Meetings

TOOLKIT FINAL MEETING (online event November 9^th, 2022)

On November 9^th 2022, TOOLKIT Consortium gathered on Zoom platform for the Final Meeting of the project.

After the welcome speech of Ms. Giovanna Filippini (TOOLKIT Project Coordinator, UNIBO) Ms. Lucia Ippolito (Toolkit Coordination Team, UNIBO) presented an overview of the project activities and results obtained and then left the floor to the Consortium Partners to share their experience in taking part in Toolkit Project.

A really interesting discussion started and the representatives of each Partner University shared some aspect of the project which have been of relevance for the enhancement of the internationalization of their universities and for the work of the IROs.

The meeting was closed with a brief reminder on the activities to be concluded for the final reporting and a farewell message. For further details about the event please have a look at the box below.

TOOLKIT ELEVENTH CONSORTIUM MEETING (online meeting, September 29^th, 2022)

On September 29^th 2022 TOOLKIT Consortium met online to discuss the last activities to be concluded before the end oof the project.

After an introduction and a brief overview of the implemented activities, Ms. Lucia Ippolito (TOOLKIT Coordination Team, UNIBO) reminded the activities to be implemented in the framework of the ongoing WP5 leaving then the floor to the Asian partners to share the updates regarding the organization of the WP5 Roundtables and Information Days.

The meeting continued with a presentation on the activities of WP6 – TOOLKIT Exploitation. Then Ms.  Marta Cocos (TOOLKIT Team Uppsala University) took the floor to discuss about the implementation of the Video Tool on Student’s mobility e the required actions to complete it.

The session was concluded with the presentation of the first draft of WP6 Virtual map of international Donors followed by a discussion among the consortium partners who agreed on the deadline to provide comments on the map in order to include suggestion and feedback in the final version. The meeting went on with an overview on the dissemination activities, updates on the implementation of the virtual final Report of the project. The last part of the meeting was dedicated to the final reporting and a Doodle was launched in order to agree on the date for the Final Meeting of the project. Please have a look at the box below for the meeting materials.

TOOLKIT TENTH CONSORTIUM MEETING (Online Meeting, 28 June 2022)

On June 28^th, the Toolkit Consortium met online through the Zoom platform for the Tenth Consortium meeting. The meeting started with welcoming remarks by Giovanna Filippini (Toolkit Project Coordinator, UNIBO). The floor was then left to Lucia Ippolito (Toolkit Coordination Team, UNIBO) who started her presentation showing the latest project’s output: the finalized version of the WP3 Guide on Project Design and Management. Afterwards, Ms. Lucia Ippolito briefly resumed all the activities that have been implemented in the framework of the Toolkit project up until now and discussed about the next steps to perform.

The first part of the meeting was dedicated to the description of the activities to be implemented in WP5. Prof. Neelakshi Premawardhena (University of Kelaniya) presented UoK plan for the implementation of the activities and gave some ideas on how Roundtable conference on Internationalization and info days can be delivered in all Asian HEIs. Vilnius University will also provide help and support regarding the organizational part.

Followingly, Ms. Franca Maria Mura (UNIBO Coordination Team) briefly explained the three main activities of WP6 that should be accomplished by the end of the project in November. The previous plan to deliver 2 MOOCS, one for Asian University Leadership and one for Asian Students, has been modified due to the current situation in the Asian countries. In order to meet the deadline of the project, different online tools will be designed as instruments which will work virtually and will provide advice through direct experiences. Students will gain useful insights to better prepare for mobilities and the academic community will learn more on how to implement internationalization actions. Another important WP6 activity will be the design of a virtual map of donors which will be highly interactive.

Finally, the event concluded with a final wrap over administrative issues and a brief discussion about the provision of funds for the improvement of the partner Universities’ websites and brochures.

Meeting materials are downloadable in the dedicated box below.

