Western Balkan entrepreneurial university alliances – keeping in touch for lifelong relations (AL4LIFE)

Western Balkan entrepreneurial university alliances – keeping in touch for lifelong relations – AL4LIFE

STRAND 2

Duration: 36 months

Budget: 707,957

Keywords: Education-enterprises partnerships, Alumni association; competences-oriented education; practical skills; universities competitiveness; business academic networks; market-based research; labour-market needs; graduates employability

Description: The ALL4LIFE project aims to create competences-oriented education and innovation to strengthen students and universities growth and competitiveness, through involvement of alumni in teaching process and modernisation of learning objectives. Enhancing connections between WBC HEIs and business sector and establishing business and new business networks, while enabling collaborative opportunities, knowledge transfers and partnerships between industry and universities, creating conditions for better employability of graduates, capitalise with well-established and string alumni structure at HEIs. Consequently, greater openness of higher education institutions to industry and market needs is achieved, especially at still greatly traditional Western Balkan higher education system. The project objectives will be achieved with systematic involvement of alumni in teaching, mentoring and research at HEIs, with more practical training and competences-oriented education harmonized with labour market needs and organization of career support program for students, their professional development and recruitment. With close cooperation with alumni and industry, each WBC HEI will enhance research capacities and it commercialization, facilitated by Research Chair that will be established for linking the research excellence with innovative potential of industry and mobilising the industry funding for top-notch research and market-based innovations through Alumni Scholarships Clubs. To expand WB HEIs management and inclusion of alumni in their teaching and research activities reform of operational regulation is needed and will be important part of AL4LIFE activities. Involvement of alumni in WB HEIs will be reflected in the creation of institutional and operational framework, integration of the HEIs’ Career Center activities into that structure, and installed effective Alumni coordination tool that jointly ensure continuous and sustainable realisation of the project objectives.