From 24th – 26th September 2018, the partners of the Erasmus+ TIGRIS Project gathered at University of Sulaimani for the Concluding Workshop of Work Package 1.
The workshop was dedicated to the review and discussions of the results of the work package 1, but also included planning sessions for the implementation of WP2 as well as additional trainings for the strategic and operational development of internationalisation in Higher Education.
The workshop started with opening remarks by the president of University of Sulaimani Dr. Ridha Hussein, followed by welcome addresses of the Director of International Academic Relations & Media Dr. Karzan Khidhir, the project’s Coordinator Dr. Uwe Muuss from Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and the Head of the regional Co-coordinator Dr. Polla Khanaqa from the Kurdistan Institution for Strategic Studies and Scientific Research.
After the welcome addresses, Mr. Jakob Hedderich from Göttingen University kicked off the first working session of the day by recapitulating together with the partners the overall structure and timeline of the TIGRIS project providing a clear view on the project’s overall implementation, thereby also delivering a short target-performance comparision.
Afterwards, each Kurdish partner university as well as the Work Package Leader KU Leuven presented their results produced in Work Package 1, which was followed by a critical assessment and discussion on the results achieved so far. The partners then deliberated on decisive actions to be implemented to further enhance and finalise the analysis of existing conditions for and level of internationalisation of Higher Education in Kurdistan Region of Iraq. As a result of the deliberations, the partners established an action plan on the finalisation of Work Package 1.
The working agenda of the first workshop day concluded with a training session on Risk Analysis by the External Quality Expert of the TIGRIS Project Dr. Carlos Machado, which gave an comprehensive introduction into essential tasks of risk management like risk identification and assessment.
The first half of the second workshop day was dedicated to a meeting of the TIGRIS Steering Committee (TSC), which included a report by the head of the TIGRIS Quality Leading Team Dr. Uwe Brandenburg from Global Impact Institute on the performance of the TIGRIS Consortium in the project’s first year as well as a planning session for the implementation of Work Package 2. As an outcome, the TSC adopted the action plan established the day before and established a preliminary plan for implementing Work Package 2.
After the TSC meeting, Dr. Uwe Muuss from Göttingen University conducted the first of two comprehensive training sessions focusing on the strategic development of HEI structures for internationalisation: Confronted with four different scenarios of HEIs engaging in internationalisation, each with individual development goals, the participants were challenged to devise a comprehensive development strategy by identifying stakeholders, developing appropriate institutional structures and devising action as well as financial plans to achieve to development goals set. The strategies developed were then analysed and discussed by the participants, highlighting strong points and weaknesses of the strategic approaches developed.
The third day of the workshop was dedicated to the second comprehensive training session conducted by Ms. Violeta Osouchová from Masaryk University. Titled “See your IRO in action”, the training focused on developing and managing the operational aspects of internationalisation: By going through the steps of developing a professional International Relations Office and engaging in practical exercises, the participants received the tools and knowledge necessary to set up or refine their institution’s own IRO.
After the workshop, the group traveled on to Erbil to hold the Annual Dissemination Conference of the TIGRIS Project at Salahaddin University.