EUPM (2021-2024)
2021–2024 A new academic path for EU Project managers: narrowing the gaps to enable better project design and management in Europe (EUPM).
Programme: Erasmus, KA220-HED - Cooperation partnerships in higher education (Ref. Number 2021-1-IT02-KA220-HED-000035769)
coordenado por University of Rome Tor Vergata
Consórcio: University of Rome Tor Vergata (Itália) (Project Coordinator); Technical University of Madrid (Espanha); Alma Mater Europaea – European Centre, Maribor (AMEU ECM); University of Tartu, Estónia; FH JOANNEUM, University of Applied Sciences (Austria); Nova University of Lisbon (Portugal); University of Pardubice (Czech Republic)
In order to recover from the current pandemic situation in a sustainable and inclusive way, in the EU countries, an unprecedented amount of money will be invested in the next years. Whether this large amount of money will bring the desired results will drastically depend on the capacity of designing and managing EU funded projects by people and organizations. Managing projects effectively thus become a critical variable in the achievement of the EU and national strategy targets and in sorting out the current pandemic crises. Nevertheless, an integrated framework of knowledge for managing EU funds is still missing and this topic finds very little space in the universities’ courses and programs. The lack of a common knowledge framework on EU funds management prevented so far, the development of standardised, common and recognized curricula in the higher education sector to support the increased demand for experts in EU funded projects. In universities, the knowledge areas associated with the EU funds management are poorly diffused and belongs to different academic fields. Project design methodologies are mainly linked to the study of social sciences whereas project management is associated with engineering or management studies. Few are the courses and programs for EU Project Managers which integrate both knowledge areas despite greater integration and synergy can have positive effects on the ability to achieve more effectively the project objectives. This proposal by pooling together universities and organizations with relevant expertise on the EU project design and project management aims at better aligning higher education sector curricula with opportunities and requests from the job market for the profile of EU project manager. The main objective is to create a common academic path based on a shared curriculum that integrates project design and management methodology to better manage EU funded projects. The integration work will be based on the recent “OPEN PM2” initiative of the European Commission for promoting a common and European wide project management methodology (PM2). The PM2 methodology is particularly fitting for the purpose of creating a standardised curriculum for university students. PM2 is in fact a European open-source methodology, light, lean and easy to understand and significantly flexible to be adapted to the specific rules and context of the EU funds and with the most common EU project design methodologies.
General Objectives
The project will achieve the following objectives at different levels. At the economic and social level, the project will improve the capacity of organizations of managing EU funded projects and deliver effective results to better contribute to the achievement of the EU programs and strategies in terms of economic, social and environmental goals. At the higher educational level, the main results will be improving the alignment of the HE system to better answer to the increasing market demand of qualified EU project managers by enriching the academic offer with a common and innovative academic path. At the level of the project beneficiaries (university students), the main outcome will be increasing student’s job opportunities in a dynamic and attractive sector through the improvement of their skills and abilities in managing EU funded projects. The project will also contribute to other Erasmus+ programs outcomes as: - increasing synergies and links and improved transition between the higher education and VET sector as well as the job market, due to the involvement as associate partners of relevant organizations representing all the different professional sectors (private, public and no-profit); - increase the use of more strategic and integrated use of ICTs and open educational resources (OER) in the higher education system, due to the development of web-based tools for designing and managing projects; - increasing the capacity and professionalism to work at the EU/international level: improved management competencies and internationalisation strategies ready to integrate good practices and new methods including digital capabilities into daily activities.
The project will contribute to:
Specific objectives
Improving the achievement of the EU funded project objectives through the development of an integrated method for designing and managing EU projects and the related set of skills and abilities in the higher education system.
(impact on higher education sector)
Enriching the higher education sector with a new, common and innovative academic path to improve its alignment to the increasing market demand of qualified EU project managers.
Improving the skills and abilities of students in managing EU funds projects thus increasing their job opportunities in a dynamic and attractive sector.
