contact | name | logo | imprint | copyright | links
· newslog · projects   newslog 2003 Full agreement was reached with Deputy Rector Chepujnoska in a meeting this week on the remainder of the project with the University of Skopje. In Quality Assurance (QAE), reports on the visits and the workshop were sent, further clarity has been reached about the fate of PROcurement, and MOBility has achieved impressive results by gathering 16 proposals for Austrian visiting professors from UKIM faculties. The guest seminars will take place in spring and autumn 2004 (18 December 2003). Mag Johannes Vetter has joined navreme as a project manager. Mr Vetter has work experience from Ernst&Young, and a European Association of liberal students in Brussels, speaks several languages, and is especially interested in navreme's research and development activities. Mr Vetter will reinforce the backstopping function of several projects, and be involved in the evaluation of IDA2, the EU's virtual and ICT networks in the first half of 2004 (16 December 2003). Procurement for UKIM is re-scheduled, and a detailed plan was finalised. At the beginning of December we received the long-expected letter from the Rector of Skopje University, in which UKIM confirmed they will co-finance the procurement component in kind. The new agreement with UKIM means, that 5% of the PRO budget will be shifted to the production of these documents on behalf of non-UKIM experts, partly sub-contracted, partly from the Consortium. The tender for 180,000 EUR cabling and network architecture will be launched via the official journal of the EU in spring (15 December 2003). The Internal Evaluation Analysis of the UKIM project in Skopje/MK was finalised and uploaded to the UKIM section of the navreme platform. To view the report, select the platform from the menu, and follow the links to UKIM/logistics. The Internal Evaluation identified many success factors, and proposes strategies to enhance the cooperation with UKIM management (10 December 2003). For the Evaluation of Spring Day, an initative of the European Convention to "go back to schools" and inform them about the EU and the Convention, held on 21 March 2003, Dr Bernd Baumgartl was active in gathering evidence. Focus Groups were held with students from schools in Berlin (10 December), Kirchdorf (24 November), and Vienna (4 December). Interviews were held with Dr Johannes Farnleitner (Member of the Convention), Ms Seidel-Binger (SD coordinator Germany), Ms Pratscher (SD coordinator Austria), and headmasters and coordinating teachers at the schools visited. Reports were sent to Brussels, where Marco Lorenzoni from Bridges is compiling the overall report for the Secretariat General of the European Commission (10 December 2003). SEE-HEAD, the special course for university administrators from Southeast Europe, features its first edition from 1-10 December, at the University of Graz. 16 selected university managers from the region assist to seminars and exchange experience on university reform and organisation, with lecturers from Europe and America. Dr Bernd Baumgartl was invited to run a session on evaluation, and played a game with participants: the evaluation game ludovaluate, developed by navreme (8 December 2003). "The European Evaluation Consortium" (TEEC), was asked to carry out another evaluation for DG Research, on High-Impact Resarch projects from Framework Programmes 4, 5 and possibly also 6. navreme has nominated 3 experts for this task: Dr Jochen Fried, Gerhard Schaumberger, and Dr Bernd Baumgartl (7 December 2003). The Comenius INTER project on a teachers guide on intercultural education www.uned.es/interproject has finished its first year with the analysis of national reports, and a resources database. Evaluation Brief 4 summed up the state of work, and gave recommendations on dissemination of results. A virtual conference will be held in January to jointly define key concepts and selected chapters of the guide (6 December 2003). For the Leonardo "PaperInWater" project, Evaluation Brief 2 was sent by navreme to project partners. It is covering the evaluation of pilot courses on paper conservation, held in Stuttgart, Ascona, and Göttingen. Moreover, it provides input for the Interim Report by the project coordinator, Stuttgart Academy of Fine Arts www.sabk.de to the German Leonardo Agency (4 December 2003). Evaluation Brief 3 was sent to the INTER project, authored by Gerhard Schaumberger. It covers the projects and presentations on inter-cultural and multi-cultural education, as they were presented at the UNESCO conference in Jyväskylä, in June 2003. The project web-site will be active soon under www.uned.es/interproject (2 December 2003). In the framework of the European Economic Interest Grouping (EEI) "The European Evaluation