La Manche project of Tempus
IV Programme
Information on the implementation of the project
September 15-18, 2015 Gori State Teaching University hosts the Final Project Meeting of Tempus Project “Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education” – LaMANCHE. Representatives of all partner HEIs took part in the event. During the Conference the main project outcomes and achievements was presented including the Strategy for Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education (La MANCHE Strategy). On the part of BTEU V.Astafyeva, the Dean of Accounting and Finance Faculty presented the report “Student academic mobility: problems, course of development and risks for regional HEIs. Results of management change in BTEU”, and A.Smirnova, assistant of International Relations Department presented the report “Participation of BTEU in LaMANCHE Project: experience, changes, and perspectives”. On 17 September 2015 during the last day of the 5th and final project meeting a workshop Women in Leadership was held. The capacity building event was dedicated to senior female managers and leaders in higher education from the La MANCHE consortium. The chief goal of the workshop was to encourage female formal and informal leaders across the consortium to play a more significant role in the processes of change at their universities.
May 22, 2015 representatives of Belarusian Trade and Economics University took part in the National Conference of LaMANСHE Project held in Belarusian State Economic University. The main achievements of Belarusian partners HEIs during the period of Project implementation were presented, as well as issues and topics included in the LaMANCHE Strategy were discussed. Although subjects of the reports were quite various they arouse profound interest of persons present. Many stakeholders in the field of HE from Great Britain, Belarus, Bulgaria, Portugal, including representatives from the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, Rectors, Vice rectors, lecturers and students, as well as representatives of business and civil society took part in the conference. During the Conference BTEU and International University College (Bulgaria) signed Cooperation Agreement in the field of science and education foreseen student exchange and earning double degrees by mobility participants. It will give possibility to students of BTEU to study their specialties in more detail, gain experience of studying in European HEIs, study foreign language up to native speakers, and increase their competitiveness at the International labour market.
March 19, 2014 Belarusian Trade and Economic University of Consumer Cooperatives held a partner meeting in frames of the project "Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education." The project is funded by the European Union program TEMPUS and aims to contribute to the modernization of higher education in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. To discuss the progress of the project, a delegation from Bulgaria headed by the rector of the International University College Todor Radev, as well as representatives of the Belarusian partner universities: Vitebsk State Technical University, Belarusian State Economic University and P.O. Sukhoi State Technical University of Gomel visited BTEU. The participants of the meeting exchanged good practices, discussed the directions of further cooperation and developed measures to ensure the sustainability of the project at the institutional level. The program of the meeting download
December 23, 2014 the 4th Information Bulletin on the project results for the second half of 2014 was published. Bulletin is available on the official website of the project.
December 2, 2014 Belarusian Trade and Economics University of Consumer Cooperatives held the Info Day with participation of representatives of the National Erasmus + Office in the Republic of Belarus, as well as representatives of higher education institutions of Gomel and Mogilev regions. During the event First Vice-rector of the University L.V. Misnikova presented the La MANCHE project to the auditory, told about the results achieved and future prospects and invited for participation in (online) discussion of the Strategy for Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education (La MANCHE Strategy) on the platform of the La MANCHE Virtual Think Tank (The La MANCHE VTT).
October 2, 2014 Belarusian Trade and Economics University of Consumer Cooperatives held a round table "Management strategy of modernization processes in the system of higher education". The purpose of the round table was to inform about the implementation of the international project of the European Tempus-IV programme №530621-TEMPUS-1-2012-1-BG-TEMPUS-JPGR «Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education" (La MANCHE), to increase the motivation of stakeholders to participate in transnational working groups whose activities will be focused on the modernization of higher education and the joint discussion of strategy directions for leading and managing change in higher education in the region.
September 6-14, 2014 International conference of Academy of Young Leaders was held in frames of the La MANCHE project “Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education” of TEMPUS program. Students of the BTEU: 4th year student of the specialty "Finance and Credit"Suprun Aliaksandra and 3rd year student of the specialty "Logistics" Mozgunov Denis. During the conference students gained new knowledge about the world and European trends in the sphere of higher education, studied the experience of foreign youth student associations which are the acting force of higher education improvement. Following the results of the conference the participants were awarded certificates.
