Project Objectives

Enhance the capacities of universities in Egypt, Tunisia and Jordan, to engage durable and fruitful cooperation with the economic and cultural stakeholders of the place where they operate. Additionally, it will develop and test internal and external quality assurance systems (variables and indicators) able to measure the university performance in the third mission (mainly intended as entrepreneurial capacity), through the definition of specific indicators addressing the social issues and the local cultural characteristics.

The project will develop the new concept of Third Mission, encompassing the compulsory commitment of the universities, as key actors for the territorial development, to tackle the social problems and needs. This represents the transition from the Triple Helix Model of development on which the universities enhanced the role of Entrepreneurial Universities to the QH model where the universities continue to be innovators and to transfer knowledge but in a different perspective of civic and social engagement. The new Third Mission designs a model of Civic University tailored on the specific needs and expectations of the citizens. 

The specific objectives of the project are to:

•         To develop a model of Civic University (as defined by Goddard) in Jordan, Tunisia andEgypt. 

•         To identify existing good practices in MENA region of concrete application of QH model for fostering innovation 

•         To identify indicators that can measure the innovation potential of the ecosystems surrounding the partners HEIs

•         To reinforce and enhance the cooperation between EU and PC partners by increasing the fields nd the level of cooperation 

•         To enhance the competencies of the TTOs enabling the staff to support and lead the transformation of the Third Mission towards a renovated engagement with the society. 

•         To provide the policy makers and local/national authorities with a Guideline containing a roadmap for innovation listing 10/12 fundamental principles and indicators on which future funding should be planned. 

•         To prepare bilateral Agreements (EU/PC partners) aiming to promote and support the creation of innovation networks 

•         To develop and implement appropriate quality assurance policies and procedures according to European Standards.   

Project Activities

MED-UP is a Strand 3 project aiming to enhance the innovation capacities of three MENA countries, EG, TN, JO. Thus the consortium consists of 10 HEIs, 4 from Europe and 2 from each Partner Country, 3 Ministries and 4 institutions with high relevance for promotion and support of research and innovation. EU partners offer a wide range of experience in supporting technological transfer within an innovation ecosystem built up for the full implementation of the university “third mission”. 

Universities from EG, TN and JO are outstanding institutions which are organising Technological Transfer Offices and establishing at local and international level a suitable partnership with the main innovation actors and national authorities in charge of assessment and evaluation of the results. Some EU and PC partners (UNIVAQ, AP, UdG, AASTMT, UMT) already cooperated within previous projects, proving to have infrastructure and human resources with thedue experience for the general administration and management of the project.

WP1: Management of the project (M1-M36) 

·         Establishment of the project management structure (M1-M4)

·         Establishment of the project Steering Committee (SC) and coordination strategy (M4).

·     nbsp;   Organisation of 4 SC meetings in presence and periodical (every 2 months) online meetings

WP2: Analysis and identification of good practices of QH model application (M2- M10)

·         Establishment of a WG of relevant local stakeholders in each partner (M1-M4)

·         Comparison and integration of the reports from each WG (2 online meetings) 

·         Identification of MED-UP project suitable model of engaged University (M7- M10)

WP3: Definition of third mission and civic engagement in MENA region (M2M24)

·         The Third Mission as civic/social engagement. Development of a template for self-assessment of the universities’ impact on economic, social, cultural, and environmental development (M2-M8)

·         Peer review of the proposed model by a team of national and international experts (M8-M12) 

·         Open debate on the review and measurement of what universities do in their local and wider context (M13-M24)

WP4: Identification and development of pilot actions (M15-M36) 

·         Identification and evaluation of impact of successful projects funded by European and national programmes aimed to exploit the Universities’ third mission (M13-M18)

·         Training of staff operating in the Technological Transfer Offices of Partner Universities in EU, for reinforcing their capacity to support social engagement of the university and to carry out a continuous assessment (M15-M24) 

·         Pilot introduction of successful projects into the mainstream funding of the institutions (Guidelines for university managers and policymakers) (M24-M36) 

WP5: Quality Control and Monitoring (M3-M36) 

·         Definition of Quality Control and Monitoring strategy (M3-M8)

·         Internal and external evaluation and quality assessment reports by the independent evaluator 

WP6: Dissemination and Exploitation (M6-M36) 

·         Production of information materials (electronic) and promotional items (M6M10)

·         Local meetings with main stakeholders and organization of 2 National Meetings (M10 and M24),

Web-site preparation and updating (M6-M36).