Consortium" (TEEC), an evaluation for DG Budget was requested. It will cover the IDA2 programme, on ICT networks of the EU institutions. The following experts of navreme are involved: Dr Helmut Schramke (Beograd) and M.ra Petra Jedlickova (Praha) (1 December 2003). A proposal was sent to the EU under the CARDS programme, with our partners from Sweden and Bulgaria, respectively Hifab www.hifab.se and CSSI. The bid is for a 350,000 EUR project on Lifelong Learning, including a grant-giving scheme for training and employment organisations. (30 November 2003). Monthly Reports on the Macedonia project with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs www.bmaa.gv.at are publically available on our platform www.navreme.net/ukim. Also reports on the visits to 6 faculties, workshop conclusions, and work programmes can be checked there (28 November 2003). We continue to evaluate reports of the EUMC, the EU Center on Xenophobia and Racism in Vienna. The bulk of work is done on-line by Gerhard Schaumberger. Reports on Education, Housing, Employment, Law and Racist Violence were checked for AT, DE, FR, IE, NL, and UK (24 November 2003). The reports on the peer visits to six UKIM faculties in Skopje were delivered by navreme on time to the UKIM management, to the respective Deans, and to the Presidents of the Evaluation Commissions under the Macedonian Evaluation Agency. The underline specific observations, challenges and suggestions for each Faculty, and horizontal findings across the whole University (14 November 2003). Consortium leader Dr Bernd Baumgartl was interviewed by the leading Macedonian Daily "Dnevnik" on the findings of the evaluative visits to six faculties (six below). Dr Baumgartl underlined that no "exam" took place, but a mutual exchange of views, and that room for improvement - as it exists in any university in Europe - was openly discussed and stressed the positive fact of the institutionalisation of an evaluation culture in Macedonian Higher Education, a principle step towards continuous improvement. (11 November 2003). The Albanian Foundation for Open Society has invited navreme to advise Albanian universities in the area of financing higher education. Dr Jochen Fried will visit the Faculty of Economics in Tirana in a pilot phase, in order to produce a report on additional and alternative sources for decreasing state budgets in the field. (8 November 2003). The second workshop of the Leonardo project "Paper in Water" took place in Vienna on 1-2 November. Leading experts in teaching paper conservationists met to discuss the findings from test seminars and student evaluations, and the further inclusion of digital animation and graphics. The accompanying evaluator of the project, Dr Bernd Baumgartl, pointed out the positive feedback. Prof Banik from Stuttgart, and Prof Brücke from Buffalo explained their views on how to complete the teaching and training materials until next summer. (6 November 2003). A planning meeting took place for the evaluation of Spring Day on behalf of the European Commission in Brussels on 20-30 October 2003. The members of the informal network of individual consultants, under the lead of Marco Lorenzoni from Bridges, will interview students, teachers and headmasters, as well as national coordinators and politicians who took part in this Europe-wide initiative (from Norway to Croatia). Focus groups will be held in a small sample out of the 5,500 participating school, to provide the European Commission and Convention with an expert advice if and how to institutionalise this event held for the first time on the past 21 March. (1 November 2003). For the UKIM project in Skopje, the interactive website on our platform now has an easier address www.navreme.net/ukim, but a direct link was also established from www.navreme.net, and from the platform navreme.themenplattform.com. It went public on 22 October, and was be announced to all Deans and Directors of UKIM at our event on occasion of the Austrian National Holiday, held on 27 October. The latter event was preceded by a press conference with the Austrian Ambassador and the Rector of UKIM (28 October 2003). An international workshop on quality assurance and study programmes took place at Hotel Millenium in Ohrid on 23-24 October 2003. The Ohrid workshop served primarily to report in detail on the 6 visits to the community of Macedonian Quality Assurance experts, and to discuss with them general findings for the whole University and its strategic development. Participants were members of the Self-Evaluation Commissions at 6 selected UKIM Faculties, national external evaluators to these Faculties, members of the Evaluation Agency, the UKIM Working Group on Quality Assurance, and 9 national and international experts on behalf of the Consortium navreme (Vienna), Salzburg