Work package WP1 – Project management and coordination
Objectives
To assure the efficient management of the project in order to reach the expected outcomes
Description
The Project Management team will guarantee efficient and well-balanced management and decision-making, and risk management of the project. will be responsible for the overall planning and monitoring of the work of the consortium and will track deliverables and be responsible for the management and progress reports, cost statements, and the final report. The Project Management team takes the responsibility for financial management, especially the usage of the project funds wherever changes to the original plans are necessary. The financial services (budget control, payments, and financial reports) will be assured by the committee.
Lastly, at the overall project level, the grant holder will establish a project management team, which will manage daily errands, finances, operational distribution and redistribution of activities, project coordination meetings as well as quality control and monitoring visits.
Work package WP2 – To boost the entrepreneurship capacity of universities (Development)
Objectives
1) To boost the entrepreneurship capacity of universities by establishing or developing restructuring and modernization of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Centers within 10 higher-education institutions;
2) To prepare benchmark reports which will include an in-depth analysis of the entrepreneurial capacity of Azerbaijan universities towards increasing the capacity to innovate, recognize and create opportunities,
Description
Entrepreneurship and Innovation centers will be established in 6 universities and will be restructured and modernized in 6 universities which will be used for training, consultancy, and research activities. Each University will employ 2 dedicated staff for the centers.
The staff will participate in all project activities.
The centers will be equipped with 2 laptops and 1 printer. The coordinator will assure the tendering procedure and purchase of the equipment. Each university will report on the installation and inventory of the equipment. A working group will be formed with the participation of 1 participant from each partner university. The team will be responsible for the preparation of benchmark reports and strategic plan for the enhancement of entrepreneurship in higher education. EU partners will also participate in the working group for supervising the reporting Associated partners will be invited to take part in the working group in order to share their experiences about the ongoing activities within this field and also the national requirement that they are dealing with now.
EU partners will prepare the benchmark methodology and questionnaire in order to be conducted in11 local partner universities. A 1-day online workshop will be organized in order to discussthe methodology and the questionnaire 5 study visits will be organized to EU partners,with the participation of 1 staff of E&I centers. The participation of the member working groups will be mandatory for all visits but the second staff may change. The study visits will be related to learning the best experience of EU partners. The related departments of EU partners will introduce the role and operational framework of their centers; The team also will meet with entrepreneur students and staff of the university, the head of spinoff companies, and the leader of startup projects. Also, EU partners will organize one-day meeting with their partner companies in order to witness how the universities are commercializing their knowledge. The visits will help the team to do the benchmark analysis and to revise their action plans. The working group will prepare the benchmark report. The report will be discussed in online workshops. The 1-day conference will be organized in Baku with the participation of the representatives of MoE, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population of Azerbaijan, HEIs labor market, etc. In order to share the results of the benchmark report
Work package WP3 – To Increase the entrepreneurial ecosystem at national level
Objectives
To increase entrepreneurship activities nationwide by enhancing the capacity of the national center for entrepreneurship in education and establishing the National entrepreneurial university award To provide universities with the appropriate tools to assess and effectively develop the individual and institutional competencies to improve entrepreneurial mindset national wide
Description
With the gained best experience from EU partners, the working groups will support the Commission to revise its statute, its mission, and functions.
Based on the findings of the benchmark report the working group will prepare a strategic plan with the active involvement of the commission of Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs Confederation, ASAN innovations centers. Other key players in entrepreneurship and innovation in education will be involved in this process. The strategy will aim to build up, enhance, monitor, and evaluate the entrepreneurial activities of universities EU partners will consult and review the strategies and will provide support for the development The committee of education of Azerbaijan Entrepreneurs Confederation will actively involve in the process.
The working group will prepare the action plan for 3 years. (2024-2027)
The Commission for work with science, education, and vocational education institutions of AEC will monitor the implementation of the strategy. Each year universities will prepare reports for the commission. The commission will organize round tables every year to discuss the reports which will help to increase the entrepreneurial activities of the universities.
Also, the reports will be used for awarding the best universities in entrepreneurial activities. EU partners will consult and review the strategies and will provide support for the development AP partners will review the action plan will provide the recommendations Awarding procedures, regulations, and nomination criteria will be prepared by the working group. The application form for the universities, staff, and students will be prepared. An expert group for evaluation of the application will be set up; the group will be consisting of representatives of MoE, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Labor and social protection of the population, the labor market, National Entrepreneurs Confederation. With the participation of all EU partners involved in the working group, 2 days workshop will be organized in order to prepare the award regulations. Within 3rd year of the project, the first contest of the universities will be organized with the participation of partner and non-partner universities with other high-level representatives. The universities will be awarded for the first time. For this task,
- Universities (staff and student candidates as well) will prepare the application form to be nominated for the award.