TOOLKIT NINTH CONSORTIUM MEETING (Online Meeting, 24 March 2022)

On March 24^th, the Toolkit Consortium gathered online through the Zoom platform for the Ninth Consortium meeting. The meeting started with welcoming remarks by Giovanna Filippini (Toolkit Project Coordinator, UNIBO), who then left the floor to Lucia Ippolito (Toolkit Coordination Team, UNIBO) for her presentation. Ms. Lucia Ippolito briefly resumed all the activities that have been implemented in the framework of the Toolkit project up until now and gave a detailed presentation of the next steps to undertake. 

The first focus was on the final phase of WP3 Deliverable. The aim of this work package is to deliver a guide for project design and management useful for IROs and all the University staff dealing with internationalization. The timeline of the different activities to be carried out in order to complete this WP3 has been presented. 

Followingly, Ms. Lucia Ippolito briefly explained what WP5 and WP6 will consist of. It was showed that WP6 will be the first to be carried out in order to efficiently deliver 2 MOOCS: one for Asian University Leadership and one for Asian Students. On the other hand, WP5 will be useful to share the results of these MOOCS among Asian’s academic communities in order to raise awareness for the growing importance of internationalization. During WP5 Asian HEIs’ will also be involved through the organization of info days for students.

Finally, the event concluded with a final wrap over administrative issues and a final recap on the activities to be implemented in the near future. Some insights about travelling restrictions in their home Countries were also shared by Asian Partners in the hope to meet again in person very soon.

Meeting materials are downloadable in the dedicated box below.

TOOLKIT EIGHT CONSORTIUM MEETING (Online Meeting, 26 November 2021)

On November 26th, the Toolkit Consortium met online through the Zoom platform for the Eight Consortium meeting. The meeting started with an introduction and welcoming speech from Giovanna Filippini, Toolkit Project Coordinator, who explained the meeting contents and agenda.

In the first part of the meeting, Ms. Lucia Ippolito (TOOLKIT Coordination Team) presented the guidelines and an overview of the cascade national trainings to be implemented. Each country was entrusted to organize a national cascade training, aiming to share the skills and expertise learnt within the Toolkit project framework with the partner countries’ HEI and relevant stakeholders. The Consortium agreed to organize and deliver the national cascade trainings between December 2021 and January 2022. Followingly, the meeting focused on the implementation of WP3 Deliverable. The aim of the WP3 Derivable will be to provide a short guide containing the golden rules for project design and management for IROs and all the University staff dealing with internationalization. Asian partners will cooperate in groups divided per country and each group will focus on each chapter. The Final document will be published in March 2022.

Finally, Ms. Barbara Lilliu (Toolkit External Evaluator) presented the next activities related to the project’s quality evaluation, explaining how to gather and review the data in order to assess the project’s results. The event concluded with a final wrap up over the next projects and future deadlines. 

Please have a look on the box below for the meeting materials.

TOOLKIT SEVENTH CONSORTIUM MEETING (Online Meeting, 23 September 2021)

On September 23rd, the Toolkit Consortium gathered on Zoom platform for the Seventh Consortium Meeting. The meeting started with the opening session held by Ms. Giovanna Filippini, TOOLKIT Project coordinator, who welcomed the participants and briefly presented the meeting contents. Followingly, Ms. Lucia Ippolito (Toolkit Coordination Team, UNIBO) announced that the project prolongation proposal submitted to the European Commission was successfully approved, extending the Toolkit project deadline. A short discussion then followed regarding the necessity of a new organizational plan to be settled.

Concerning the completed project’s activities, each Asian Partner updated the TOOLKIT Consortium on the results of the internal cascade trainings aimed at sharing the knowledge acquired during WP 2,3 and 4 trainings organized within their universities. The Consortium reaffirmed that also national cascade trainings must be organized and implemented, in order to maximize the project’s impact in the countries and partners agreed to submit a draft of the national cascade trainings’ program by December 2021.