The main project results include:
Programme: Erasmus, KA220-HED - Cooperation partnerships in higher education (Ref. Number 2021-1-IT02-KA220-HED-000035769)
coordenado por University of Rome Tor Vergata
Consórcio: University of Rome Tor Vergata (Itália) (Project Coordinator); Technical University of Madrid (Espanha); Alma Mater Europaea – European Centre, Maribor (AMEU ECM); University of Tartu, Estónia; FH JOANNEUM, University of Applied Sciences (Austria); Nova University of Lisbon (Portugal); University of Pardubice (Czech Republic)
In order to recover from the current pandemic situation in a sustainable and inclusive way, in the EU countries, an unprecedented amount of money will be invested in the next years. Whether this large amount of money will bring the desired results will drastically depend on the capacity of designing and managing EU funded projects by people and organizations. Managing projects effectively thus become a critical variable in the achievement of the EU and national strategy targets and in sorting out the current pandemic crises. Nevertheless, an integrated framework of knowledge for managing EU funds is still missing and this topic finds very little space in the universities’ courses and programs. The lack of a common knowledge framework on EU funds management prevented so far, the development of standardised, common and recognized curricula in the higher education sector to support the increased demand for experts in EU funded projects. In universities, the knowledge areas associated with the EU funds management are poorly diffused and belongs to different academic fields. Project design methodologies are mainly linked to the study of social sciences whereas project management is associated with engineering or management studies. Few are the courses and programs for EU Project Managers which integrate both knowledge areas despite greater integration and synergy can have positive effects on the ability to achieve more effectively the project objectives. This proposal by pooling together universities and organizations with relevant expertise on the EU project design and project management aims at better aligning higher education sector curricula with opportunities and requests from the job market for the profile of EU project manager. The main objective is to create a common academic path based on a shared curriculum that integrates project design and management methodology to better manage EU funded projects. The integration work will be based on the recent “OPEN PM2” initiative of the European Commission for promoting a common and European wide project management methodology (PM2). The PM2 methodology is particularly fitting for the purpose of creating a standardised curriculum for university students. PM2 is in fact a European open-source methodology, light, lean and easy to understand and significantly flexible to be adapted to the specific rules and context of the EU funds and with the most common EU project design methodologies.
General Objectives
The project will achieve the following objectives at different levels. At the economic and social level, the project will improve the capacity of organizations of managing EU funded projects and deliver effective results to better contribute to the achievement of the EU programs and strategies in terms of economic, social and environmental goals. At the higher educational level, the main results will be improving the alignment of the HE system to better answer to the increasing market demand of qualified EU project managers by enriching the academic offer with a common and innovative academic path. At the level of the project beneficiaries (university students), the main outcome will be increasing student’s job opportunities in a dynamic and attractive sector through the improvement of their skills and abilities in managing EU funded projects. The project will also contribute to other Erasmus+ programs outcomes as: - increasing synergies and links and improved transition between the higher education and VET sector as well as the job market, due to the involvement as associate partners of relevant organizations representing all the different professional sectors (private, public and no-profit); - increase the use of more strategic and integrated use of ICTs and open educational resources (OER) in the higher education system, due to the development of web-based tools for designing and managing projects; - increasing the capacity and professionalism to work at the EU/international level: improved management competencies and internationalisation strategies ready to integrate good practices and new methods including digital capabilities into daily activities.
The project will contribute to:
- create innovative approaches for addressing their target groups, by providing more attractive higher education programmes
- better aligning higher education systems to the needs of and opportunities offered by the labour market, and closer links to business and the community
- increasing synergies and links and improved transition between the higher education and VET as well as Education for Adults sectors
- increase the use of more strategic and integrated use of ICTs and open educational resources (OER) in higher education system
- increased quality of education practices in Europe and beyond
- increase the capacity and professionalism to work at EU/international level: improved management competences and internationalisation strategies ready to integrate good practices and new methods including digital capabilities into daily activities.
- open to synergies with organisations active in different fields or in other socio-economic
- improving competences, linked to occupational profiles
- develop more strategic and integrated use of ICTs and open educational resources (OER) in education, training and youth systems
- more positive attitude towards the European project and the EU values;
- better understanding and recognition of skills and qualifications in Europe and beyond
Specific objectives
Improving the achievement of the EU funded project objectives through the development of an integrated method for designing and managing EU projects and the related set of skills and abilities in the higher education system.
(impact on higher education sector)
Enriching the higher education sector with a new, common and innovative academic path to improve its alignment to the increasing market demand of qualified EU project managers.
- Number of pilot academic paths for EU Project Managers created by the participating organizations
- Number of academic paths for EU Project Managers created in other universities based on the model developed and disseminated by the project
Improving the skills and abilities of students in managing EU funds projects thus increasing their job opportunities in a dynamic and attractive sector.
- Number of students participating in the pilot training courses
- Number of students that found a job in the field of the EU funds management
The main project results include:
- PR1. A tailored Guide on EU funds management based on PM2 methodology with different focus according to the main thematic EU programs (social and educational programs, research programs, development cooperation programs)
- PR2. A new curriculum for university students based on the tailored PM2 methodology
- PR3. Web based tool kit of available resources to support the design and management of EU projects (templates etc.) (OER
- PR4. Pilot Local University Courses (LUCs) on EU Funds management based on the tailored PM2 methodology