ERN-Apulia+MED targets to bring Citizens cERN-Apulia+ targets to bring Apulian Citizens closer to Researchers and viceversa and further extend the initiatives outside the region in the Mediterranean Area and extra-EU countries (at no cost), involving major public universities and Public and Private Research Institutions and representative schools. The large capacity of beneficiaries was already demonstrated in the past EU-funded projects for 2018- 2021 Nights and the continuation of activities in the unfunded 2022-2023 Nights. Here the initiatives for Citizens involvement will be further scaled up. Main objectives are: - to implement pre-events, the 2024 and 2025 ERNs and some post-events, with particular attention to students, industrial and professional organizations, municipalities and public administrations, already actively involved in the past editions; - to increase public awareness and recognition of the importance and impact of research in daily life, with specific examples from ICT to health and life sciences, from elementary particle to cultural heritage, etc; - to stimulate curiosity and interest and explain the fascinating world and the opportunities in research, especially to the youngest as a mean to encourage them to embark scientific careers; - to establish a tight connection among population/institutions and researchers to continue during the year; - to prepare and publicize dissemination materials along with scientific games and site visits (including laboratories and sites of cultural interest) to be available during the whole year for the general public; - to explain the spirit and opportunities of the European Research Area, the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions and the principles of “The European Charter for Researchers”; to reach a number of Facebook Impressions >1.5M and Reach >400k, Youtube Views > 30k and watch time > 1000h, followers close to 200k, participants > 100k (among all the various initiatives) and a participants to the ERN > 50k.

NETCHEM Project aimed at strengthening the capacities for international cooperation among Serbian and Albanian higher education institutions (HEIs) and enterprises in order to increase their education level and technical capacities regarding analytical instrumentation usage for Environmental & Food Safety Control (EFSC) through Technology Enhanced Learning and to increase benefits in health, environment, tourism and economy in Serbia and Albania toward their EU pre-accession development.Specifically, the project aimed at establishing a NETCHEM platform providing three main services: (i) SQL based system for EFSC data collection, (ii) web accessed remote instrumental analytical laboratories (WARIAL) and (iii) open education resource (OER) in Partner Country universities.The target audience were HEI teachers, researchers, student population and professionals in enterprises. The Project tended to promote life-long learning opportunities for HEI teachers and employees in enterprises, quick and reliable results comparisons between researchers groups, distance education and virtual mobility of students within universities, overcoming in this way the technical and social barriers between Partner and EU Countries. Instrumental analysis of environmental and food samples performed by project members using WARIAL network provides the basis for establishing the SQL Data Collection of environmental and food quality indicators and chemical data, that could be used for increasing the public awareness about environmental and food problems addressing to both the professional sector and general public.In this way, through its implementation the project supported the modernisation, accessibility and internationalization of the higher education field in the eligible Partner Countries and contributed to the cooperation between the EU and the eligible Partner Countries (and amongst the eligible Partner Countries). Also, the Project improved the quality of higher education, enhanced its relevance for the labor market and society and improved the level of competences and skills in HEIs by developing modernized, innovative education programmes.WB Regional educational area is enhanced with novel, updated and approved curricula, courses, learning materials, tools and methodologies, providing flexible, efficient and cost-effective way of academic and vocational training for ever-growing needs in labour market in environmental and food quality control. Open accessibility of the NETCHEM platform provides strengthening and prolongation of relationships between EU and Partner HEIs and enterprises.Through Project implementation web accessed remote instrumental analytical laboratories (WARIAL) in environmental and food safety control (EFSC) domain were developed and implemented; university teachers were trained in the use of WARIAL and open education resources (OER) for the preparation of courses in EFSC were trained; MSc/PhD courses within the field of EFSC using WARIAL and OER were developed and delivered; Continuous Professional Development courses were designed according to the real needs of companies and laboratories in the field of EFSC; SQL based system for monitoring of EFSC quality indicators, case studies and professional's discussion forums was developed.The project is complemented by extensive dissemination: networking activities, roundtables, open days, workshops, summer school, final conference, continuous professional courses and study visits. The partnership comprises 14 institutions including 3 EU universities, 1 prominent public EU research organization, 4 Serbian universities and 2 Albanian universities, 3 enterprises and 1 NGO.