The meeting continued with an overview of the next activities to be implemented, in particular regarding the WP7, focused on the Dissemination of the Project’s result. To maximize the dissemination of the results, the Consortium agreed to produce a short video in which each partner University will be represented.  Furthermore, Asian partners will implement promotional materials for their universities, by also projecting brochures that will be available online. Moreover, the Consortium discussed on the upcoming activity regarding the update and the development of the Partner Universities websites, with a focus on IROs and International opportunities webpages. Each partner University will improve its webpage, also including information in English with the aim to enhance the information accessibility for an international audience.

The event concluded with a final wrap up over the next projects and future deadlines. Partners also agreed to start the WP6 MOOC’s implementation by drafting and preparing the modules contents. The Consortium agreed to meet again in mid-November.

TOOLKIT SIXTH CONSORTIUM MEETING (Online Meeting, 23 July 2021)

On July 23rd, 2021, the Toolkit Consortium met through the Zoom platform for the Sixth Consortium Meeting.The meeting started with an introduction and welcoming speech from Giovanna Filippini, Toolkit Project Coordinator, followed by the presentation of the new team members of Myanmar Partner HEIs to the whole Consortium.   

The meeting then continued with Lucia Ippolito (Toolkit Coordination Team UNIBO), presentation on the resume of the implemented activities and an overview on the ones to be carried out. The presentation included an overview of the projects’ working programs and activities completed until now, including the difficulties and challenges posed by the pandemic situation. Therefore a new schedule for the next planned activities was proposed, especially in light of the fact that the Consortium submitted a project prolongation request to the European Commission, which will hopefully extend the Toolkit deadlines, thus allowing a different organizational timeframe.

Followingly, the Consortium reaffirmed the importance of incentivize a spillover effect through cascade trainings, in order to maximize the project’s impact on the enhancement of the International Relations dimension in Asian Higher Education Institutions. Cascade trainings in Asian partner countries were planned, taking into account the necessity to reschedule the trainings’ workplan according to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, and postponing the deadlines according to the new timeline. Each partner institution agreed to organize internal cascade trainings before September 2021, in order to share the expertise acquired through the WP2, WP3 and WP4 to the Universities’ staff. Moreover, the Consortium established that the internal cascade trainings will be followed by national cascade trainings in each country, addressed to partner countries’ other Higher Education Institutions and relevant stakeholders, which will be organized and delivered before December 2021.

The floor was then given to Palitha Douangchack (Sopuphanouvong university), Neelakshi Premawardhena (University of Kelanya) and James Kennedy (Project Advisor), who discussed and presented the draft for the Toolkit participation to the Call for abstract submission to the APAIE - Asia-Pacific Association for International Education - 2022 program. The Consortium participation aims to further improve the dissemination objective of the project, by sharing the Toolkit partners’ experiences to the APAIE platform.

Finally, the event concluded with a final wrap over administrative issues and final recap on the following deadlines. The Consortium agreed to meet again in mid-September 2021.

Please have a look on the box below for the meeting materials.

TOOLKIT FIFTH CONSORTIUM MEETING (Online Meeting, 11 February 2021)

On February 11^th 2021, the Toolkit Consortium gathered together on ZOOM platform in order to discuss and go on with further implementation of the Project’s activities in spite of all the delays accumulated due to unforeseen events.

The meeting started with the opening session by Ms. Giovanna Filippini, TOOLKIT Project Coordinator, UNIBO. She made an overview on the recent updates of the project focusing on the assessment received for the interim report submitted to the Agency in August, discussing about the suggestions received and proposing ways to overcome the obstacles and implement the activities foreseen by the project.

The session was followed by Lucia Ippolito (Toolkit Coordination Team UNIBO) presentation on the implemented activities and an overview on the ones to be carried out until the end of the project eligibility period.

The meeting continued with the updates given by Marta Cocos (Uppsala University) on the implementation of WP4 results the TOOLKIT Handbook on Mobility Management. She showed to the whole Consortium the steps carried out so far and set the deadlines for the completion of this task.