Seminar (Salzburg) and DETRA (Skopje). (26 October 2003). Within the Austrian Project "Support for Higher Education at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University", peer visits by international experts to 6 Faculties were executed on 21-22 October. The peer visits took place in combination with the national external evaluation, and focused on the theme of Study Programmes and Evaluation Process. Rather than "examining" these UKIM Faculties, the international experts engaged in fruitful, profound and mutually beneficial exchange of experiences and ideas. (23 October 2003). Another proposal was submitted under the e-europe programme of the EU, in order to ease the access and usage of ICT for young people. The objective is to develop 3 games, to serve as educational tools. One game each on project design, project implementation, and project evaluation should be developed and rendered via the www. 3 development firms (among them navreme), and 3 software companies are united in this bid by Austria, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, and the UK. (14 October 2003). With our partners in Germany and Wales, a proposal was submitted to undertake an "ex-post evaluation" of all projects under Leonardo 1, the European Commission's programme for vocational education and training. Under the lead of CRED from Pontybridd (wales), navreme, P&W in Ingolstadt and TheKnowNet in Bangor, will aim at finding out what is left of projects 4 years after their nominal (EU-financed) end. The proposal was submitted submitted as a thematic action project under procedure C, directly in Brussels. (6 October 2003). In the framework of the European Economic Interest Grouping (EEI) "The European Evaluation Consortium" (TEEC), an evaluation for DG SANCO (Sanitary Affairs and Consumer Protection), the evaluation of the EU provisions for Labelling of Food Stuff was carried out. Colleagues from our English and German partners undertook interviews, focus groups and analysesin DE, FR and UK, Bernd Baumgartl was involved in the revision of the Final Report, recommending certain action in the fields of consumer information and voluntary agreements by industry. The report will now be discussed with the Commission and delivered this month (1 October 2003). Gerhard Schaumberger will be seconded to Bishkek/KY again, to help prepare for the start of post-graduate studies at the OSCE Academy in March 2004. This new institution will offer degree programmes for Central Asian experts in fields like Public Administration, International Relations, or Human Rights and Peace Studies. Funded by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Schaumberger will spend October and November in Kyrgyzstan. Meanwhile, he will stay virtually cooperating with navreme (29 September 2003). The last meeting of CERN, the Capitalisation and Evlaution Research Network, took place in Wageningen/NL on 26-27 September 2003. In this Leonardo project, partners from Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, and UK (England and Wales) had jointly produced a series of research papers (on capitalisation, evaluation of e-earning, and evaluation cultures), key issues papers, a handbook, a training programme and a game - all on evaluation issues. We thus over-performed in this successful project, producing more products than required. Work will continue in new project which have been applied for, and in the framework of our EEIG CERN, registered in Ireland - of which navreme is a founding member. (27 September 2003) On request of the PRINCE Correspondent of the Representation of the European Commission in Vienna, Bernd Baumgartl with Gerhard Schaumberger produced a conceptual paper for the accompanying evaluation of projects preparing for EU enlargement. The paper is based on the capitalised cognisance of evaluation projects and studies undertaken in the past few years. (25 September 2003). Dr Baumgartl was again invited to serve as an evaluator of proposals under the European Commission's INTAS Programme. The INTAS Programme links the EU and NIS countries via joint research projects. 