March 2024 – FAITH

Year One Evaluative Meeting

On March 28th, 2024, we held Year One Evaluative Meeting of Project F.A.I.T.H. to assess the project’s progress and discuss the way forward. The meeting was held virtually and was opened by Honorable Dr. Birhanemeskel Tena, President of Kotebe University of Education. He stated that eight deliverables of the project have been submitted so far and the project had received great commitment from its partners. This commitment is essential in transforming Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) in Ethiopia.

During the meeting, all partnering universities from Europe and Ethiopia as well as Ministry of Education presented first-year status and progress report of their work package – Work Package 2 (Development) presented by Natalya Sharovatova from Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences (OUAS), – Work Package 3 (Design and piloting) presented by Caroline Friedhoff from Centre for Higher Education (CHE), Work Package 4, 5 and 7 (Implementation, evaluation and community of learning) presented by Behailu Korma from Ministry of Education Ethiopia, Work Package 6 (Quality management) presented by Adanech Teshome from Wolita sodo university, Work Package 8 ((Dissemination) presented by Zufan Gebrehiwet from Jigjiga University, and Work Package 1(Coordination) presented by Dr. Almaz Wasse from Kotebe University of Education. In addition, External Evaluator Prof. Erwin Smet from University of Antwerp (UA) presented his reflection on the project quality.

In the end, Dr Ephrem Tekle, the Project Manager and the moderator of this meeting acknowledged the effort of all teams and mentioned that “Let’s keep the color of the project and move forward” because the project’s impact for Ethiopian Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS) is enormous. Finally, the meeting was closed by Honorable Dr Eba Mejana, CEO Ministry of Education Ethiopia, mentioned that the project have full support of the Ministry to accelerate its effective implementation.

Celebrating One Year of Success in the EU Funded Project FAITH! 🎉

We are thrilled to share the incredible progress achieved in the EU funded FAITH Project over the past year! 🚀 In collaboration with our partners and beneficiaries from Ethiopia and Europe, we’ve embarked on an amazing journey to support the Ethiopian Ministry of Education in establishing a robust framework for the UAS sector and crafting a tailored Ethiopian UAS model. 🌍

Let’s take a look at some of our key milestones:

We diligently prepared the Project Handbook to guide our efforts.

With enthusiasm and determination, we officially launched the project through signing the grant agreement.
⁠We kicked off with a bang, signing the partnership agreement and hosting a successful kick-off meeting in March 8, 2023.
Our dedicated project management team has been tirelessly coordinating, monitoring progress, and troubleshooting any challenges along the way.
Successfully hosted Screening committee, general assembly
We have held informative workshops and reviewed best practices to share knowledge effectively.
⁠Documented both the status quo of Ethiopian UASs and lesson learned from UAS in Europe
Six toolboxes have been developed, covering crucial areas such as Internship, Partnership and Regional Development, Applied Research and Technology Transfer, Sustainable Development Goals, Career Pathways, and Part-time Lecturers and upskilling. Currently, the toolboxes are under pilot test and will be ready for use after August 2024.
Quality control activities are in full swing with the development and utilization of quality strategies, time sheets, and regular reporting.
⁠Our dissemination efforts are reaching new heights through strategic planning, social media platforms, website development, and engagement in various events.

We are immensely proud of what we have accomplished together so far and look forward to even greater achievements in the future. Our aspiration is to see UASs in Ethiopia.

F.A.I.T.H., virtual training on Project Management

As we are approaching the end of the first year of project F.A.I.T.H., virtual training on Project Management has been organized. The main objective of this training was to crystalize the next paths of the project effectively and to keep the project deliverables up to the standard and quality. During this stage, Implementation of pilot projects shall be effected with the purpose of testing and revising the toolbox. Based on the implementation experiences and lessons learnt will be documented. Prof. Kai Handel from Hochschule Osnabrück and Dr. Ephrem Tekle from Kotebe University of Education lead the training session. For all participants from European and Ethiopian Universities, the session was insightful to take the project to the next highest level. In addition, each Tandem expert from Ministry of Education Ethiopia, Kotebe University of Education, Wolita sodo university and Jigjiga University presented their pilot project to be implemented during the pilot period. Various support documents and templates are shared to the experts as well. At the end, Dr Ephrem Tekle, the project coordinator stated that this is the very interesting step of the project as we will generate practical lesson which will enhance the toolboxes developed by the Tandem experts.

Project General Assembly and Dissemination meeting

The European partnering universities of Applied Sciences of FAITH Project, Hochschule Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, CHE Centre for Higher Education contribution on Work Package 2: Development and Work Package 3: Design and Piloting is extraordinary. The experience shared and presentation given by Prof Frank Ziegele and Prof Kai Handel during the project General Assembly and Dissemination meeting added great value for Tandem experts to development the Toolbox which is reviewed on January 26, 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.