June 2014 The second Information Bulletin on the project results for the first half of 2014 was published. Bulletin is available on the official website of the project.
June 8-14, 2014 in frames of the La MANCHE project “Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education”of TEMPUS program dean of Faculty of Accounting and Finance, institutional coordinator of the project V.A.Astafyeva took part in the 4th partner meeting of the project which took place on the basis of Yerevan State University (Armenia). During the meeting partners discussed the results of work of the 4th year of the project and coordinated a plan for further work. As well, V.A.Astafyeva participated in the commemoration of the 95th anniversary of the YSU and spoke at the conference "Education in the XXI Century: Problems and Challenges" Following the results of the work the certificate was obtained.
May 23, 2014 competitive selection of applicants for participation in 5-day training of Young Leaders Academy which will take place in the International University College (Bulgaria) from September 7, 2014 till September 13, 2014 in frames of La MANCHE project of the TEMPUS program came to the end. Following the results of the competition the following participants were selected: 3rd year student of the specialty "Finance and Credit" Suprun Aliaksandra and 2nd year student of the specialty "Logistics" Mozgunov Denis.
May 6, 2014 the fourth lecture "World and European tendencies in higher education" was held in frames of La MANCHE project. The lecture was given by the Head of International Relations Department Valynets Tatsiana.
March 2014 the handbook of European Governance Practices in Higher Education was published. The handbook is a major outcome of the activities in Work Package 4. It has been developed by the EU partner institutions in the project and consists of 16 case studies of innovative governance practices and approaches which have proved successful in the La MANCHE higher education institutions from Bulgaria, France, Greece, Portugal and the UK. The handbook is available on the project website.
March 2014 the Changing Higher Education Institutions in Societies in Transition In-depth Study Report was presented by the La MANCHE project team of Work Package 3. The report is available on the project website.
March 2014 the third lecture "The role of yound scientists in formation of University of the 21st century" took place in frames of the La MANCHE project. It was held by the Rector of the University Professor Svetlana Lebedeva. Target audience of the lecture was the reserved university personel.
February 18, 2014 the second lecture and training "Self-avaluation of leadership skills and potential" held by the Dean of Faculty of Accounting and Finance Astafyeva Valitantsina took place in the frames of activities of the second year of implementation of the La MANCHE project.
February 4, 2014 a lecture "Change in Higher Education in the process of entering the Bologna process" and a training "Internationalization of Higher" education were held by the First Vice-Rector of BTEU Misnikova Lyudmila in the frames of implementation of the La MANCHE project.
December 2013 The second Information Bulletin on the project results for the first half of 2013 was published. The Bulletin is available on the official website of La Manche project.
November 27-28, 2013 International Scientific and Practical Conference “Management, Marketing and Modern Business Communications” was held at Belarusian Trade and Economics University of Consumer Cooperatives.During the plenary meeting of the conference the first Vice-Rector Lyudmila Misnikova reported about the results of activities for the implementation of international projects including the La MANCHE project “Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education”.
November 28, 2014 A meeting of the Section “Raising standards in Teaching/Learning and Research through Internationalization” took place within the framework of the Conference. The Section was held by Lyudmila Misnikova, the project coordinator of La MANCHE project in Belarus. The participants had the opportunity to examine the directions of modernization of higher education in the partner countries of the La MANCHE project during the course of the section. The discussion was based on the information received during the meeting in Portugal. The participants also discussed the issues of leading and managing changes in higher education and exchanged experiences on the implementation of new trends in the educational process.
November 5, 2013 Belarusian State Economic University (Minsk) held the monitoring of the project "Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education" of the TEMPUS IV program. The next representatives of PC’s HEIsof the Republic of Belarus participated in the monitoring: >Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU) – Minsk; >Belarusian Trade and Economics University of Consumer Cooperatives (BTEU) – Gomel; >P.O. Sukhoi State Technical University of Gomel (GSTU); >Vitebsk State Technical University (VSTU). In whole the first year activities included the investigation of management features in PC's universities, the distribution of functional responsibilities among university authorities, and approaches to change management, as well asconducting researches on the selected by the universities topics within the direction "Changing of higher education institutions within the countries with economies in transition." Students of Belarusian State Economic University took part in the monitoring. After the report on implementation of the first year of the project, the project officer of the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency Ms. Belen Enciso noted that all the events scheduled for this period are completed.