8 proposals were assessed, ranging from media and communication in Belarus to environemental projects in Central Asia. This evaluation is a outstanding example of efficient and meaningful virtual cooperation, as most work is done via an interactive, personalised and confidential web-site for each evaluator. (24 Septebmer 2003). A proposal was submitted recently to the Austrian Delegation of the European Commission, on activities to prepare the Austrian population for Enlargement of the EU on 1 May 2004. The proposal was elaborated jointy with the association "Ostblick" (East View), and the organisation "Stimmen für Europa" (Voices for Europe), and aims at culture events targeted for Austrian youth, with films from the New Member States. (19 September 2003). Also the INTER project just had its second meeting in Oslo/NO. It assessed national reports on intercultural education, and reached agreement on the main task in year two, ie. the preparation of the structure of the planned guide on Intercultural Education. The latter contains a section on "Key Concepts", and one with modules on intercultural skills for teacher training settings. Also here navreme is in charge of the accompanying evaluation, presentations by Bernd Baumgartl and Gerhard Schaumberger focused on evaluation and dissemination respectively. (18 September 2003). The EDC-QA project had a further meeting in Preddvor/SI, in the mountains near Ljubljana. It assessed national reports on quality assurance in education for democratic citieznship from South-East Europe, and set the basis for an instrument for self-assessment by schools. Researchers from 15 countries, under the guidance of CEPS in Ljubljana and UNESCO in Paris participated in the lively discussions and working groups. navreme is in charge of the accompanying evaluation (8 September 2003). A meeting took place in Skopje/MK with Skopje University Vice-Rector Prof Violeta Cepujnoska, nominated to coordinate the project on UKIM's side. Bernd Baumgartl, Tzako Pantaleev and Robert Dimitrovski from the navreme team planned upcoming activities with the University: the presentation of the feasibility study for procurement, the launch of the interactive web-site for mobility requests and proposals, and the preparation for the workshop on quality assurance to be held in Ohrid in late October. (5 September 2003). New management, monitoring and information tools were created by the team for our project with the University Cyril and Methodius (UKIM) in Skopje. A regular internal Newsletter is available, and a official Monthly Report informs team members, benficiaries, stakeholders, and last not least the donor regularly on project progress. They are available on request from office@navreme.net (19 August 2003). INTAS, the EU research cooperation scheme with the NIS has entrusted Dr Baumgartl to evaluate a series of proposals for funding on behalf of the European Commission. Project themes range from environment to political science and education. The evaluation is carried out all on-line via a sophisticated web-site with several levels of assessment. This job can be - and is! - done from any Internet Café in the world. (Only the invoice needs to be signed and mailed by hand). (13 August 2003). A meeting took place in Evora/PO in the framework of the CERN project on evaluation. With our Portuguese partner Academus, the CERN dissemination activity was monitored, and achievements and progress documented by participating organisations with colleagues in their organisation, with other evaluators, and with policy-makers, to make learning of project partners aware of. (10 August 2003). Our pragmatic consortium of individual consultants (see ad-hoc consortium) was awarded another significant evaluation on behalf of the European Commission: the assessment of "SPRING DAY", an initiative to make known the activity of the European Convention in several 100s of European schools. Similar to our colleagues from Czech Republic, Belgium, Spain and Romania, navreme will focus the impact in Austria and Germany - in order to give recommendation to Brussels on a possible institutionalisation. (3 August 2003). Evaluation Brief No. 2 for the INTER project on cultural education is being produced, and focusses on the accompanying evaluation of the project progress and process, apart from dissemination strategies. (29 July 2003). navreme's first poster is under production - it derived from an advertisment we published in an economic and ICT journal. It can be seen by clicking here, or request your own copy at office@navreme.net. (27 July 2003). First reports arrived from the National Focal Points of the European Monoitoring Centre on Xenophobia and Racism, the EU agency in Vienna. Gerhard Schaumberger with Bernd Baumgartl is assessing the reports on issues like education, employment, racism, or law from Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, and United Kingdom. (26 July 2003). In the Euronet project, navreme is in charge of the publication of 4 books. Contracts were drawn up to distribute the 36,000 EUR allocated to the four editors of the books in the Czech Republic, Germany, Malta, United Kingdom. (19 July 2003). The Inception Report of our Higher Education reform project in Macedonia was submitted in time on 15 July. It contained a summary of activities so far, and a preview for the coming months. It was accepted by the donor, the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (16 July 2003). Further missions took