Kickoff meeting – Abionet

ABIONET

Minutes: ABIONET: kick-off Meeting

Date of Meeting: 6-9 February 2018

Location: Thessaloniki

Welcome and introduction

Welcome: Professor P. Tzionas (ATEITH), Professor P. Ketikidis (City College)
Project overview and key objectives (ATEITH & UASM)

After the introductory/welcome speeches, the partners followed the meeting agenda (Annex 1), discussed and decided the following:

Special Mobility for students and staff

Selection of students and staff should be transparent
A Call for applications should be issues and the applicants should have 45 days to apply
The selection committee should be composed of members from:
The home University
The host University and
An independent member
Special selection criteria should be set for students and staff
The National agency will verify the results before the announcement on the website
Staff members should have permanent or part time contract with the university to participate in the mobility
First year bachelor students are not allowed to participate in the mobility
Master students can participate in the mobility from the first year

Joint Master Degree

The meeting engaged in a detailed discussion regarding the definition, differences, advantages and disadvantages of Double Master degrees and Joint Master degrees. Other issues discussed referred to:

Adoption of the MSc Programme: difference between a new specialization or a specialization that is already existing
Bilateral agreements for credit recognition
Integration of the MSc in the instructions to ensure the project’s sustainability
Decision Makers from each institution to be appointed at the project’s executive board to facilitate the procedure
Discussion on the curriculum structure and curriculum content will be held and finalizes in Dresden, after collecting all the data from the partners (as per Deliverable 1.1.)
New Master course in food safety could be created within the project

Start up projects

New business ideas
Include entrepreneurial and business skills in the curriculum
Use of established platforms for start-up support
Create networks of similar project themes
Students to be involved with the companies that will support them and act as mentors

Work packages: Decisions and actions required

WP1

Templates for Armenian and PC Universities by 28^th February 2018 [action by YSU]
Reports from Armenian and PC Universities to be sent to YSU by 15^th May 2018 [action by all]
The results will be discussed during the workshop/ PBM in Dresden
Dates: 25 – 29 June 2018
4 days training and 1 day PBM
List of participants to be sent to Gerard Cullen, TUD. All Armenian participants to notify YSU who will then sent the list to TUD
TUD will sent suggestions for accommodation in Dresden

WP2

Curriculum structure documents by 15^TH July2018 [action by UniTE]
Workshop and PBM in Teramo
Dates: 4-9 February 2019

WP3

Network policy document by 15^TH May 2018 [action by YSU]
Workshop on short term trainings rescheduled for June-July 2019 (WP3.3)
Database of networks, mailing list and dissemination

WP4

Quality plan by 30^th March 2018 [action by ATEITH]
Questionnaires by 20^th March 2018 [action by MOES & YSU]
External evaluation methodology by 30^th March 2018 [action by ATEITH]

WP5

Dissemination strategy by 15^th March 2018 [action by ATEITH]
Logo by 28^th February 2018 [action by ATEITH]
Website domain by 15^th March 2018 [action by UCP]
Intranet by 31^st March 2018 [action by UCP]
Moodle environment for intranet
Appoint a Publicity officer per parent by 28^th February 2018 [action by all]
Website in English by 31^st May 2018 [action by ATEITH]
Website in Armenian by 31^st August 2018 [action by YSU]
Social Media will be linked to the official website
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Address different target groups for the dissemination plan
Each University will link their social account with the official project’s website.
EU domain /AR domain (to be decided)

WP6

3^rd PBM in Gyumri, Armenia during October, 2 days project meeting. ATEI will send a doodle poll to all partners to decide the most convenient dates.
Partnership agreements by 28^th February 2018. Sign and stamp all the pages of the Partnership Agreement. [action by all]
ATEI will create a Dropbox folder to share the files to the participants.

Workshop on curricula development

The meeting engaged in a detailed discussion regarding existing curricula in the related fields in Armenia universities (presented by YSU, GSU, GSPI and ANAU) and experiences from curricula taught at EU countries (presented by ATEI, UniTE, TUD and UCP). A preliminary discussion on the curriculum structure and curriculum content ensued, which is expected to be further developed and finalized during the Dresden meeting and workshop.

Important notes

The EU logo and project logo must be used everywhere (website, publications, presentations etc.)
In case any of the Armenian partners want to change (add, replace or remove) their list of equipment, they must inform the coordinator and take his approval before they proceed to any purchase
The Procurement procedure for Equipment and subcontracting should not be fragmented
All equipment purchased by the project should be labelled with the “E+ stickers” and include the project’s number
VAT is ineligible cost unless there is an official document from competent authorities proving that the corresponding costs cannot be recovered
Applicable monthly exchange rate: December 2017. It is fixed until the 2^nd installment
The budget for translation will cover only costs for interpretations during teaching and events plus any official translation required or translation for a book. Translations of teaching material and other reports should be done using staff costs.
Contract with the university for all the staff members that are involved in the project
Travel days for mobility: 2 days.
Keep records for everything for 5 years after the final installment of the project. Equipment should also be kept for 5 years after the final installment, even if they are not in use any more.
For any queries feel free to contact the coordinator’s team.
A list of activities for 2018 with dates due and responsibilities is attached as Annex 2.