newslog 2004

The first participatory workshop on the impact evaluation of the INTAS programme will take place on 21 January in Brussels. Jenny Hughes (CRED, Wales), Martin Steinmayr (particip, DE), and Bernd Baumgartl from navreme will facilitate a session aiming at a shared understanding of the objectives and scope of the assignment - i.e. to go beyond the mere evaluation of past INTAS activities (27 December 2004).

Dates for workshops have been confirmed by the Council of Europe: jointly with particip from Freiburg (DE), navreme experts will hold training on the theory and practice of evaluation. The courses will have the character of a workshop where focus will be put on identifying the difficulties for the project managers in the completion of logframes, i.e. formulation of objectives and indicators including the reporting. The first training (19/20 January) will be held by Oscar Marleyn, Stefan Lang from (particip), the second training (31 January, 1 February) by Oscar Marleyn and Bernd Baumgartl, the third training proposed on February 15/16 by Oscar Marleyn and Jenny Hughes on behalf of navreme (25 December 2004).

A workshop took place at navreme's premisses on 18-19 December, to plan the evaluation of the INTAS programme of the European Commission (see below). It will serve to 1) Planning the Timetable; 2) Dividing tasks; 3) Designing the tools; 4) Scheduling trips and Workshops with the Commission; 5) Sketching the programme of workshop 1 in January; 6) Structuring the Inception Report (and subsequent ones); and 7) Writing up all above for Inception Report. Participants will be Jenny Hughes (CRED, Wales), Martin Steinmayr (particip), Jochen Fried and Bernd Baumgartl from navreme (18 December 2004).

UNESCO's CEPES, the office for higher education in Bucharest, has invited navreme to undertake a study into the situation of private universities in Europe. The work will be mainly carried out by Dr Jochen Fried, a long-term partner in Vienna. Networking amongst private universities cobmines well with the long-term development goals of the navreme network (17 December 2004).

Bernd Baumgartl took part in the first meeting of EVAL4 Test-Scan, the Leonardo project starting now, in Galway (IE) on 13-14 December. Most project partners are members of the evaluation network CERN EEIG, registered in Ireland. The project's full name is Electronic Evaluation 4, and it will deal with Testing Evaluation Systems and Tools: Stakeholder Collaboration and Networking. One of the tools is navreme's game ludovaluate (15 December 2004).

On request of our Swedish partner Hifab International AB, we proposed Dr Tzako Pantaleev as the component leader for Human Resources Development in Turkey. The EU Project "Support to the Turkish Employment Organisation (ISKUR)" aims at enhanced institutional capacity of the Turkish Employment Organisation (ISKUR), so that it becomes a nationally recognised leader in promoting HRD and is able to design, develop and implement effective policy measures and services aligned with the European Employment Strategy (EES) (10 December 2004).

Together with our partner organisation Techne (Søren Kristensen) in Copenhagen (DA), we applied for a restricted invitation to tender by Cedefop (the EU Centre for the Development of Vocational Education in Thessaloniki). The service is named “Animation, review, evaluation and report writing on the outcomes of Cedefop virtual communities related to policy development", and would take place all 2005. The virtual communities concerned are the following: Single framework on transparency of qualifications and competencies; Informal and non-formal learning; Quality assurance in VET; Lifelong guidance; TTnet-training of trainers network; and Leonardo da Vinci thematic monitoring activities (09 December 2004).

Our pre-proposal, submitted under the lead of 3s in Vienna, for the Leonardo project "DEQU" has been selected for the 2nd round: We are invited to submit a full proposal. It will extend the project partnership to national networks of 1) a practice oriented higher education institution (which can be supported by a research or consulting institution), 2) a quality assurance agency (or national board for quality assurance), and 3) political decision makers. The full proposal is due to be submitted at the beginning of February. DEQU would ideally combine with several projects in HE navreme has been implementing, and stands for the Development of Elements for Quality Assurance within practice oriented Higher Education (08 December 2004).

A proposal to undertake the horizontal analysis of a rapid response on “Policing Racist Crime and Violence” by the EUMC's RAXEN5 network of National Focal Points was sent off today. If successful, 25 short reports and data from the EU Member States will be collected, interpreted and translated into recommendations on behalf of the Monitoring Centre on Xenophobia and Racism, the only EU institutions based in Austria (06 December 2004).

navreme's expression of interest for pre-selected consultants at the Delegation of the European Union to Turkey in Ankara was received and registered. The Delegation will contact us in the future to provide administrative and technical assistance in several fields - Social Policy and employment; Education and training; Culture and audio-visual policy; General EC studies; and Audit & Evaluation (5 December 2004).

After acceptance of the proposal sent earlier this month, it was eventually agreed by the Council of Europe: jointly with particip from Freiburg (DE), navreme experts will hold training for the Council of Europe in Strasbourg (FR) from January 2005 on. Jenny Hughes, Tim Sims, and Bernd Baumgartl will train Council staff and experts on the theory and practice of evaluation (4 December 2004).

First monitoring of procurement in Macedonia by the Supervision Team resulted in a positive opinion on the work of the contractor. A first instalment of 61,250 EUR was thus paid to Makedonski Telekomunikatsii (2 December 2004).

28 November - 1 December 2004, Bernd Baumgartl took part in another session of the Salzburg Seminar an its University Project on Higher Education in the former Soviet Union. "Education, Civil Society and Sustainability in Transition Countries: Looking Back; Going Forward" was the title of the programme. Informal talks resulted in potential agreements on cooperation with the McArthur Foundation, the Eurasia Foundation active in South Caucasus, and the Kyrgyz Minister of Education (1 December 2004).

navreme has joined the East West Network for Europe. EWNE is an international association constituted under Austrian law postured to promote trans-european cooperation in economic, social, political and institutional matters, acting as a support for these activities by offering new opportunities to European entities through its services, providing cooperation with other similar entities on the European continent. It unites some 30 partners from 10-plus countries, including Bosnia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Slovakia - and Austria (25 November 2004).