Higher education governance and its autonomy is strongly enhanced by the effective and convincing accountability, transparency and financial sustainability. Discussions on the university governance and autonomy throughout HEIs in Europe are coming as a response to diverse challenges at the different country’s context. As a result, the need for gaining and enhancing public trust in higher education became manifest to develop appropriate forms of transparency and accountability of both public and private institutions. An initiative to form a consortium came as response to address these challenges through the project Strengthening university autonomy and increasing accountability and transparency of Western Balkans Universities /STAND project .The concept entails investing in the strengthening the mechanisms that ensures the long-term sustainability of university autonomy, transparency and accountability. The project foresees cooperation between HEIs in the WB region, their respective ministries and program country partners and contributes to the increasing of professional capacities of HEI staff in partnering HEIs. As structural project it will support reflecting on standards at EU partners and enhancing them at WB institutions through intensified regular academic and management exchange of good practice and sustainable networking between EU-WB partners. A mix of bottom-up and top-down approach that will be used in the project, fosters the dialogue between universities and ministries, and thus enables the consortium to contribute more effectively to the project implementation and sustainability to strengthen the autonomy of Western Balkans higher education institutions. The project aims to reach up to 50,000 persons engaged in higher education and other related activities in Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro and abroad through its dissemination activities.

The Republic of Albania recognizes the central role of “education as a public good able to promote development” (Law no. 80/2015). The new 2015 law paved the way to an overhauling reform for improving standards in education, link HE with the labour market. Universities in Albania, with some exceptions, are at initiative stage of technological innovation needing the creation of modern ICT based structures and a trained staff. Also, no systematic information system on HE are available with phenomena of mismatch of skills in the youth market, as the current youth unemployment rate indicate. The project addresses the National priorities of enhancing university-enterprise cooperation (fostering graduates employability) and improving education quality in Albania by developing in the beneficiary Universities the graduates’ data platform, as an ICT based integrated tool for the monitoring of HE performance and its long lasting impact on society; the improving of educational supply and the matching of the demand for and supply of qualified labour. The platform will allow the collection of comprehensive data on HE system, with the information provided directly by the graduates; an evidence at disposal of policy makers on which to base decisional processes. The platform will also allow enterprises to search and compare graduates certified CVs according to specific skill giving the graduates a more democratic access to labour market and reducing skill mismatch. The project will support the Albanian universities in meeting society needs thanks to intensive knowledge, best practice transfer and reccomendation development: the activities planned will enhance university staff skills on graduates’ career development, developing professional traineeship and structured cooperation with the business world, effective tools for career guidance and students' orientation on the labour market, advanced and competitive research tools for HE monitoring and Albanian labour market analysis.

The digital age in which we are living has witnessed very rapid and diverse developments in the field of ICT. As a result of this transformation imposed by the development of technology, many fields, professions, functions, jobs and tasks change and are modified many day by day, some of them even disappear or are completely replaced by digital technology. Immune to this development and transformation is not even the field of education (including teacher education), as the most important field of any society.In order not to lag behind the developed world, Kosovo and Albania (as a country in transition, not associated with the programme) must be prepared for the integration and most effective and efficient use of technology and digitalization in its education system, in order to modernise and improve the quality of this system. Analysing the situation from a cause-consequences perspective, it is evident that in Kosovo and Albania, pupils start to learn IT subject only after the sixth grade. In both countries, the ICT teachers at primary and middle school levels have in most cases a professional degree other than in ICT and are nevertheless involved in the ICT course instruction. The lack of programs tackling issues related to ICT in education is problematic and such a situation necessitates we act urgently and address immediate needs towards capacitating future teachers of pre-university level with knowledge, skills and values related to digital transformation in education. This could lead us in creation of a Teacher Educators ICT competence profile, crash course program for existing teachers to match these profiles, modification of ICT learning path for pupils in pre-university curriculum and creation of non-existing Bachelor Program and modernisation of existing teacher education programs with respect to ICT competences.