsible for planning the development of higher education in Kosovo; 3) Seven public universities in Kosovo accounting for 62% of the total student population in the country, organised in the Kosovo Rector’s Conference; 4) Student groups representing interests of more than 75.000 students in 7 public universities in Kosovo; 5) Young academic staff in Kosovo public universities, primarily young university assistants and post-docs. In total, the project aims to reach 1,165 direct beneficiaries.

In addition to 75,000 students from the seven public universities, indirect beneficiaries will be the academic and administrative staff of these universities (in total 1,850 persons).


Activities


1.1. Develop the capacity of KAA for monitoring of higher education providers including development of monitoring guidelines and staff training

1.2. Facilitate the monitoring of higher education providers

1.3. Monitor the decisions of the NQC

2.1. Set up and operate a funding scheme for student groups from public HEIs

2.2. Monitor the use of public funds in universities

2.3. Support the introduction of open data in public universities

2.4. Monitor academic appointments and qualifications of academic staff in public universities

2.5. Monitor the European Network of Information Centre/National Academic Recognition Information Centre (ENIC/NARIC) and other relevant organizational units at MEST

3.1. Support the development of procedures and regulations related to academic issues

3.2. Facilitate the implementation of new procedures and regulations

4.1. Co-design and operate two schemes for promoting research-based teaching.

4.2. Support academic institutions in managing and monitoring the grants.

4.3. Co-design and implement trainings about inspiring practices for research-guided teaching with the academic institutions.


Context


A thorough problem analysis is provided in the proposal in regards to (1) external quality assurance, (2) new academic procedures and practices, (3) transparency, integrity and accountability in the higher education sector, and (4) research capacity in the higher education sector.

project number 8205-00/2019
source of funding OEZA
sector Hochschulausbildung
tied
modality Project-type interventions
marker Gender: 1, Democracy: 1
  • Policy marker: are used to identify, assess and facilitate the monitoring of activities in support of policy objectives concerning gender equality, aid to environment, participatory development/good governance, trade development and reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health. Activities targeting the objectives of the Rio Conventions include the identification of biodiversity, climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, and desertification.
    • 1= policy is a significant objective of the activity
    • 2= policy is the principal objective of the activity
  • Donor/ source of funding: The ADA is not only implementing projects and programmes of the Austrian Development Cooperation , but also projects funded from other sources and donors such as
    • AKF - Foreign Disaster Fund of the Austrian federal government
    • BMLFUW - Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water
    • EU - Funds of the European Commission
    • Others - various other donors are listed in ADA’s annual business report.
  • Type of Aid – Aid modalities: classifies transfers from the donor to the first recipient of funds such as budget support, core contributions and pooled programmes and funds to CSOs and multilateral organisations, project-type interventions, experts and other technical assistance, scholarships and student costs in donor countries, debt relief, administrative costs and other in-donor expenditures.
  • Purpose/ sector code: classifies the specific area of the recipient’s economic or social structure, funded by a bilateral contribution.
  • Tied/Untied: Untied aid is defined as loans and grants whose proceeds are fully and freely available to finance procurement from all OECD countries and substantially all developing countries. Transactions are considered tied unless the donor has, at the time of the aid offer, clearly specified a range of countries eligible for procurement which meets the tests for “untied” aid.
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