Upon our expression of interest filed in October, the European Training Foundation (ETF, www.etf.eu.int) in Torino, Italy has now assessed and accepted our expressions of interest. The details have been entered into the ETF long list of potential contractors. navreme will be invited to participate should future tendering procedures relevant to the application "Expertise Provision in Vocatinal Education and Training" be launched (23 November 2004).

A report was finally published by CEDEFOP (the EU Centre pour le Developpment de la Formation Professionelle in Saloniki, Greece): The citation is Bernd Baumgartl with Olga Strietska-Ilina and Gerhard Schaumberger: „Consultancy for free? Evaluation practice and culture in the European Union and central and eastern Europe. Findings from selected EU programmes“, in Descy, Pascal and Tessaring, Manfred (ed.s): Impact of education and training. Third report on vocational training research in Europe: background report. Luxembourg: EUR-OP, 2004 (Cedefop Reference Series, 3036). The report is also available from Internet at: www.trainingvillage.gr (22 November 2004).

At the request of the European Commission, evaluative project summaries were included into the final report on High Impact Research Activities (HIRA) for DG Research. The projects from the Fourth and Fifth Framework Research Programme analysed by navreme included BoBa (booster batteries for hybrid vehicles), FUNCARS (on carbon nano tubes), MAIZE (on conventional and genetic transformation of maiz in acid soils), ontoweb (development of new standard for the future semantic web), and tta (time-triggered architeture for a bus system in automobile electronics) (21 November 2004).

Consortium leader Bernd Baumgartl spent another couple of days in Skopje, Macedonia, to monitor the procurement of optic cables for the University Internet network (17-19 November). A Supervision Team is now regularly checking on progress of the works executed by the Contracts, Makedoniski Telekomunikatsii. Only with signed formal protocols payment of instalments are released by navreme on behalf of the Austrian Foreign Ministry (20 November 2004).

TEEC has been invited to evaluate the INCO programme of the EC. INCO (International S&T Cooperation) is increasingly based on S&T policy dialogue with partners in third countries and promotes the development of long-term durable research partnerships. Its major focus is the added value and cost effectiveness that joint research projects with third countries can generate by exploiting the resources and scientific excellence of the partners, funding new research, exchanging know-how and transferring technologies, and providing on-the-job training and work experience. navreme has proposed a couple of experts, and sees much synergy with the Evaluations HIRA (High Impact Research Analysis) on FP 4+5, and INTAS (International Association for the Promotion of Co-operation with Scientists from the New Independent States) on research cooperation with the former Soviet Union - see below (13 November 2004).

“Special Reports" on Roma, Sinti, Gypsies and Travellers in Public Education started to arrive from the National Focal Points of these countries: DK, HU, LV, PL, SI. They are evaluated by navreme on behalf of the European Monitoring Centre on Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC): The work is again carried out by Gerhard Schaumberger - from Bishkek (KY) in Central Asia (12 November 2004).

Yet another proposal left the office, this time to - Turkey! 13 experts from 10 countries were proposed by (non supersticious) navreme to the Representation of the European Commission to Turkey. In reply to an Open Call for Applications, we propose to provide Administrative and Technical Assistance in the following fields: Social Policy and employment; Education and training; Culture and audio-visual policy; General EC studies; and Audit & Evaluation (11 November 2004).

A proposal was submitted to the Council of Scientific Studies in Spain, on immigrant communities from the (so called) First World. "INMIGRANTES INVISIBLES. Extranjeros procedentes de países del (denominado) Primer Mundo en el sistema escolar español" (Invisible Immigrants. Strangers from (the-so-called) First World in the Spanish School System) is the title of a 3-year research project, which tries to find reasons why these immigrants apparently integrate more smoothly. The project is directed by Dra. Margarita del Olmo (Departamento de Antropología, CSIC, Madrid). navreme is involved in providing a comparative dimension to this Spanish study, by providing data from the EU and CEE, and by functioning as "accompanying evaluators" (10 November 2004).

A draft final report was sent to the Leonardo project Lingua-In-City, which navreme was asked to evaluate. The report points to some weaknesses in the process and communication between project partners from Germany, Greece, Romania and the United Kingdom during certain project phases, and praises the efficient finalisation of most products, including activities and events for dissemination. The report, co-authored by Mihaylo Milovanovitch, states that "European migration of the workforce reveals significant differences and gaps between qualifications, cultural differences and communication skills for workers from different European areas. These unsolved issues along with the need for adjustments for European qualifications and standards expose the need of this project". It was met with approval by the coordinators (09 November 2004).

On request of the editors, and as a follow-up to the UNESCO Conference in Jyväskylä (FI) in June 2003, Dr Bernd Baumgartl sent a paper to the Journal “Thinking Classroom”, with the title “Embedding Human Rights Education in Post-Socialist Cultures: Specific Opportunities and Needs”. The paper argues in favour of human rights delivery because they are universal and should be shared between all countries and cultures, and because there is an obvious need for human rights education also in transition economies. However, the document proposes a culturally sensitive approach, which should refer to the cultural and historic specificities and traditions of the recipient country, in order to reach better results and achieve more sustainable impact. Thinking Classroom (ISSN 1392-947X) is published four times a year, and is a publication of the International Reading Association (08 November 2004).

