Nur in englischer und französischer Sprache verfügbar / Only available in English and French.
A Survival Kit for European Project Management
[ The Project | Team Profile | Contents | Download ]
The Project
Most of those who have experienced the often quoted European Dimension through their participation in centralised SOCRATES projects since 1995 found the joint transnational work extremely enriching for their professional and sometimes even personal lives.
However, the management of these pilot projects which develop innovative educational concepts and materials presents coordinators, particularly those with little or no prior experience in European cooperation, with a considerable challenge.
Extensive discussions and a questionnaire survey have identified the following issues to be of particular importance to many coordinators:>
- how to constitute a legal basis for the collaboration between the coordinator and the partners of a project;
- how to cope with the (financial) reporting requirements;
- how to evaluate project outcomes and processes, frameworks, theory and tools;
- how to use new technologies efficiently for communication within a project;
- how to deal with language barriers and intercultural problems in a European partnership;
- how to plan dissemination and public relations strategies.
Hardly any project management tools for these specific and rather complex projects are currently on offer. The precious experience gained by former projects has not been sufficiently exploited, since good practice has not been systematically made available to the following generations of projects.
The Survival Kit project has attempted to fill this gap by developing two products tailored to the needs of coordinators of SOCRATES European Cooperation Projects:
- a publication with advice on central project management issues
- a one-day training seminar for project coordinators
The publication can be downloaded free from this web site.
The project was funded by the European Commission, DG Education and Culture in the framework of SOCRATES/Comenius:
Complementary Measures (2000-0142/001-001 SO2 81ACEC).
Additional project funding was given by CIMO, the Central Bureau and Büro für Europäische Bildungskooperation/SOKRATES-Büro.
Team Profile
The basic idea behind the Survival Kit team is to bring together the experience of coordinators of European Cooperation Projects and of SOCRATES programme managers working in National Agencies.
The following partners have been involved
in the project:
Contents
The publication deals with the following issues:
The Introduction describes the approach of the "Survival Kit" and introduces key terminology.
Project Planning
The project plan is of course an integral part of the application, but more refined planning has to take place during the whole life time of a project. The general aims and objectives have to be defined and translated into concrete outcomes and products. The major steps that lead to the development of the products have to be packaged and timed in a work plan. All this must be based on the availability of resources and budget. Every project should agree on quality criteria of their work.
Project Organisation
Preferably with the help of written agreements, the different roles and responsibilities should be allocated according to individual strengths and expertise. Not only should teams and sub-teams be established at national and European levels, but relations with the wider project environment also have to be organised.
Team Building
A motivated team in which all members are equally involved and can rely on each other is a key factor for success. Therefore a lot of time needs to be dedicated to the development of a positive project culture. A system of conflict resolution is also necessary.
Project Meetings
Most project coordinators agree that transnational meetings play an important role. Accordingly meetings should be organised in a professional way and take the intercultural dimension of a European Cooperation Project into account. Communication channels between meetings need careful planning, as well.
Evaluation and Dissemination
If quality is to be achieved permanent monitoring of the progress of the work and evaluation of both processes and products are indispensible. This should take place in a clearcut framework of evaluation.
Contractual and financial management
The administrative workload, especially financial management must not be underestimated. A lot of time and energy can be saved if a transparent reporting system and clear agreements are introduced at the very start of a project. To use the experience of other projects can be extremely valuable.
In the Appendices model sheets and documents and other examples of good management practice which might be of use for future projects can be found.
Download
A Survival Kit for European Project Management
Advice for Coordinators of Centralised Socrates Projects
is now available in 2 different versions, since the financial rules for centralised Socrates projects changed in 2001.
Version for projects accepted until March 2000:
Version for projects accepted in March 2001 or later:
As we intend to regularly update and improve the publication, please return this Evaluation form (52 KB)
to:
Sokrates Nationalagentur
Schreyvogelgasse 2
A-1010 Vienna
office@sokrates.at
|