22-25 October 2013 The Partner Meeting of the project "Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education" of the TEMPUS program took place on the basis of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal). This meeting marked the beginning of the second year of the project. During this year it is planned to conduct training workshops on university management, such workshops should be carried out in all the partner universities for several target groups, including a group of students involved in the management process. Taking into consideration that a considerable amount of time during the Meeting was given for training and exchanging of knowledge, the participants of the Partner Meeting in Bragança will act as the lecturers of the workshops.The Partner Meeting and training workshops were attended by representatives of the top management of higher education institutions of the consortium of the project: rectors, vice-rectors, deans, deputies, heads of departments of international relations. Belarus was represented by 4 universities: > Belarusian State Economic University (BSEU); > Belarusian Trade and Economics University of Consumer Cooperatives (BTEU); > P.O. Sukhoi State Technical University of Gomel; > Vitebsk State Technological University. All the participants have got certificates. The next representatives of our university were presented with certificates: Rector of BTEU, Doctor of Economics, Professor Svetlana Lebedeva, First Vice-Rector, Candidate of Economics, Associate Professor Misnikova Lyudmila and Valiantsina Astafyeva, Dean of the Accounting and Finance department, Candidate of Economics, Associate Professor. Case studies on change management from each institution of higher education were presented at the meeting. It provided the meeting with an opportunity of exchanging experiences and introducing new trends in the educational process. Our university has presented the implementation of educational programs integrated with specialized secondary education. This course has raised interest of the project coordinators, EU higher education institutions and even the universities of Belarus. All materials on university management will be available on the project site.
In July 2013 Flyer which contains the main information on the project was published. The Flyer was translated into the languages of all partner-countries of the project. The Flyer is available for downloading on the official website of La Manche project.
June 2013 The first Information Bulletin on the project results for the first half of 2013 was published. The Bulletin is available on the official website of La Manche project.
April 21-26, 2013 a working visit to University College Birmingham of V. Astafyeva, Dean of the Accounting and Finance Department took place within LaManche prject "Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education" on TEMPUS program. The analysis of higher education reform within the countries with economy in transition was done; innovation practice of managing in higher education was presented; the experience of identifying leadership qualities of students and in the work with students outside the classroom was studied. National development prospects of higher education in Britain were identified.
February 21, 2013 the video conference (belarusian online focus group) was held within the project "Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education" on TEMPUS program with the participation of Belarusian beneficiary universities: BTEU, GSTU, BSEU and VTU. It was chaired by the coordinating institution - International University College (Bulgaria). From the European side the video conference was attended by University College Birmingham (England), University of Thessaly (Greece) and Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal). During the conference the participants discussed the following questions: -Management model in the universities of the Republic of Belarus; -Changes in educational system at the national level; -The effectiveness of the governance process in the universities; -The process of informing the faculty and staff of the University of the taken decisions of higher authorities. The agreement has been reached on reporting to the project coordinator Christina Armutlieva (IUC, Bulgaria) for project period.
November, 2012 the kick-off meeting of the project partners and the steering committee meeting was held in Dobrich (Bulgaria). Following project results are expected: - Self-assessment and external analysis of leadership and management skills and models at PCs HEIs; - Changing Higher Education in Societies it Transitions: In-depth Study Report on Modernization Processes in HE in PCS and their Implications fro HEIs; - Handbook of Innovative European Governance Practices in HE; - Capacity building activities including development of syllabuses and guidance materials in leadership and change management. - Training of trainers in leadership and change management, followed by local multiplication trainings at the PCs HEIs; - Promotion of transportation collaboration of EU and PCs HE leaders and other key stakeholders in HE trough the LaMANCE Virtual Think Tank; - Development of Strategy for Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education in the Eastern Neighboring Area (La MANCHE Strategy).
October, 2012 the project implementation "Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education” has started within Tempus program, in which four Belarusian universities will participate: > BelarusianState Economic University (BSEU); > Belarusian Trade and EconomicsUniversity of Consumer Cooperatives (BTEU); > P.O. Sukhoi StateTechnical University of Gomel; > Vitebsk State Technological University. 29 universities from 11 partner countries are involved in the project.