Kick-off Meeting for the Start of STUDIES-DIG Research Project, Funded by the European Commission and Coordinated by the UNWE

On 11 January 2024 the University of National and World Economy /UNWE/ in Sofia, Bulgaria, organized and conducted a kick-off online meeting via MS Teams platform to mark the official start of the implementation of the R&I project Models and Instruments for Transforming Higher Education Systems through Transnational Multi-Sector Links.

The Project STUDIES-DIG No.101131544 coordinated by the UNWE is a part of Horizon Europe – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation /2021-2027/ under the funding scheme of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange – RISE. It will be implemented by an international and multi-sector consortium composed of academic and non-academic partners from Portugal, Romania, Turkey, Morocco, Egypt and Bulgaria and its objective is to explore, design and deploy innovative and context sensitive solutions for transforming higher education systems in the digital era.

The Rector of UNWE Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov and the Vice Rector for Educational Activity Prof. Matilda Alexandrova took part in the kick-off meeting and sent their welcome messages to the project partners in the beginning. The European Research Executive Agency /REA/ which is the funding body for research and innovation and manages the EU research grants at the level of the European Commission in Brussels, was represented by Mr. Adam Walendzik who was appointed to be the Project Officer. 

At the opening of the kick-off meeting

Welcoming speech by Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov, Rector of UNWE

The project is a result of the tremendous joint effort of all members of the project consortium to develop a project proposal and to submit it for evaluation by the European Commission before the call deadline on 8 March 2023.  The Evaluation Summery Report of the European Commission was received on 24 May 2023. The project proposal was evaluated against 3 criteria – for Excellence, Impact and Quality and efficiency of the implementation and its total evaluation score was 86.20% at the threshold of 70/100. This fact needs no further explanation in regard to the intellectual, research and institutional capacity of all involved in the development of the project proposal.  The Grant Agreement was signed by the European commission in September, 2023.

As its title suggests, the project highlights and indicates the importance of higher education transformation in the digital era, because it is the education that allows people to have access to a number of Sustainable Development Goals /SDGs/. The project partners represent different academic institutions and public and private organizations and NGOs from Europe and Africa. They all have been brought together in partnership in a staff exchange program for a period of 48 months. This platform for collaboration is united by the principles of innovation, partnership and solidarity and aims to research and identify successful contemporary models and modern instruments that can help higher education transformation and support the sustainable and effective adaptation of the higher education systems to the digital age. The members, included as beneficiaries and associated partners in this project consortium, are as follows:

In addition to the welcoming speeches by the authorized represenatives of UNWE, the kick-off meeting included also welcoming speeches by the Project Coordinator Prof. Polya Katsamunska, an overview of the project by the Project Officer at REA, Brussels Mr. Adam Jacek Walendzik and short introduction by each project partner.

Участниците в проекта по време на откриващата среща

As a Project Officer Mr. Adam Jacek Walendzik made a detailed presentation on the Kick-off Meeting of MSCA Staff Exchanges Project and was kind enough to answer all questions raised by the participants in the kick-off meeting. It was a productive and very useful group discussion on major and minor issues in the context of Project implementation.

Presentation by Mr. Adam Jacek Walendzik, Project officer, European Research Executive Agency /REA/ at the European Commission, Brussels

The Project participants during the presentation of Mr. Adam Jacek Walendzik, Project officer, European Research Executive Agency /REA/ at the European Commission, Brussels

The next presentation was made by the Project Coordinator. In her presentation Prof. Polya Katsamunska reviewed and summarized the project priorities and challenges, as well as the key research activities that the consortium will implement during the project duration by means of functional secondments and organizing joint R&I events such as training courses, workshops and conferences in order to strengthen and broaden international, interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral collaborative links as well as to boost R&I capacity. This approach will foster and facilitate transfer of knowledge and skills, sharing the culture of research, acquiring new skills and developing the careers of the consortium members.

The kick-off meeting ended with panel discussion on organizational and managerial issues. The discussion was focused on the initial dissemination activities, the Consortium governance structure and the teams of researches and staff-members at party’s level for each work package of the action. It was suggested by the Coordinator’s project team next meeting of the Project consortium to be organized and conducted in Bulgaria. This fruitful and inspiring kick-off meeting ended with a final decision for a personal meeting of the Consortium Executive Board in Sofia, which will be hosted by UNWE in February, 2024.

The Project participants during the panel discussion at the kick-off meeting