place in Southern Serbia in order to advise municipalities on procurement matters. For this project Dr Schramke cooperates with the European Movement in Serbia on behalf of navreme. (14 July 2003). The Feasibility Study on the procurement component (PRO) of the Macedonia project has been finalised by our colleauges from Skopje University (UKIM), under guidance of Tzako Pantaleev and Robert Dimitrovski from the navreme team. It is a great 70 pages description, needs analysis and future looking plan for ICT at UKIM and for the entire academia in MK. It lists all ICT projects underway, and proposes for our project to establish a wireless area network between the campuses, thus complementing the NATO investment of linking UKIM to the Internet. (13 July 2003). During a visit in Turkey, Dr Baumgartl visited the Istanbul Bilgi University, and meet the Rector. Turkey is an important future partner country for navreme in the framework of its rapprochement with the European Union. (29 June 2003). Dr Helmut Schramke is busy travellling the Balkans on behalf of navreme’s: after a short assignment to design public administration training courses in Zagreb (Croatia), he is now involved in procurement tasks for the municipalities of Kovin, Majdanpek and Novi Sad in Serbia. (26 June 2003). Today navreme submitted an Expression of Interest with the Croatian Finance Ministry with respect to the CARDS project on Higher Education Reform. The proposed concortium consists of the Salzburg Seminar, the European Network for Quality Assurance (ENQA), and the CERD (Centre for Education Development and Research) in Zagreb. (24 June 2003). On 19-21 June, a single-domain workshop of our EU FP5 research project Eurone&t (domain 1, modus vivendi) was organised in Oslo, Norway, by the research institute FaFo, a Eurone&t partner. On the theme of “Lifelong Learning and the Role of Social Partners”, a series of papers on the view of Member States will be presented, which will enrich Eurone&t’s publication list. Abstracts are available at the project’s web-site, www.learningpolicies.net. (23 June 2003). Workshop reports have been published on the three components of the Higher Education Support project in Macedonia. Navreme’s experts Helmut Schramke and Ilo Trajkovski (Mobility - MOB), Tzako Pantaleev and Robert Dimitroski (Procurement - PRO), and Jochen Fried and Cvetko Smilevski (Quality Assurance and Evaluation Systems - QAE), together with working group at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University Skopje (UKIM – www.ukim.edu.mk ), have narrowed down the scope of work of each component, and agreed on working schedules up to autumn. Moreover, an international workshop on quality assurance is planned in Ohrid for mid October 2003. (20 June 2003). The UNESCO Conference on Intercultural Education, held in Jyväskylä, Finland, has been taking place from 16-18 June 2003. Apart from serving as a member of the International Steering Committee, Dr Bernd Baumgartl co-chaired a panel on “Human Rights Education in Transition Economies”. The other co-chair was Prof Alena Korshuk from the Belorussian State University. Papers from the Czech Republic, Nigeria, Belarus and Poland have been presented. See also www.unijyv.fi/unesco2003 (13 June 2003). On 6-9 June, Helmut Schramke visited Algier, to meet with Algerian Ministry officials and the EU Delegation in order to discuss the focus of the training programme for public administrators under the MEDA programme. Dispite the earthquake in Algeria, and the strike in France, he made his way to Brussels to inform the European Commission about progress in this assignment. (10 June 2003). navreme was selected to undertake the evaluation of reports on xenophobia and racism in the European Union. Commissioned by the European Monitoring Centre on Xenophobia and Racism, the EU’s agency in Vienna, a series of thematic reports in the German, English and Dutch languages will be assessed by Gerhard Schaumberger and Bernd Baumgartl. (5 June 2003). Dr Helmut Schramke is holding meetings and interviews in Algier, for our project under the MEDA programme on Public Admininstration training networks. Despite the earthquake, experts from the Ministries, training academies, and European Delegation are discussing the needs for PA training under a future EU programme. (1 June 2003). Three initial workshops took place in navreme's project with the University Ss. Kyril and Methodius in Skopje, on each of the project components: on Mobility on 27 May, on Procurement on 28-29 May, and on Quality Assurance on 29-30 May. Priorities for action were agreed, work plans drafted, and the cooperation solidified. Further meetings will take place in June, to finalise a Feasiblity Study on Infrastructure, and areas for guest lectures and seminars. A international