The floor was later given to Franca Maria Mura (TOOLKIT Coordination Team UNIBO) who presented the plan on the activities for the WP3 Training on International Project design and Management. After a brief discussion on the possible dates to develop the training, the Consortium agreed on the proposed timing and on the programme for the training which will take place virtually on a weekly basis starting from March 10^th 2021.

The Meeting was concluded by a final wrap up and discussion on the activities to be implemented in the near future.

Meeting materials downloadable at the dedicated box below.

TOOLKIT FOURTH CONSORTIUM MEETING  (Online Meeting, 10 June 2020)

On Wednesday June 10^th 2020 TOOLKIT  Consortium gathered on a web platform to discuss about  the implementation of future Work Packages and related updates.

The main objective of the meeting agenda was to elaborate a new plan of the activities to be developed with reference to the pandemic situation.

After a short wrap up on WP2 activities, and the implementation/updates of Asian Partners internationalization strategies, the group discussed on how to finalize the WP2 Report.

The discussion continued focusing on WP3 development. The Consortium agreed to deliver the Training on project writing and management (led by UNIBO) partially online in November 2020. The new plan foresees also a study visit in person to close the training in Spring 2021 hoping that travel restrictions will be removed. Lucia Ippolito (UNIBO Coordination Team) introduced the training aims and topics and following a short discussion,  it has been agreed to nominate the training participants by September 10^th, 2020.

Ulrica Ouline from Uppsala University introduced the updated schedule for the WP 4 training on International Mobility management. In this case too, the Consortium agreed to implement the training activities online and new dates have been settled. The training will take place from September 28^th till October 1^st.  The Consortium plans to organize a study visit to Uppsala University in Spring 2021 during which the final draft of the TOOLKIT Handbook for mobility management will be presented. These activities still remain uncertain due to the pandemic.

During the last part of the meeting, the Consortium discussed how to perform the cascade trainings in each Asian country after the training held by EU Universities: it was proposed a 3 days cascade training per Country in June 2021.

The meeting was concluded with a reminder about the procedures to be completed for the submission of the Project interim Report and the Equipment purchase.

Please find the meeting available materials in the following box.

TOOLKIT THIRD CONSORTIUM MEETING (Confucius Institute, National University of Laos, Vientiane, 15 January 2020)

On January 15^th 2020, the TOOLKIT Consortium met at the National University of Laos for the third Consortium Assembly. After a wrap up on the activities done so far and the WP2 – outcomes, the consortium discussed about the next activities to be performed.

Ms. Lucia Ippolito (Toolkit coordination Team, UNIBO) introduced the tasks and procedures to be accomplished for the Project’s first reporting period, explaining and discussing in details with the consortium the list of required documents for the financial and technical reporting.

The second part of the meeting was dedicated to the activities foreseen for the next 3 work packages:

• WP3 –Effective project writing and management in Asian Universities

The Consortium discussed about the contents and expected outcomes of the Work-package. Asian Partner Universities will take part in a training at the University of Bologna on effective project writing and management. The Consortium agreed that the training will be organized in late June 2020. After the training experience Asian partners will organize cascade training in their own Universities for spill-over effect.

• WP4 - Effective mobility flows management in Asian Universities

For the discussion on WP4 activities the floor was given to Ms Ulrica Ouline (Uppsala University) who exposed to the Consortium the programme of the training week at Uppsala University, giving both practical information on the training organization and deadlines for the implementation of the activities. The consortium set the dates for the training which will take place from 13 to 19 May 2020.

Once back at their home institutions, Toolkit Asian Partners will organize cascade training for their Universities staff to share the knowledge acquired during the training experience.

• WP5 –Equipment Purchase

Ms Lucia Ippolito (Toolkit Coordination Team, UNIBO) introduced the discussion about the Equipment purchase for Partner Universities foreseen in WP5. The consortium discussed the eligible items, as per the project proposal, how to prepare the list of equipment to be purchased and the reporting documents. Deadlines for the preparation of equipment lists have been settled.