Contract negotiations are in the final phase on the evaluation of the INTAS programme of the European Commission (see below). The implemeting organisations from our consortium TEEC for this job consist of navreme and particip, our partner in Freiburg, Germany (07 November 2004).

A partner in Germany invited navreme to take the leading role in a proposal to the European Training Foundation in Torino (IT), for the Evaluation of ETF activities in Bulgaria in the years 1996-2004. Besides Marco Lorenzoni from Brussels/Firenze, Petra Jedlicková from Prague, Lucian Ciolan from Bucharest, and Rumen Tarkalanov and Evgenija Tzekova from Sofia are proposed to form the evaluation team - if and once the bid is accepted (4 November 2004).

“National Reports on xenophobia and racism in 2004” from the following countries have arrived, and were analysed by navreme’s Gerhard Schaumberger on behalf of the European Monitoring Centre on Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC): DK, HU, LV, PL, SI. In addition, short Information Sheets on the legal and social situation have been produced and evaluated for a wider dissemination. (3 November 2004).

Navreme reinforced links with Italian partners: Dr Baumgartl, in the first days of November, held meetings with Mr Alberto Bolognini from Economisti Associati in Bologna (a TEEC partner), 3 colleagues from Learning.Com in Rome (Prof Marco Guspini, Eleonora, Francesco), and the Brussels-based “Bridges” and its manager Marco Lorenzoni, currently in Firenze. Discussion ranged from networking and exchange to imminent project proposals, and future options like involvement in Croatia, Serbia or the MEDA (mediterranean) area (2 November 2004).

Another proposal was launched recently, with out Italian partner Learning.com and the University of Rome, Roma Tre, under the EU's Minerva Programme. EUREKA (European Repository for e-learning Knowledge Assessment) is meant to deal with the performance of students of online and distance courses, both as continuous process for the educational improvement and the multidimensional aspect of learning, both as emerging need for a certification system of courses and credits. The project EUREKA means to plug this gap by creating a repository of assessment methodologies and tools for e-learning courses to be used by tutors, teacher and experts in distance learning Masters (30 October 2004).

Navreme tendered for an analysis of 25 country reports on “Comparative Analysis on Roma, Sinti, Gypsies and Travellers in Public Education”. The Call was issued by the European Monitoring Centre on Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) in Vienna, and asks for research and analysis on the following tasks: To discuss implications for the comparability of educational data and education policies between EU countries; To describe European and international activities regarding educational activities for the population groups in question; To examine good practices and to categorise them; and To formulate proposals regarding policy developments in this field for the European level. The work will be performed by Mikael Luciak, a navreme associate in Vienna, Gerhard Schaumberger and Bernd Baumgartl, in informal cooperation with the “Minority Studies Society STUDII ROMANI” (Sofia) and Slovak Roma experts. (27 October 2004).

Dr Baumgartl, as the external evaluator, took part in the final meeting of the project Lingua-In-City, financed under the EU Leonardo Programme. The meeting took place in Ingolstadt at the seat of the coordinator, Internationaler Kulturverein Sprachakademie, on 25 October. On the following day a dissemination event on curricula for migrant workers took place which involved companies and other stakeholders (26 October 2004).

Bernd Baumgartl, as the Vice President of the European Institute for the Enhancement of Democracy (EID), was invited to give a presentation at the yearly seminar of the Akademische Guildenschaft, a youth and students organisation. His presentation on 16 October 2004 in Attersee (Austria) had the title “Europa (er)leben: Projekterfahrungen aus der EU und ihrer Nachbarschaft (Living Europe: Project experiences from the EU and its neighbourhood)” (16 October 2004).

UNED, the Spanish university of distance education in Madrid has applied for a substantial project under the EU scheme ALFA to promote and introduce intercultural learning in Latin America. The proposal builds in the successful EU-Comenius Project INTER, which started in 2002. Navreme will continue to act as the accompayning evaluator of the endeavour, and undertake small-scale testing in seminars with post-graduate students at the European University for Peace Studies in Schlaining (Austria), and the UN Staff College in Turin, Italy. The duration is from 2005-2008, and workshops are planned in Chile, Costa Rica, Hungary, Mexico, and Spain (15 October 2004).

navreme has applied for the interim evaluation of the EU’s cultural programme CULTURE2000. With an overall budget of 236,5 million EURO, the programme is contributing to the promotion of a cultural area common to the European peoples. In this context, it supports co-operation between creative artists, cultural operators, private and public promoters, the activities of cultural networks and other partners, as well as of the cultural institutions of the Member States and of the other participant countries. The proposal foresees an intensive work programme with web-based questionnaires, interviews, desk research, case studies, and recommendations for the new European Union cultural programme. An international team was proposed with culture experts from Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy and the United Kindom. Dr Bernd Baumgartl is the contract director, and Mag Klaus Behrbohm from nareme’s partner “EU-Unternehmensberatung” is the team leader (14 October 2004).

Within the framework contract with DG Budget of the European Commission, our consortium TEEC a work proposal was submitted to Brussels for the evaluation of the EU’s INTAS programme. INTAS, the International Association for the Promotion of Co-operation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union, was established in 1993 by the European Community and like-minded countries. INTAS finances scientific research activities in the New Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union as an essential element for social and economic progress and consolidation of democracy in those countries, and scientific co-operation between scientists in these countries and the international scientific community. Implementation of this assignment will start in November 2004 (12 October 2004).

