Medical Schools in the Middle East are currently suffering from a critical shortage of scientists and academicians holding higher degrees in the various disciplines of basic medical sciences (BMS). For most of these Schools, the requirements for a Bachelor degree in Medicine include the successful completion of three years of intense coursework in BMS, prior to passing through three additional years of patient-oriented, bedside clinical coursework. Thus, iBMS-JO project responds to the needs to graduate students with deep background in BMS. This can be achieved by the establishment the first innovative intercalated BSc (iBSc) programs in BMS. Moreover, Telemedicine Labs (TL) will also be established to support the research activities of students and faculty, as well as providing services to the health care facilities. The establishment of an intercalated BSc (iBSc) programs in BMS is an opportunity for students to learn more about a particular topic, to develop transferable skills and/or participate in a more in-depth research project than previously available as part of a medical degree. This is can be offered after the 3rd or 4th year, which could also include an intercalated year into their standard medical programs, making them a 7-year degree, where an intercalation typically lasts one year. The expected outputs of this program include: n. 6 accredited iBSc programs in BMS, capacity building for the staff (at least 48): a) to design curricula in line with the Bologna process, b) to design and develop inter/multidisciplinary course curricula in clinical nutrition (at least 7 new modules, 120 students/year); and c) to apply innovative and flexible teaching and learning methods. Moreover, TL will provide research facilities for students and staff (n. >40 research project/year), which will support the iBSc programs and function as life-long learning resources and Centres of Excellence in medical education and research.

The textile industry is highly of relevant importance both in Morocco and Jordan accounting for 165k jobs in the former and 60k in the later, making one of the largest industrial sector for both countries. However, most SME companies have limited access to services like testing, training, research, studies, technology and financial funding instruments. Also, there are not any focal points in these two countries that fulfil the knowledge triangle, bringing together enterprises, universities and research centers, especially as far as the advanced textiles' production is concerned.FOSTEX project aims to fill the gap in the area of specialized services for the textile sector, with the establishment of four advanced textiles’ centers located at the participating HEIs in Jordan and Morocco. These centers will play the role of focal points for the textile sector and relevant stakeholders to bloom innovations and promoting entrepreneurship. A customized capacity building program will be assembled by EU partners, experts in training and in advanced textiles, in order to improve the management and technical skills of experts running the centers as well as providing EU experience with best practices. Additional outputs which will catalyze the activities of the centers are the drafting of an entrepreneurial plan for each country supplemented by the roundtables on innovation and entrepreneurship, and fostering synergic meetings among textile experts from EU with partner countries’ HEIs and textile industry. A custom service list will be defined with support from EU partners for each advanced textiles’ center according to sectorial needs at each region of influence. Ultimately, the goal is to foster the university-industry collaboration to support the development of innovations and entrepreneurship in the textile sector in Morocco and Jordan to generate an ecosystem of advanced textile materials.

Summary of the project:The project aim is modernisation and internationalisation of VET and bachelor curricula in engineering for renewable energies in the targeted universities in Albania through innovation of curricula in line with the new development in the area and the labour market demand.The project addresses the regional priorities of the countries for modernisation of curriculum in engineering and the strategic plans for renewable energies and need of specialists for the new jobs in the area.Outputs:- Up-to-date curricula in the strategic disciplines in line with the new development in the area of renewable energy with 15 courses developed with applying the approach with learning outcomes, ECTS and e-learning practices, including virtual mobility of students and staff;- 5 innovated laboratories for efficient practical training of students and 6 multimedia laboratories;- Staff trained for the development and delivery of innovated curricula;- HE responsive to the labour market demand;-Real internationalisation of HE in engineering/manufacturing through collaborative development/update of BSc and MSc curricula.Benefits at:- Local level: HEIs will have modernised curricula, modern laboratories upgraded with new equipment; enterprises in the sector will have better educated young engineers for the new jobs in manufacturing and processing for renewable energies; young specialists better prepared for the labour market and as a result - higher employability;- National level: improvement of HE in the country following the national priorities and strategic development.

Design is crucial to India’s manufacturing transformation. By 2020 India will need more than 60,000 designers in a 2.47 billion euros market. Progress to enhance design education is not uniform across institutions. Modern convergence of technology, design thinking, user-centred and experience design demand collaborative trans and inter/multi-disciplinary approaches to curriculum evolution. Bonds between industry and HEIs must be strong by growing collaborations for new product development, internships, joint projects and other educational and research activities. This project aims at establishing innovation capacities in the design sector of India through improved education built on transfer of good practices and curriculum content from the EU. It will establish 3 equipped Design & Innovation Centres in local universities. These will provide common ground, with industry, for (a) developing innovative and permanent methods for Research and Design approaches (b) establishing cross-sectoral projects for collaboration and co-learning, (c) establishing Inter-industry projects to facilitate the inclusion of design thinking approaches, (d) deploying extreme affordability principles, (e) developing community-based programs enabling designers, craftsmen and artisans, (f) modernization and internationalization of Indian HEIs by improving product and service design courses, following state of the art methodologies in design thinking, sustainability, social innovation, ethics etc.DESINNO seeks proliferation of similar centres in India and promotion of research and design projects by creating a permanent research innovation and training network and virtual tools. HEIs, researchers, students and industry are expected to benefit the most. The industry will gain access to modern value adding technologies, methodologies and highly trained professionals leading to drastic improvements of Indian Design for the benefit of the economy and society.

It is undeniable that the world we live in constantly changes (“everything flows” as the Greek philosopher Heraclitus pointed some 2.500 years ago). Nowadays, one of the major vehicles of this principle is the climate change; and it is going to be even more intense in the following years. The primary sector, plant and animal production, depends a lot on the climatic conditions and it is expected to carry most of the weight of this change. Therefore, adjustments are necessary in the way that we perform agriculture; adjustments that will allow the continuation of the production of quality food from animal and plant origin and that will ensure the survival of the human race. In this direction, the wider objective of this project is to create qualified scientists who will contribute to the development of environmentally friendly and sustainable agriculture and will be readily absorbed by the labour market.The key actions of this project will be: a) the development, testing and adaptation of new content for courses, learning materials and tools and b) the university-enterprise cooperation. The major outputs of this project will be: a) new updated material in the field of “climate change, crop and animal production” in two languages (French and English), b) the development of the relevant courses, c) the development of modern learning materials (educational and mechanical equipment related to the courses) and d) the development of learning tools (e-learning platform, dynamic web site), that will all contribute to the succession of the wider objective of the project.The impact of this project is expected to be significant since: a) it will provide the HEI’s with the appropriate tools to produce highly trained scientists in the respective field, b) it will strengthen the internationalization of HEI and the capacity to network effectively in research, scientific and technological innovation and c) it possesses a strong dissemination WP, involving all stakeholders.