QA Workshop is planned for October 2003, in Ohrid. (31 May 2003). A planning meeting was held in Sofia on 22 May, with the participants of our trianing courses of autumn 2002. Further activities are underway in Vojavodina, on specific training themes - and in order to hand over the second trophy of the Constantinus to the legitimate owners in Belgrade, the government of Serbia, our former client. Dr Baumgartl and Dr Schramke had further meetings to follow up the ananlysis of the training project. (25 May 2003). On 14 May, the winners of the national consulting awards Constantinus (including navreme, see below) were invited by the Chamber of Commerce to an elite brainstorm on "best practice" and "lessons learned" from premiated projects. The Castle of Hernstein south of Vienna (www.hernstein.at) provided the setting, a impressing variety of relevant experience was discussed and confronted, and findings will be used by the professional representation association for consultants (www.incite.at) to improve publicity for the sector. (15 May 2003). On 10 May, within the framework of seminars for future Polish EU officials, Mr Baumgartl gave two seminars on "EU Research Policy" at the Academy of Economics in Cracov. Citing examples from his experience as participant, evaluator and researcher in such projects, he will provide insights and let people experience critical issues and current developments (11 May 2003). For the fourth time, Dr Bernd Baumgartl taught Certificate and Master Students for a week at the European University Centre for Peace studies (EPU) in Schlaining, in southeast Austria. The course is on "Project Design, Implementation and Evaluation", and foresees again groupwork, roleplays, simulations, a game, and - individual projects to be prepared by the participants (5-9 May 2003). From 28-29 April, Dr Bernd Baumgartl was invited as a guest professor to an international M.A. course ("Management and Development") organised by the ILO in Torino. The objective was to present a case study of an international project to be analysed and discussed with students. The project selected was the 2002 train-the-trainer project carried out with UNPD in Serbia. Project methods were critically revised by participants, results greatly appreciated, and valuable input was provided to navreme's draft paper to be published in the International Journal of Project Management. (30 April 2003). navreme signed an expression of intent for a substantial project within FP6, the framework programme for research of the European Commission. Under the lead of the Fraunhofer Institute in Munich, a proposal acronymed ISOKE (Internet Supported Knowledge Repository for Experiences and Recommendations on Business Excellence, based on the Management of Synchronized Metaprocesses for Networked SMEs) was sent to the IST (Information Society Programme) in Brussels. If the proposal is selected, navreme will coordinate the participation of approximately 12 partners in Central and Eastern Europe. (19 April 2003). The public signature of our contract with the University of Skopje and the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs took place on 16 April in Skopje. It was signed by the Rector, the Ambassador of Austria in Macedonia, and Dr Bernd Baumgartl on behalf of navreme and the consortium. Ensuingly, all signatees were interviewed by Macedonian press and TV. (17 April 2003). At the Chateau des Colombieres sur Orb in Southern France, the recent workshop of CERN (the EU evaluators' network), took place. Co-organised by the owners of the castle and navreme, colleagues were accommodated in 4 "gites" facing the Massif Central. Work was extremely productive, and revealed complete completion with the contractual requirements. IN addition, new tools were developed and tested (see also the Evaluation Game "Ludovaluate", co-designed by navreme). (11 April 2003). navreme is also the single winner of the Constantin Award for Young Entrepreneurs (www.constantin-award.at/Seiten/case_studies.htm)! Our public administration reform project with UNDP in Serbia (see News below) was selected amongst 78 applicants. The premiation of the winners and their clients took place on 26 March in Vienna. (27 March 2003). A plenary workshop of the Eurone&t project was scheduled in Czesky Krumlov on 24-25 March 2003: "Society and Learner in Transition - Learning related policies under transition, theory and practice, achievements and notion from societal and learner perspective". Dr Bernd Baumgartl chaired a session on "Knowledge and Skills" and participate in the Steering Committee meeting. navreme also discussed with domain partners the Oslo workshop in June, for which a Call for Papers has already prompted several applications to contribute scientific papers to Eurone&t (23 March 2003). Dr