(HERD) in the Western Balkans 2010-2015 Client: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Period: April – September 2015
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Review of Norwegian Programmes in Higher Education, Research and Development (HERD) in the Western Balkans 2010-2015 Final Report O Oslo, September 2015 Project: Review of Norwegian Programmes in Higher Education, Research and Development (HERD) in the Western Balkans 2010-2015 Client: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Period: April – September 2015 Task Team: Mr. Arne Disch, Scanteam, team leader Ms. Stephanie Crasto, Scanteam Ms. Eva Komlossyová, Scanteam Ms. Jorunn Tønnesen, Norges Vel Scanteam P.o. Box 593 Sentrum, NO-0106 Oslo, Norway – Tel: +47 2335 7030 Web: www.scanteam.no – E-mail: [email protected] Review of Norwegian Support to HERD in Western Balkans 2010-2015 Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................ iii 1 Executive Summary ...................................................................... 1 2 Introduction and Background ...................................................... 9 2.1 Background .............................................................................................. 9 2.2 Scope of Work .......................................................................................... 9 2.3 Methodology Employed .......................................................................... 10 2.4 Structure of Final Report ........................................................................ 11 3 The HERD Programme ................................................................ 12 3.1 HERD as a Collaborative and Complex Programme ............................... 12 3.2 The Agricultural Sector Programme ........................................................ 13 3.3 The Energy Sector Programme .............................................................. 13 3.4 The ICT Sector Programme .................................................................... 13 3.5 The Maritime Sector Programme ............................................................ 14 3.6 The Development Studies Programme ................................................... 14 3.7 Summing Up........................................................................................... 15 4 Producing Results ....................................................................... 16 4.1 The Agricultural Sector ........................................................................... 16 4.1.1 Strengthening Academic Excellence ........................................................ 16 4.1.2 Innovation, Business Development and Employment .............................. 17 4.2 The Energy Sector.................................................................................. 18 4.2.1 Strengthening Academic Excellence ........................................................ 18 4.2.2 Innovation, Business Development and Employment .............................. 20 4.3 The ICT Sector ....................................................................................... 20 4.3.1 Strengthening Academic Excellence ........................................................ 20 4.3.2 Innovation, Business Development and Employment .............................. 21 4.4 The Maritime Sector ............................................................................... 21 4.4.1 Strengthening Academic Excellence ........................................................ 22 4.4.2 Innovation, Business Development and Employment .............................. 22 4.5 The Development Studies Programme ................................................... 23 4.5.1 Strengthening Academic Excellence ........................................................ 23 4.6 Cross-cutting Issues ............................................................................... 24 4.7 Roles of Norwegian Partners .................................................................. 25 4.8 The Survey: Findings .............................................................................. 25 4.8.1 The Respondents ..................................................................................... 26 4.8.2 Project Results .......................................................................................... 27 4.8.3 Addressing Cross-cutting Issues .............................................................. 30 Scanteam – Final Report – i – Review of Norwegian Support to HERD in Western Balkans 2010-2015 4.9 Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................... 32 5 Ownership and Sustainability .................................................... 35 5.1 Local Ownership ..................................................................................... 35 5.2 Relevance of Sector Projects and Programmes ..................................... 37 5.2.1 Agricultural Sector .................................................................................... 37 5.2.2 Energy Sector ........................................................................................... 39 5.2.3 ICT Sector ................................................................................................. 39 5.2.4 Maritime Sector......................................................................................... 40 5.2.5 Development Studies Sector .................................................................... 40 5.3 Sustainability .......................................................................................... 41 5.4 Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................... 42 6 Project and Programme Management ....................................... 46 6.1 Efficiency of Project Management and Partnerships ............................... 46 6.2 Programme Management: Sector Managers and MFA ........................... 49 6.3 Complementarity to other Funding Sources ............................................ 51 6.4 Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................... 52 Annex A: Terms of Reference ............................................................... 55 Annex B: Persons Interviewed .............................................................. 59 Annex C: Documents Consulted .......................................................... 64 Annex D: Programme Structure ............................................................ 69 Annex E: Project Results Sheets .......................................................... 72 Annex F: Conversation Guide ............................................................. 113 Annex G: Survey Questionnaire ......................................................... 116 Annex H: Field Work Programme ....................................................... 118 Annex I: Comments in Web Survey .................................................... 120 Scanteam – Final Report – ii – Review of Norwegian Support to HERD in Western Balkans 2010-2015 Acronyms and Abbreviations BANOROB Bosnian-Norwegian research-based innovation for development of new, environmental-friendly, competitive robot technology for selected target groups BCSP Belgrade Centre for Security Policy BIT Business Innovation and Technology (Centre), Tuzla CEP Centre for Education Policy (Belgrade) HBV Buskerud and Vestfold University College (Høgskolen i Buskerud og Vestfold) HERD Higher Education, Research and Development HiAA University College of Aalesund (Høgskolen i Aalesund) HiST Sør Trøndelag University College (Høgskolen i Sør-Trøndelag) ICBL Innovation Centre Banja Luka ICT Information and Communications Technology IPM Integrated Pest Management MMCDI Montenegro Sustainable Maritime Competence Development Initiative MFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs NGO Non-governmental Organisation NMBU Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norges Miljø- og Biovitenskapelige Universitet) NORBAS Norwegian, Bosnian and Serbian cooperation platform for university and industry in ICT R&D Norbotech Norwegian-Bosnian technology transfer based on sustainable systems engineering and embedded systems in the fields of cloud computing and digital signal processing NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norges Teknisk- Naturvitenskapelige Universitet) RCN The Research Council of Norway (Norges Forskningsråd) QIMSEE Quality Improvements of Master Programmes in Sustainable Energy and Environment SEAMED Strengthening Education, Applied Research, and Marine Development in the Western Balkans SEEWB Sustainable Energy and Environment in the Western Balkans ToR Terms of Reference UBL University of Banja Luka UiO University of Oslo WB Western Balkans Scanteam – Final Report – iii – Review of Norwegian Support to HERD in Western Balkans 2010-2015 1 Executive Summary Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) invited tenders for a review of its programme of higher education, research and development (HERD) in the Western Balkans. Scanteam, in collaboration with Norges Vel, was awarded the contract for this task. The HERD Programme The HERD programme is complex, funding 32 projects in 5 sectors across 7 countries. It involves 26 Norwegian and nearly 100 Western Balkans partners with a total financing of about NOK 160 million. While the programme was originally to cover the 2010-2013 period, a number of projects have been given no-cost extensions till the end of 2015 and some to 2016, including to allow some PhD candidates to finish their degrees. Final results on some projects are therefore not yet in place, but project progress has been significant enough to allow the team to draw conclusions regarding the sector programmes. This Review has looked at 22 of the 32