A Leonardo project under the lead of the Irish organisation Nexus was accepted and will start operations in December 2004 with a meeting in Galway (Ireland). The project EVAL-4 Testscan builds on previous work in EU projects on evaluation tools and methods. In the coming two years, EVAL4 will facilitate the testing of innovative evaluation tools, taking into account the evaluation culture as well as the general VET system and placing particular emphasis on the active participation of stakeholders (trainers, educators, participants and policy-makers) in applying methods, and in providing feedback (10 October 2004).

The Final Workshop of the EU-funded research project EURONE&T was held in Prague on 7-8 October 2004). The project had 26 partners, navreme was a member of the Steering Committee. The project will publish 4 books on Learning Related Policies in Europe and the concept of the Learning Society, which cover issues of education policy during EU integration and enlargement, but also expand to the current discussions in Japan, China, New Zealand, Chile or Brazil. The last output will be a policy brief, to be discussed with policy-makers in Brussels later this year (9 October 2004).

On 30 September in Skopje, Macedonia, Dr Baumgartl signed the contract for the substantial procurement of optic cables for the link of several university locations of the University of Skopje (UKIM) with broadband. The tender preceding the contract was one of the components of the navreme project "Support to the Higher Education at the Ss Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje", and was won by the company "Makedonski Telekomunikacii AD". The implementation is due to start immediately (4 October 2004).

Under Leonardo, the EU's programme for vocational education and training, the Project „FILIPPIDE“ was submitted. The proposal is coordinated by Learning.Com in Rome (IT). Filippide stands for "Fondi Interprofessionali: Laboratorio Integrato per la Personalizzazione dei Percorsi di Istruzione nella Didattica dell’E-learning“, and aims at 1) to analyse the most important European experiences about online learning and evaluation; 2) to produce and develop researches, reports, inquiries; 3) to define an European model of assessment for e-learning; and 4) to disseminate and valorise the results of the project during all its development (2 October 2004).

Based on 5 case studies which were researched, interviewed and analysed by navreme, substantial comments were sent to our partner "The Evaluation Partnership (TEP)" in the UK for the draft final report of the evaluation assignment HIRA. HIRA is analysing High-Impact Research Analysis under the Framework Programme of the EU, and attempts to give recommendations to the European Commission, how to improve the impact of research on European policy, economy and society (29 September 2004).

3s, an education firm in Vienna, is the coordinator of a major project initiative in the field of Quality Assurance for “practice and professional fields oriented Higher Education”. Under the Leonardo programme of the EU, a proposal named DEQU was filed which aims at developing tools for improving the quality of technical and polytechnical universities or Fachhochschulen. Navreme will participate in a double role: as accompanying evaluator/valoriser, and as the coordinator of a second circle of universities from Eastern europe, who will be invited for the validation and testing towards the end of the project duration (26 September 2004).

Mr Baumgartl and Mr Milovanovitch took active part in the fourth workshop of the INTER project (Comenius Programme of the EU), coordinated by the UNED in Madrid, which took place in Prague on 23-24 Septebmer 2004. navreme’s role is the accompanying evaluation, and thus focused on proposing tools for the testing of the draft guide and method during the third year of duration. Moreover, input was provided to the graphic design, format, and integration of guide, video and resources – and to the evaluation of the meeting itself (25 September 2004).

Navreme was invited to join a project proposal named “PrassiTele” (Practice Webs) for the EU’s Leonardo Programme (Vocational Education and Training field), launched by the Università di Roma 3. The proposal foresees 1) to analyse the most important European experiences about online learning and evaluation; 2) to produce and develop researches, reports, inquiries; and 3) to define a European model of assessment for e-learning. Other members of the prospective consortium are from Italy, Greece and Germany (24 September 2004).

The European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), the EU's agency in Vienna, has asked Dr Bernd Baumgartl and Gerhard Schaumberger to be involved again in the evaluation of the output of the RAXEN5 NFPs in the year 2004. RAXEN, the European Racism and Xenophobia Network (RAXEN), is a unique network composed of civil society actors that constantly monitor in all Member States the situation regarding phenomena of racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism assisting the EUMC in its "early warning" function and in the collection of reliable and objective data and information. navreme's experts will evaluate the national reports of Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Slovenia and Latvia (21 September 2004).

SEE-HEAD, the special course for university administrators from Southeast Europe, was held for the second time. Under the qualified lead of Dr Jochen Fried and Prof John Davies, with more participants and better yield, the course was held from 13-18 September 2004, at the Center for Continuing Training at the University of Graz. 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 (18 September 2004).

Dr Baumgartl taught a whole day on "Human Resources: Managing People" within the IPT COurse of the Austrian Centre for Peace Research in Schlaining. Close to 30 participants from all Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia, after a 2-weeks basic course on peace and reconciliation, were ensuingly trained in project management techniques and skills for perusal in the field, partly developed by navreme (21 September 2004).

Dr Baumgartl spent a whole week in Skopje, Macedonia, to oversee the finalisation of contracts for the substantial procurement of optic cables by navreme. These cables will link several university locations of UKIM with broadband, and need to be dug into soil before winter... The winning firm will need to ensure this in order to get the contract worth 180,000 EUR. Signature by the Rector is foreseen next week. (21 September 2004).

An interview has been held in Berlin with Daimler-Chrysler, who had been the consortium leader of the highly successful TTA-Project under the 4th Framework Programme for Research and Technical Development (FP4) of the EU. navreme'sDr Baumgartl met with Mr Scheidler of DC to discuss the impact of this project, i.e. implementation of a time-triggered computer architecture for fault-tolerant distributed real-time systems and its effective deployment in safety-critical transportation systems. The end product was a standard "bus" for the coordination of several dozens of electronic functions in an automobile. However, the product is also being used in the train and aircraft sectors. (10 September 2004).