2. The applications will be reviewed by the experts
3. Based on the application the nominates will be announced based on the criteria and procedures.
Work package WP4 – To Enhance sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem at institutional level
Objectives
To invest in the creation and sustenance of entrepreneurship-oriented universities through the implementation of globally-accepted curricula and teaching methodologies with the goal to advance understanding of entrepreneurial spirit/ culture as well as promoting practical/hands-on approach that would lead to experience-based start-up and spinoff mindset and skills
Description
Within the second year after finalizing the training (WP2) the universities will review their strategic plan if the entrepreneurship-related objectives and activities are included in their strategic plan. EU partners will supervise the process and they will review the activities related to the topic. 3 pieces of training will be organized in EU partner universities for entrepreneurship professors. The training will cover analyzing the syllabuses of entrepreneurship subjects in EU universities, they will be trained on teaching methods of these particular topics, and TalTEch will organize a master class for the Az professors about the preparation of a project on a new venture report. Overall 52 lecturers will be trained in the EU After the training, the professors will design a common syllabus to be taught in all partner universities for all study programs. 1 workshop will be organized with the participation of AZ lecturers and EU experts to design the syllabus on entrepreneurship for all studies. 1 day to compare the EU partner’s syllabuses the 2nd day will be dedicated to designing the syllabuses according to AZ national requirements. The EU partners will be invited to this workshop The EU partners will review the syllabuses and will provide their consultancy EU professors will organize a 1week workshop on the preparation of new venture reports for students. The workshop material will be prepared with the participation of all EU professors. 11 AZ partners will be divided into 5 groups. Each university will select 15 students to be trained. Each EU expert will be teaching in one group. The AZ professors will participate in these workshops. The working group will prepare the training package with the supervision of EU partners. The training will cover the following topics:
- The concept of Entrepreneurship
- Entrepreneurship in education
- Entrepreneurship in curriculum
- Entrepreneurship in Governance and Management
- Entrepreneurship funding
- Social entrepreneurship
The training will be delivered by 8 local experts certified by the commission of AEC. 8 experts are from BBU, UNEC, ATU, MSU 2 days of training will be organized in all 11 partner institutions with the participation of students and staff of the universities. At least 50 participants will participate in the training. Overall 11 pieces of training will be organized in all4regions of Azerbaijan (Ganja, Nakhchivan, Mingachevir, Baku) The University of TalTEch will organize a 1-week ToT training for the experts in order to increase their training skills 3 days of training sessions will be organized in 5 different regions of Azerbaijan. The training will involve only the female students and staff. Overall 400 female students and staff will be trained. The training will be delivered by Azerbaijan Woman Entrepreneurs Association
Work package WP5 – Dissemination and exploitation
Objectives
Better dissemination of project results at national and international level
Description
Designing of the Web page will be one of the basic dissemination tools of the project. Public deliverables and results will be available in the public area of the portal. The project portal will offer a specific section for Events and News to highlight relevant international and national conferences and events with stakeholders organized and or attended by the partnership in order to promote the project on a wide scale. Each partner will update news and BBU will keep track of the feed done to the News section. BBU will be responsible for maintaining the website beyond the project lifetime for at least 5 years. In addition, social media will be also used and combined with events, meeting and important milestones.
- Youtube channel
- Google plus
- Fb, twitter, linkedin etc.
Within the project framework several info days will be held in partner and non-partner Universities, in order to spread the information about the project. Each partner universities will organize info day for their own staff and students. Also all partners are required to organize info days at 3 non partner universities close to their location. And the result will be published in all national and local newspapers. The info days will be adequately covered in mass media.
Two (2) Dissemination Conferences will be organized during each project year, thus, 2025 and 2026. The main goal of this activity is to present the project and announce the activities in its implementation and to define common measures and further steps in activities of the Universities, Participants of the Conference will be representatives of Universities partners of the Project and Representative of one EU partner universities (different partner for each conference). The conference will be adequately covered in media. At the end of the conference an official statement about agreed joint measures will be announced.
At the beginning of the project a multilingual project brochure (in English, Azerbaijani describing the objectives, activities to be carried out and the partnership set up will be designed and printed. Partners will distribute it on a wide scale targeting HEIs, stakeholders and policy makers at a national level. At least 300 copies will be printed and they will be distributed at national and international conferences and events. All partner universities will send Information about relevant events (conferences, workshops, etc.) to online and paper newsletters. Representative of TV channels will be invited to all conferences and events. Effective use of mass media will support the positive distribution of the project outcomes. Periodic surveys will be organized among the target group in order to identify needs, positive or negative impact of the project, to measure the satisfaction and changes occurred during the project life cycle. Surveys will be repeated each year. Surveys will help to identify the expectations and requirements of the stakeholders such as alumni, students and employers. Trainings will be organized on the base of those surveys From the beginning till the end all project materials ((quality controlling reports, summary of recommendations of all meetings, Project Info-Days & Final Conference materials) will be collected in project web page.