Helmut Schramke started his series of consultations for programming the set-up of a network of the Public Administration Training Institutes in the Maghreb countries. In Barcelona, he meets Professor Sanchez to exchange views on previous action in the field, and priorities to be analysed by navreme for the European Commission's MEDA programme. (18 March 2003). navreme is one of the finalists of the Constantin Award (www.telekom-presse.at/channel_itbusiness/news_6524.html), Austria'a first premium for consulting enterprises. Our public administration reform project with UNDP in Serbia (see News of 16 December below) was selected in the branch of "personnel & training". The premiation of the winners by Economics Minister Martin Bartenstein will take place on 26 March in Vienna. (12 March 2003). navreme's expert Gerhard Schaumberger was sent to Bishkek to support the drafting of the overall concept for the OSCE Academy in Kyrgyzstan (www.osce-academy.net.kg). Seconded by the Austrian Foreign Ministry, he develops - in collaboration with major European and regional Central Asian academic partners in the field of security - the main principles, goals, tasks, the Mission Statement, the institutional framework and an organisational development plan for this young organisation with its timely and regional approach. (11 March 2003) For a proposal under the Sixth Framework Project for RTD of the European Commission, a workshop organised by the Fraunhofer Institut took place in Stuttgart. The project ISOKE (Internet Supported Knowledge Repository for Experiences and Recommendations on Business Excellence, based on the Management of Synchronized Metaprocesses for Networked SMEs) intends to develop knowledge management systems for Small and Medium Enterprises. navreme will coordinate the input and piloting by partners from 12 Central and Eastern European countries. Dr Helmut Schramke participated at the workshop on behalf of navreme on 9-10 March 2003. (10 March 2003). The second visit of the Metoring programme with the Latvian Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (LCHRES) took place 4-9 March 2003. Bernd Baumgartl developed the organigramme of the LCHRES, a scheme for performacnce evaluation, a salary scheme, and provided feedback from his analysis of staff interviews. Moreover, a mission statement was crafted jointly (9 February 2003). On 31 March 2003, factline (www.factline.com), our partner for interactive web solutions and designer of our platform at www.learningpolicies.net, is organising an event in Vienna - to reflect on the pros and cons of web based cooperation. Bernd Baumgartl will give a presentation on "Web-supported Project Work - Comparison and Experiences from 4 Projects". See the programme at factline's platform. (27 February 2003). ITIA, the Serbian governmental agency for Information Technology and Internet, will benefit from a large-scale project by SIDA, the Swedish International Development Agency. navreme is assembling a consortium of national and international partners for this tender due on 25 February: formally the lead is with INFORMATIKA from Belgrade who have the technical expertise, procedural knowledge and years of international consulting experience are provided by ZENIT (Stockholm), whereas navreme will contribute its competence in public administration reform, particularly in Serbia. A pool of experts from navreme’s network will be proposed for policy studies, mangagement issues, and training tasks over the coming two years. Dr Helmut Schramke is proposed as the long-term expert. If successful, implementation of this project will start in April, and last until 2005. (24 February 2003). Financed by a grant from the Norvegian government, a second project phase of the project “Education for Democratic Citizenship” was launched within the Stability Pact for South-East Europe. Coordinated by the Center for Education Policy Studies (CEPS) in Ljubljana, all countries from the region will be involved in producing indicators, guidelines and procedures for assessing the quality of EDC policies and practices in SEE, and by training audit teams at national and regional level in the application of these instruments. In the project “Culture, Practice and Impact of Education for Democratic Citizenship in Southeast Europe”, navreme will carry out the accompanying evaluation. A first meeting took place in Ljubljana on 20-22 February 2003 (22 February 2003). After a meeting with the MEDA programme of the European Commission, navreme was officially charged with the establishment of a network of public administration institutions for the Maghreb countries. Through visits to all the contries concerned (Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Jordan, Libanon, Libya, Malta, Marocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey) and