Support and inclusion of students with disabilities at higher education institutions in Montenegro

Minutes of the 2nd Coordination Meeting

University of Donja Gorica, Podgorica, Montenegro

11th December 2012

The second coordination meeting took place at University of Donja Gorica (UDG) in Montenegro on 11/12/2012 following a successful dissemination conference SUPPORT@ME organized the day before, on the international day of human rights.

The main goal of the 2nd coordination meeting was to discuss the previously done work and give feedback necessary for the internal and external report, to discuss the planned activities for the second project year, and to discuss administrative and financial issues.

The total of 16 participants attended:

  • University of Donja Gorica, 3 participants (Sandra Tinaj, Nela Milosevic, Enes Banda)
  • University Mediterranean, 3 participants (Ramo Sendelj, Danijela Milosevic, Ivana Ognjanovic)
  • Institute for education and rehabilitation of persons with hearing and speech disorders, 1 participant (Viktorija Mihovic)
  • Association of youth with disabilities, 1 participant (Velibor Boskovic)
  • Faculty of Management HN, 1 participant (Sinisa Kusovac)
  • Institute of Information and Communication Technology, 1 participant (Bojana Tosic)
  • University of Macedonia, 1 participant (Lefkothea Kartasidou)
  • University of Warsaw, 2 participants (Pawel Wdowik and Donata Konczyk)
  • Arcola Research, 2 participants (Joe Cullen and Veronique Maes)
  • Slovenian Association of Disabled Students, 1 participant (Natasa Mauko)

The representatives of University of Macerata could not attend due to flight cancellations.

Firstly, partners discussed the achieved activities of SINC@HE project for the first project year. Project coordinator Ms. Kartasidou with help from Danijela Milosevic (UNIM), Nela Milosevic (UDG) and Dzenan Strujic (IICT) prepared documents summarizing activities for each work package, indicators, working visits, changes that occurred, as well as the feedback from the evaluation report by the EACEA and corrective actions that were done during the first year.

All partners discussed the evaluation report, remarks and deficiencies listed, proposed measures and corrective actions. Next, partners discussed Internal Quality methodology, to-do list for each WP, workplan feedback, and staff mobility during the first year of project. These documents summarizing activities will be sent to the external evaluatorProfessor Georgios Kouroupetroglou, in order to provide all the necessary information for the external evaluation.

In the next section of the coordination meeting, partners discussed the next steps - planned activities for the second project year.

  1. Ms. Ivana Ognjanovic from UNIM presented development of planned activities for WP4. She presented activities related to equipment purchasing since public call was still opened with future plan about its installation after delivering. WP4 includes activities that will be implemented in the coming year, including the following: development of ICT support services, establishment of the network od STudent advisory offices and upgrade of university websites. Ivana also presented a plan of ICT support services, which are included in Dev 4.1, as well as guidelines for their implementation recommended by EU partner institutions.
  2. Mr. Velibor Boskovic from AYDM discussed the planned activities regarding WP 5 Training of university staff for working with disabled students. For the first part of the WP5, an analysis of the training needs for each partner institution will be done, and the conclusions of such analysis published in a report with the deadline of 31st January 2012 to complete it. Next, training sessions and workshops will be organized for target groups, during the second year of the project. Velibor presented a draft of the training plan, based on topics to be covered and institutions responsible to organize training sessions. Partners agreed that it would be most efficient to have two levels of training courses organized: one extensive, very specific and detailed course to be organized through multiple training sessions and designed for staff directly in contact with students with disabilities at an everyday life at the university (the SwD coordinator, student services office etc.); the other course should be short two hour training session designed for all staff at the university (deans, professors, teaching assistants, administrative staff etc) covering more basic topics. The project coordinator, Ms. Kartasidou, emphasized the importance of following the deadlines for this WP as all the training sessions must be organized before the end of the second year of the project.
  3. Ms. Nela Milosevic discussed the planned activities for EXP9 Exploitation and Sustainability, namely the first deliverable 9.1. Agreement of understanding on inter-university peer support and cooperation. The agreement is to be signed by the six institutions in Montenegro that are partners in the project. A draft of the agreement was previously sent by email to all the partners and they had the chance to look at it, make suggestions and discuss its contents. At the meeting all misunderstandings about it were cleared, and the partners agreed on its final contents. The next step is to have the agreement translated in Montenegrin language and sent to partners to sign it.

In the next part of the coordination meeting, the administrative and financial issues were discussed (the procedure for claiming the costs for different aspects, and the importance of sending staff conventions and individual mobility reports in a timely manner).

Finally, partners discussed the upcoming meetings and working visits. It was decided that the working visits DEV 4.1. and 5.1. to UNIM will be joined and will be scheduled for April 2013; working visits DEV5.2. and 7.1. to UOW will be joined and will happen end of May or June 2013; the third coordination meeting will take place at UNIMC in September 2013; and the second dissemination conference will happen at UNIM in November 2013.