Project success in Albania is rolled out to Western Balkan Region - COWEB Erasmus+ Project Kick-Off Meeting in Tirana

From 21 to 24 February 2023, EPOKA University in Albania, Tirana organized and hosted the kick-off meeting of the COWEB project: "Promoting and Facilitating Collaborative Virtual International Learning in the Western Balkans' Higher Education Institutions". The project is the successor of the VALEU-X project, which was successfully completed on 14.01.2023 under the leadership of the Chair of Business Information Systems, esp. Information Management. The successful implementation of Virtual Mobility and Internationalization at Home in Albania will now be rolled out to the Western Balkan region in the new project.  

COWEB aims to contribute to the digital transformation in education, which is one of the overarching priorities of the European Commission and also one of the predefined overarching regional priorities for the Western Balkans. The project is co-funded by the European Union's Erasmus+ program under Capacity Building in Higher Education. 

The project consortium is composed of 10 partner universities. Three universities come from the European Union, the Technische Universität Dresden, the International School for Social and Business Studies (Slovenia) and the University of Salento (Italy). Seven other partner universities are from the Western Balkans region, EPOKA University (Albania) in the role of project leader, European University of Tirana (Albania), University of Economics and Technology (Kosovo), Biznesi College (Kosovo), Burch International University (Bosnia and Herzegovina), University of Eastern Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and University of Montenegro (Montenegro).

The kick-off meeting was opened by Dr. Esmir Demaj, COWEB Project Manager, who welcomed all partners and thanked them for the synergy of the consortium and the joint approach in preparing a successful project proposal. He wished a successful three-year project implementation and gave a brief overview of the kick-off agenda. 

Given that the kick-off event was the first on-site physical event of the consortium, an institutional presentation from each partner university was foreseen. Prof. Dr. Eric Schoop from TU Dresden introduced the university to the other consortium members, emphasizing in particular the chair's focus on student-centered digital learning. This session aimed to have partners get to know each other and enhance their collaboration.

© COWEB Projekt

After that, the focus and majority of the time was shifted to a more hands-on presentation and elaboration of the project work packages by the individual lead institutions. 

Here, Mattis Altmann introduced the role of TU Dresden in the further course of the project and explained the added value it can bring to the project as an external partner. In particular, this involves current research on the topic of virtual collaborative learning (VCL) and many years of experience regarding the alignment of international VCL projects.

© COWEB Projekt

The TU Dresden's work package consists mainly of consulting the other institutions in the design of such VCL projects, assisting them in the development of corresponding content and didactically training the involved teachers and prospective e-tutors with regard to virtual collaborative learning. In this context, Sophie Cool, a former participant of a VCL project and now working as a student assistant, shared her experiences and gave the international partners an insight into the students' perspective. During the presentations, the partners were able to consult different issues and ambiguities and important deliverables and milestones of each work package were discussed.

© COWEB Projekt

Afterwards, there was a presentation on the main administrative, financial and reporting issues that each partner should consider when implementing the project. The last session was dedicated to the upcoming project management meetings, travel plans, interim and final conferences. 

The Kick-Off Meeting was closed with a wrap-up, followed by the partner's commitment toward a successful project implementation for the upcoming three years.

Other achievements have however emerged from the VALEU-X partnership: As part of the DAAD funding won in 2022, the next student exchange formats will already take place at TU Dresden in April 2023. 15 EPOKA students together with 15 TUD students will take an international module linked with physical exchange in Albania and Germany for one week each. They will be accompanied by 2 Albanian lecturers who will be guests at the TU Dresden for 9 days and will contribute to the teaching.  

We are looking forward to an exciting project, especially to welcoming the partners from the Western Balkans in 2024 again at the TU Dresden, in the framework of the COWEB project.