a conference in Brussels, the public administration of these countries will be prepared for intensified cooperation with their homologues in the EU. Helmut Schramke, supported by Bernd Baumgartl, will be leading this mission between March and June 2003 (20 February 2003). Support to the University of Skopje, provided through a grant of the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is starting soon. After agreeing all details of inception with Ministry officials, navreme will soon undertake an exploratory mission to dove-tail the programme to the Macedonian needs. A press conference and public signature of the contract between the Austrians, Macedonians and navreme (by the Ambassador, Rector and Executive respectively) is scheduled for 14 March 2003 in Skopje. (15 February 2003). The European Commission, via ICON in Germany, has asked navreme to carry out an "Identification and Forumlation Mission" for the EuroMED Regional Programme "Training of Public Administrations". Dr Helmut Schramke will travel to the capitals of 12 Maghreb countries in order to plan the set-up of a newtwork of training institutes of public administration. Until end June 2003, a report and programme recommendations will be delivered to the Commission, and a conference held in Brussles. (14 February 2003). For a major development project in Serbia for SIDA from Sweden, navreme is trying to set up a consortium. Together with Swedish, Wlesh and Serbia partners, a proposal is under preparation to adivse the Serbian ITIA, the Information Techology and Internet Agency, with policy studies, personnel and organisational development, and infrastructure. Implementation of this project would run over the coming two years. (12 February 2003). The 2001 stocktaking report on Education for Democratic Citizenship in South-East Europe, by Cameron Harrison and Bernd Baumgartl, is now available as e-book at the Council of Europe's website: www.coe.int, and in a pdf-version (6 February 2003). The Dutch Public Administration agency ROI - via a programme of the Open Society Institute - contracted Bernd Baumgartl to be the Mentor of the Latvian Center for Human Rights and Ethnic Studies (LCHRES). Dr Baumgartl spent his first visit in Riga from 28 January 2003 to 2 February 2003, and carried out a needs analysis and information collection. It was agreed to collaborate in the coming months on questions of organisational development, strategy, organigramme and personnel questions. (4 February 2003). New Xenophobia in Europe, a book co-edited by Bernd Baumgartl, is still in print and can be ordered with the publisher (Kluwer Law International). The book collects information about the history and state of xenophobia in 27 European countries. In the words of Noam Chomsky, it "was a timely endeavour" when published in 1995, but it can be used well also today as a reference. (1 February 2003). Within the Phare Programme, and on behalf of GTZ (DE), navreme will run training sessions for the future public administration agency in Sarajevo (BH). Programme Director Dr Tzako Pantaleev will build on the work undertaken in 2002, and conduct sessions on project cycle management, evaluation and teamwork in Public Administration. (21 January 2003). Together with Olga Strietska-Ilina from the National Training Fund in Prague, Bernd Baumgartl and Gerhard Schaumberger from navreme finished their contribution to CEDEFOP's research report, analysing evaluations of EU programmes. Based on 5 case studies, recommendations for international evaluation exercises were formulated in the paper, to be published later this year in Thessaloniki. (18 January 2003). In the EU-Leonardo project “Water in Paper”, two recognized universities, three international networks and an experienced partner in the project co-evaluation get together to achieve a sustainable improvement of the vocational training of the target group. Each partner has an international reputation in their areas of expertise which they will contribute to the project in the best possible way. The result of the project will be an innovative multimedia compendium for the specialists to be used in training and - in a limited way – for auto-didactic purposes. A particular approach of the project is to develop a didactic tool for users all over the world written only in English, but featuring innovative visualisation technologies to make the basic scientific processes easily comprehensible to the target group. The two university partners are responsible for the content: One for the textual and the other for the visual content. navreme will carry out the co-evaluation of this project until 2004. A first workshop took place in Rome on 11-12 January 2003. (13 January 2003). News Archive 2002 News Archive 2001 and before back to top