In the framework of the HIRA project (see below) on Friday, 3. September 2004, MMag Mihaylo Milovanovitch conducted an interview with the project coordinator of the Booster Batteries Project, Dr Köhler at Varta Automotive AG in Hannover. The project seeked to develop new type of booster batteries for the so-called hybrid vehicles, using both gasoline and electric power. (4 September 2004).

The team-leader of the upstarting EU Phare project in Bulgaria on lifelong learning and vocational education and training is Dr Helmut Schramke of navreme. Dr Schramke will spend more than half of the next 18 months in Sofija, brokering cooperation of the Ministries of Labor and Education, running seminars for trainers and officials, and assisting with procurement of a major infrastructure envelope. The consortium leader is Care Austria, with German and Bulgarian partners (19 August 2004).

navreme's Dr Bernd Baumgartl met with members of the Mexican Association for History of Science around their annual conference, in Morelia. The conference gave an overview of science and technology policy in the 20the century. Possible cooperation plans gravitated around the "EU-Latin America programme" of the European Union. (15 August 2004).

Dr Jochen Fried interviewed the project coordinator of the MAIZ project, Dr Horst, in Hannover. The project involved as an important feature scientists from developing countries, notably from Africa, Asia and Latin America (Brasil, Venezuela, Mexico - see below). One main reason for High Impact seems to be the high degree of matching an emerging need in the economy or society (11 August 2004).

Within the HIRA evaluation for the European Commission, Dr Baumgartl visited the Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados - Unidad Irapuato (Guanajato State, Mexico). Their project MAIZ for Acid Soils is a project of huge importance for the development world. Its objectives are to develop trans-genetic maiz which is capable of growing in poor soils with aluminium toxics and scarsity of phosphor - a common problem in most of Latin America, Africa and South-East Asia. By offering new aspects how plants react in acid soils, it has a remarkable potential input on food production worldwide. Since the project has ended, its new findings, methods and above all new thinking has changed traditional and generated new research with direct input on agriculture, and on research and development of other food-plants as well (5 August 2004).

A further interview for HIRA (see below) was held by Bernd Baumgartl with the Vienna-based software developers Net Dynamics. Net Dynamics, partner of ontoweb, work on the application of ontology for automated processes. Traditional techniques for automation are not sufficient any more, in order to use computers efficiently and smoothly to complete one‘s tasks. In response to this challenge, Net Dynamics has developed Fred, the concept of an electronic representative. Freds work according to the principle of delegation, and delegation is the next step in improving automation. These agents take over tasks in the Internet, and look forward to a dramatic extension of possibilities through the future semantic web (27 July 2004).

Via TEEC, our European evaluation consortium, we were sent an invitation to participate in a mid term evaluation of the interactive policy making initiative IPME. Its focus is on consultation and feedback mechanism using the internet, stakeholders are from business, consumers, and citizens. DGs MARKT SANCO, DIGIT, ENTER, and BUDGET are involved. Via feedback mechanisms, on-line consultation mechanism and a technical system. Aims of the evaluation are the programme's contribution to policy making (awareness and use), the quality and VA of mechanisms, validity and comparison with alternatives, the technical quality of the software (multi-lingual and open source aspects) and cost effectiveness in general. navreme has proposed 2 experts for the team, which will be lead by our partner TEP (www.evaluationpartnership.com) from the UK with assistance from Economisti Associati (www.economistiassociati.com) from Italy (26 July 2004).

The second interview of a high-impact project named funcars took place with the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Erlangen. Researchers create and develop materials produced with new functions and charcteristics for tomorrow: Nano tubes. Carbon nanotubes, a new 1D carbon material, were discovered around ten years ago. This new molecular form of carbon exhibits a series of fundamentally new and unexpected physical, mechanical and chemical properties and brought nanotubes into the position of one of the most promising tools in future nanotechnology. Depending on their structure, nanotubes can carry current with essentially no resistence, semiconducting tubes can be made switchable. Nanotubes can have implications for the fabrication of molecule-based electronic devices, nanotransistors and memory elements. Due to their extraordinary mechanical properties considerable interest is in the development of carbon composites for applications in automobile and aerospace industry. (25 July 2004).

Dr Bernd Baumgartl started interviews with research projects which had particularly high impact on the European policy and economy. The first trip took him to Innsbruck, to the project ontoweb. This Thematic Network, under the leadership of Prof Dieter Fensel, may be the project with the highest impact at all. It aimed at nothing less than developing next generation of the world wide web. Moving beyond pure text and pictures, via ontology the semantic web will be able to give real answers to all kind of questions, and later also undertake automated processes between companies and individuals, across languages. Structured as a Thematic Network, the project has grown to embrace 150 partners, globally. Recently (February 2004) the standard developed by ontoweb was selected as the future standard for the Internet by W3C (www.w3c.org), the Commission establishing rules in cyberspace. The project functioned as an eye-opener and enabler, and resulted in awareness building, mind shaping and mind-setting. Several follow-up projects have emerged from ontoweb, both at European, national and industry level. Last not least, the project meant a European leadership over - and cooperation with - Japan and the USA in terms of development (20 July 2004).

A further Intermediate Report for the UKIM Project, relating mainly to financial spending was prepared for the Austrian Development Agency (an agency of the Foreign Ministry of Austria). The report is istrumental to ensure a further instalment of budget, necessary to acquire cables for the procurement component (10 July 2004).