During the last part of the meeting the Consortium Assembly participants discussed about the Project’s Quality  Committee and definition of the activities to be performed according to the Quality Plan.

Materials available in the box below.

TOOLKIT SECOND CONSORTIUM MEETING (Vilnius, 9 October 2019)

On Wednesday October 9^th the second TOOLKIT Consortium meeting was hosted by Vilnius University, in Vilnius (Lithuania). In this occasion, the project partners had the opportunity to discuss about next steps to perform within the TOOLKIT Project.

After a first wrap up on the activities already done, the discussion revolved around the results of WP1, the first Report on Needs analysis in Asian Partners Universities. In specific, partners discussed about the graphic outline and printing of the report and the possible audience of stakeholders to be selected in order to disseminate this first achievement. Among the themes of discussion, the main ones revolved around the development of WP2 activities, started with the training on International Strategies held in Vilnius from 7 till 11 October (see trainings for more details), related deliverables and next steps.

The first point of discussion was on the outline of new/updated international strategies that Asian partners should develop for their Institutions according to the tools given during Vilnius training, adapting them to their needs and priorities in terms of international dimension. The Consortium agreed that the outline of the international strategy should be developed by December. This deadline is linked to the future development of WP2, which includes a National Workshop in each Asian Partner country involving the participation of Ministries of Education and other Universities external to the TOOLKIT Consortium. For what concerns the National Workshops possible dates have been discussed too.

During the last part of the meeting, TOOLKIT Coordination Team provided a recap and further explanations on the financial management and supporting documents focusing on staff costs, travel costs and cost of stay, and how to report them.

Please find the meeting materials on the bow below.

TOOLKIT CONSORTIUM KICK-OF MEETING (Bologna, 8-10 April 2019)

From April 8^th to April 10^th, the University of Bologna hosted the three days Kick-off meeting of the TOOLKIT Project, with the participation of 25 representatives from the Asian and European Universities involved in the project.

The event was hosted in the historical venue of the DIRI – International Relations Division, starting with a welcome session addressed by Professor Alessandra Scagliarini (UNIBO Pro-Rector for International Relations) followed by the introduction the Project’s objectives and expected outcomes held by the UNIBO Rector’s Delegate for Asia and Oceania, Professor Antonio Fiori.

During the first session of the meeting, participants attended the presentation by James Kennedy (Adviser, University of Yangon), exposing a general overview on the trends of relations between Europe and Asia.

After this general overview, Giovanna Filippini, TOOLKIT Project director and Head of UNIBO International Relations Division, introduced the project’s agenda and its timeline, describing the general work plan and presenting in detail the aims, activities, and expected outcomes of the various WPs.

During the afternoon, the second session of the meeting gave the floor to the Asian Partner Universities, which presented the case of international relations in Laos, Myanmar and Sri Lanka highlighting the issues and challenges for the further development of international activities in the HEIs of the three countries.

During the second day, after a recap by the TOOLKIT Coordination Team, the floor was handed over by the European Partner Universities (Vilnius University, University of Bologna and Uppsala University), which shared their expertise in the management of the international relations, focusing on the international strategies, international projects and mobility schemes and introducing the activities to be developed during the WPs 2,3 and 4. The last session of the day was devoted to the composition of three focus groups on the discussion and the draft of questionnaires to be distributed to Asian Students, Professors and Institutions aimed at collecting data for the needs analysis of each country Institution (WP1 outcome).

The third day of the meeting was firstly dedicated to the examination of TOOLKIT’s budgetary protocols, administrative organization, contractual and financial management illustrated by the TOOLKIT Coordination Team.

The second part of the day was dedicated to the exposure of the communication and dissemination strategies followed by the discussion of the Consortium about the composition of the Operational Committee and the Quality Board, and the definition of the TOOLKIT’s Local Teams.

The meeting has been concluded with a final wrap up and the recap of assignments for the development of WP1.

For the kick-off meeting materials please check the box below.