Mr Johannes Vetter took part at the transnational workshop of Lingua-In-City in Swansea. The workshop provided an overview of products, ie e-learning modules for migrants, and their re-deployment on the EU labour market. For the evaluators, the workshop gave the opportunity to hold face-to-face interviews with members, to distribute evaluation sheets, to measure empowerment, and to revise the list of deliverables. navreme will send an evaluation brief in early August, and final reports in October (6 July 2004).

navreme has been asked to carry out the Evaluation of a challenging Leonardo Project: Lingua-In-City). It has the following objectives: 1) To systematically research and assess the professional skills requested with a view to the enlargement of communication and interaction competences, caused by the modernisation of the economy; 2) To address these skills needs via the development of a demand-led curriculum for endangered target groups (in particular migrants from the New Member States and the new neighbourhood of the EU); and 3) To test and pilot this curriculum in cooperation with enterprises from different commercial sectors. Modules on communicative skills have been prepared for target groups from migrant communities. navreme's experts for this assignment are Dr Tzako Pantaleev, Dr Stefan Popenici and Dr Bernd Baumgartl (6 June 2004).

New information on the INTER Project (Comenius Programme of the EU) has been posted on the project's web-site inter.up.pt. INTER has completed the Europe-wide needs assessment in year 1, and is not finalising a first version of the Guide for Inetercultural Education" (for teacher training). This guide is at present discussed in Virtual Conferences (1/2/3 June) with participants from several countries. As of September, the guide will be piloted in several teacher training institutions by member organisations (2 June 2004).

MMag Mihaylo Milovanovitch has joined navreme as a project manager. Mr Milovanovitch has work experience from KulturKontakt and project work in South-East Europe. With Bulgarian and Serbian roots, and as an alumnus of the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna, he speaks several languages, and is especially interested in navreme's research and development activities. Mr Milovanovitch will also reinforce the backstopping function of several projects, and be involved in the evaluation of HIRA, the EU's analysis of projects in the Fourth and Fifth Framework Programme for Research and Development (1 June 2004).

For the UKIM Project (University of Skopje, Macedonia), one component was successfully concluded: Quality Assurance and Evaluation System. A publication was finalised as well: "QUALITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION - FROM ANALYSIS TO IMPROVEMENT. Guidelines for Macedonia with view of current practices in Europe". The book, produced jointly with QA experts in Macedonia, was presented to the public, including rectors from Bitola, Tetovo and Skopje (30 May 2004).

Dr Baumgartl and Prof Diukandjiev from navreme gave presentations at the Inter-University Conference on 19 May 2004, on the project achievements and the Bologna Process respectively. Participants included also the rectors of Bitola, Tetovo (SEEU) and Skopje. Finally, all congratulated UKIM on occasion of its 55th birthday (20 May 2004).

The final version of the Report of the Evaluation for HESP/UPS on the Unit Partnership Scheme in SEE was sent out in time ("navreme") to the Open Society Institute in Budapest Findings underline the many positive impacts, conclusions suggest a continuation, and recommendations point to tools how to make a follow-up programme "UPS-plus" even more successful (15 May 2004).

At the European University Centre for Peace Studies (EPU), Dr Baumgartl served as a Guest Professor for the Master Course. In a one-week session, he presented project management tools, evaluation techniques, and ways how to apply for funding of peace projects at an international scale. 30 students from all continents participated in simulations, games and group work at the university's headquarter in Schlaining, Austria (13 May 2004).

INTER, the Comenius Project developing a Guide to Intercultural Education held another plenary workshop in Riga (LV). navreme was present with 2 people and 2 presentations: Johannes Vetter to report on the virtual conferences and progress on the modules, and Bernd Baumgartl to review the meeting and give an outlook to the coming months. (8 May 2004).

The Europe-wide tender for PROcurement under the project with Skopje University was launched in the Official Journal of the European Communities on 6 May. It invites tenders for carrying out the major infrastructure works, i.e. to link 5 UKIM faculties with broadband cables. Implementation is planned for the summer. (6 May 2004).

1 May 2004 was the day of Enlargement of the EU! navreme had already printed a poster, and sent an email to all partner individuals and institutions in the 10 New Member States, stating with joy: "A Cordial Welcome to the Union!". At the same time, navreme hopes that other countries further to the East will follow soon: candidates BG and RO in 2007, applicants HR and MK soon after, candidate TR as soon as possible, and all the further countries whom we also work with, in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, to follow as well. The day itself was spent by navreme staff at the very place enlargement happened, at the former border between Austria, Czech Republic, and Slovakia (1 May 2004).

The draft version of the Final Report of the Evaluation for HESP/UPS on the Unit Partnership Scheme in SEE was sent out to the whole group of national correspondents in 5 countries for validation. Enriched with their comments, it will be finalised and sent to OSI/HESP mid May (30 April 2004).

The ILO (International Labour Office of the UN) at its training centre in Turin, Italy, offers a Master Course in International Development, jointly with the University of Torino. Dr Bernd Baumgartl was invited to run a one-day session on project case, on the successful UNDP project within Serbian Public Administration Reform in late 2002. Working Groups and open discussions took place in an open manner, and were evaluated positively by the students. Next year, a second day will be added to this engagement, in oder to present evaluation theory and tools, and play navreme's evaluation game: ludovaluate (28 April 2004).

Dr Helmut Schramke was chairing a meeting in Brussels of the MEDA programme, on cooperation in Public Administration between EU and the mediterranean partners. The training and exchange programme co-developed by navreme will be launched soon by the European Commission, all will allow direct exchange and mutual benefit of officials dealing with EU manner in the EU and MEDA areas (22 April 2004).

On 15+16 April, Dr Baumgartl spent 2 fascinating days in Moldova to carry out interviews for the evaluation of the Unit Partnership Scheme in Higher Education. He was impressed by the professional work undertaken, and wealth of outputs of both projects with Moldovan beneficiaries. Moreover, he had talks with Workd Bank education project experts on the questions of (self-)teaching and (self-)assessment. Moldova had been the last (but definitely not least) country in Europe navreme had never worked in! (20 April 2004).

The Final Report of the Evaluation for Spring Day 2003 was submitted to and accepted by the European Commission (Secretariat-General). "We appreciated the quality of the evaluation you carried out and our good cooperation", wrote the responsible Head of Unit from the Task Force "Future of the Union" in his letter. Under the skilled lead of Marco Lorenzoni (Bridges, Brussels), an international team of 5 experts, including Bernd Baumgartl, had found high yield, excellent cost/benefit ratio, and huge impact of this Initiative launched by the European Convention. It will be repeated also in 2004 (7 April 2004).

8 virtual conferences, often chaired by navreme, took place within the INTER Project on intercultural education (Comenius, EU). These scaled meetings on definitions and content of modules help to preapre for the Riga workshop in May, where a first rough draft of the teacher training guide should be available (4 April 2004).

Bernd Baumgartl finished the assignment with the World Bank and Ministry of Education in Macedonia (19 MUSD Education Modernisation Project). A selection of data streams from the project was undertaken, tools were developed for M&E, storage formats were agreed, and M&E dissemination tools were deviced (Newsletter and Internal Brief). Cornerstone is a set of 3 (three only) indicators for measuring quality in education. But: these are the first quality indicators ever for Macedonia, as so far enither data, nor instruments, nor channels for information collection had existed. Moreover, a regular questionnaire to schools will measure also impact, capacity-building/empowerment, and decentralisation progress. Interim evaluations were planned for every year, and the Macedonian M&E expert was "mentored" to carry out his job by himself in the coming 5 years (28 March 2004).

The evaluation of the Unit Partnership Scheme from Soros/OSI/HESP for South East Europe has advanced: We had some return of our questionnaires, mostly from Beneficiaries, several from the Advisory Council, few from International Partners. Several interviews have been carried out, by Tzako Pantaleev and Johannes Vetter in Kosovo, Stefan Dukjiandziev in Serbia, Stefan Popenici and Johannes Vetter in Romania, Dobrinka Taskovska and Bernd Baumgartl in Macedonia, and by Tzako Pantaleev and Bernd Baumgartl in Bulgaria. First observations are that projects diverge hugely between them: some are excellent and made best use, reflected on follow-up, and went beyond the project requirements, others show little improvement between the proposal for financing and the final report. We were lucky to get hold of the Tempus II final evaluation report, and the Tempus III interim evaluation. They ease our job to ask the evaluative question on comparison with Tempus. A draft report to be sent end April to our group will be assessed by all evaluators, and then presented to the HESP staff and the Advisory Council in May (24 March 2004).

FON, the Faculty of Social Sciences in Skopje invited Dr Bernd Baumgartl to give a lecture on European Policy and its implementation via project in South-east Europe. In front of 100 students of International Law, Economics, and International Relations, a link was attempted between EU decisions and happenings on the ground in Macedonia (23 May 2004).

A workshop took place in Budapest with the Higher Education Support Programme, to plan the evaluation of their Unit Partnership Scheme (UPS) in South-East Europe. Bernd Baumgartl and Johannes Vetter from navreme were informed in detail on HESP's intentions and objectives for the assignment, and agreed dates, methods and trips. Universities in Bulgaria, Kosovo/a, Macedonia, Moldova, and Romania will be visited by navreme experts and their national correspondents. An electronic questionnaire, interview guidlines, and reporting structures were deviced ensuingly (8 March 2004).

Bernd Baumgartl spent 2 weeks in Skopje, Macedonia, to continue to follow the UKIM project, and create a Monitoring nd Evaluation System for the World Bank's Education Modernisation Project. A working meeting with the European Commission took place in Brussels today, with Dr Helmut Schramkeas the navreme representative for the evaluation exercise of the IDA2 programme on software development for public administration. Together with our consortial partner The Evaluation Partnership from the UK, the approximately 35 MEUR spent across 40 programmes over the last 4 years will be evaluated, and recommendations developed for the Commission (28 February 2004).

A working meeting with the European Commission took place in Brussels today, with Dr Helmut Schramke as the navreme representative for the evaluation exercise of the IDA2 programme on software development for public administration. Together with our consortial partner The Evaluation Partnership from the UK, the approximately 35 MEUR spent across 40 programmes over the last 4 years will be evaluated, and recommendations developed for the Commission (18 February 2004).

The Higher Education Support Programme (HESP) in Budapest has accepted navreme's proposal for evaluation of a first scheme under the Faculty Development Programme in South East Europe, i.e. the Unit Partnership Scheme (UPS). The evaluation process foresees a close cooperation with OSI/HESP and 5 national correspondents and navreme associates in Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia&Montenegro. It will answer questions on the effectiveness of the grant scheme and resulting improvement of curricula at participating institutions. Questionnaires, site visits, focus groups, and a strategy planning workshop are foreseen by the experts Dr Jochen Fried and Dr Bernd Baumgartl in the period until end May (17 February 2004).

A (final) Evaluation Brief was sent to the Stability Pact project on Quality Assurance in Education for Democratic Citizenship, financed by the Norwegian government. The project sees the participation of 10 South East European countries, and is close to conclude its first work phase. It was jointly decided to dis-continue the accompanying evaluation, also with a view to budgetary constraints (15 February 2004).

Dr Helmut Schramke as senior expert helped design the future Croatian Institute for Public Administration Training in Zagreb. Together with colleagues from the British Council (UK) and ICON (DE), detailled planning took place, including room allocation, library content, and above all, content of training to be provided (12 February 2004).

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) has asked Bernd Baumgartl to produce an Education Monitoring and Evaluation System for the Education Modernization Project (EMP) with the Ministry of Education and Science (MoES) in the Republic of Macedonia. The Project focuses on (a) Improving school based learning and attendance at the local level, and (b) Empowering schools and school communities to strengthen school level planning and management and improve performance. As a Senior Education Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, Dr Baumgartl will work in Skopje for a total of 20 days in February and March (11 February 2004).

Our joint proposal "EVAL4" on the further development of evaluation tools under the Leonardo Programme of the EU was commented positively in Ireland, promoted into the second round of evaluation in Brussels. We hope to be accepted and start work before the summer (9 February 2004).

A proposal and schedule for virtual conference was designed and sent out by navreme for the INTER Project under the Comenius Programme. Project Coordinator UNED in Madrid and other partners are supposed to post draft versions of the Key Concepts and specific Modules for the INTER training guide on Intercultural Education over the coming months
(5 February 2004).

A workshop was held in Vienna today at the navreme office to prepare the evaluative framework for the questionnaires of the IDA programme (see below). The evaluation is carried out by the EEIG TEEC (The European Evaluation Consortium), under the lead of TEP (The Evaluation Partnership) in the UK, by Dr Helmut Schramke, Mag Petra Jedlickova, and Mag Johannes Vetter on behalf of navreme (4 February 2004).

Dr Bernd Baumgartl was invited by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank, IBRD) to submit a detailed proposal to establish a Monitoring and Evaluation System in Macedonia. The World Bank is about to launch a 5 MEUR programme, which will be completed by a Dutch grant of 10 MEUR to "Moderise the Education System" in Macedonia. (3 February 2004).

The UKIM Interim Report and relating Financial Reports were sent on time to the Foreign Ministry of Austria, and the Zentrum für Soziale Innovation as the monitoring organisation. Most activities were carried out as scheduled, and finetuning of the project to the University's needs had taken place. New work schedules for the remaining year were developed as well (1 February 2004).

navreme, as the winner of the national young entrepreneurs Award "Constantinus" was featured in Austria's most distributed daily "Kronen Zeitung". While the quality of the paper is, alas, no reason for satisfaction, the reach of the newspaper (around 60% of the population!), surely is! Thus, click here to see the article (31 January 2004).

A detailed proposal and schedule for Evaluation was sent at request of the Open Society Institute's (OSI) Higher Education Support Programme (HESP) in Budapest. The evaluation should answer the question how good the different grant schemes are doing to improve teaching and curriculum development in South East Europe, and in comparison with other programmes like Tempus. Experts proposed are Dr Jochen Fried and Dr Bernd Baumgartl (29 January 2004).

For the project design and technical specifications of the PROcurement component of the UKIM project, a Call for Expressions of Interest was published in Macedonian media. 8 firms withdrew the tender informations, 3 firms submitted proposals, 2 firms were invited for interviews, and 1 firm was selected for contract negotiations by the evaluation panel. Members of the panel were Prof Boris Popovski and Prof Magrita Kon-Popovska on behalf of UKIM, and Prof Tzako Pantaleev and Prof Robert Dmitrovski on behalf of navreme (26 January 2004).

Dr Helmut Schramke assisted to a planning meeting for the IDA Evaluation in Brussels. IDA2 is the EU funding line for software development in public administration, and aims at linking up electronically EU institutions between themselves and with Member States. navreme is charged with the production of questionnaires and interviews, both on a face-to-face and electronic basis (24 January 2004).

The contractual Interim Report on the UKIM project in Macedonia was prepared by the navreme office, and sent to the University of Skopje for endorsement. It lists all activities carried out sofar, results of the Internal Evaluation, and progress achieved. All documents produced are annexed. It was promptly confirmed and appreciated by the Vice Rector (20 January 2004).

Mag Gerhard Schaumberger has left for Bishkek/KY again, to help prepare for the launch of the post-graduate studies at the OSCE Academy in Kyrgyzstan, in the fields of Public Administration, International Relations, or Human Rights and Peace Studies. As of March 2004 the first cohort of students will enrole. Mr Schaumberger as consultant for the set-up and organisation is funded by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be back to Vienna in April 2004, but will virtually cooperate with navreme in Vienna (19 January 2004).

In the MOBility component, most requests from the Unviversity of Skopje have been matched and complemented by the offers of Austrian guest professors and lecturers. Planning is advanced to schedule the single visits, and prepare individual programmes for lecturers to students, workshops with teaching staff, and public events (15 January 2004).

Dr Jochen Fried visited Tirana to advise the University and Albanian Ministry of Education on financial matters of Higher Education. He was invited by the Soros Foundation in Albania, and will submit a report and plan for strategy workshops (12 January 2004).

Evaluation Brief No 4 was sent to the "WaterinPaper" Project under the Leonardo Programme, focussing primarily on the analysis of test courses run in Stuttgart, Ascona and Göttingen, and resulting recommendations (10 January 2004).

Despite the sequence of 2 New Years' Holidays in a row - first Austrian/catholic, then Macedonian/orthodox - good progress was made in the UKIM project with Skopje. Work has started to produce the last QA documents, a informal consultation was launched in Macedonian newspapers to design the ICT project, and substantial interest to teach in Macedonia was expressed by potential Austrian lecturers (5 January 2004).

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