Consortium

• University of Genoa, Italy (Project contractor)
• TSTU - Tambov State Technical University, Tambov, Russian Federation (Scientific coordinator)
• Tambov Regional Administration, Tambov, Russian Federation
• OSEU - Odessa State Economics University, Odessa, Ukraine
• Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, United Kingdom
• Lapland University of Rovaniemi, Finland

Alexei V. Biryukov, Individual Expert, Consultant of Ministry of Education of Russian Federation, International Relationships Office.

University of Genoa - DISPOS, Department of Political al Social Sciences

The University of Genoa is one of the older and larger Universities of the North of Italy: 1.750 teachers, 40.300 students, 11 faculties. The DISPOS is a Unit devoted to the development of the research and the carrying out of teaching activities. The activities concern wide disciplines in the following frames: political sciences and policies, sociological studies, political thought, administration sciences, international law. The Contractor will be Prof. Andrea Mignone; he is Deputy Director of the Dept and professor of 'Italian Political System', 'Political Parties and Lobby Groups' and 'Decisional Processes of European Union' at the Faculty of Political Sciences.

The DISPOS promoted and set up, within its organization, three Research Centres: 'OCPEL' (Observatory on political and electoral behavior in Liguria), 'OSSPOL' (Italian Political Observatory) and 'CESMO' (Centre of Studies on Management and Organization). The staff of DISPOS has been involved in the National Project 'Good Practices' devoted to the evaluation of administrative services in the Italian University System, promoted by the National Committee Evaluation of the Italian Ministry of University and Research.

TSTU - Tambov State Technical University

The University was founded in 1958 as affiliate of Moscow Institute of Chemical Engineering. In 1993 the Institute received the status of university and the name TSTU. Now it comprises 11 faculties, 40 departments, about 600 teachers and employees, more than 7000 students studying. The University offers 30 courses in different fields. The University presents itself a system of continuous training, beginning with pre-university training up to doctoral studies (leading to the Russian Doctor degree award), which has it's distant and international components.

One of the key activities of the University is the application of information technologies. The separate subdivision, the Regional Centre for New Information technologies develops the hardware and software for the teaching process and students' servicing.

The international office is organized for rendering help to the faculties and students in their international and mobility activities. The Faculty for International Education conduct training for more than 250 international students from 16 countries at all education levels.

The University campus consists of 5 buildings, 5 hostels, 4 cafes and canteens; it has a policlinic for students and staff, publishing and printing center, issuing the scientific journal "TSTU Transactions" with abstracts in four languages (Russian, English, German and French), TV studio, library with funds of 630000 units, etc.

Research activities are conducted in the frames of different programs suggested by Governmental organizations and industrial enterprises.

The University is actively involved in activities of the region and local administration. Not long ago the "Memorandum of joint development and realization of common regional strategy based on cooperation and interaction between the Ministry of Education and local administrations in the Russian Federation" was signed by the Head of the Tambov region. It has the new concepts of university development.

TSTU has long-term relationships with the representatives of the Ministry of Education and networking connections with many universities of Russia.

OSEU - Odessa State Economic University

OSEU is one of the leading economic institutions in the South of Ukraine providing a number of high-level Bachelor and Master Programs for more than 8000 students. Nowadays in the framework of the strategy of development it participates as a member in several international educational and training/retraining programs, including the partnership with Universities of the USA, with Universities of EU Candidates Countries, with other Tempus Tacis Consortiums, with the CEUME project "Development of Management-Education", etc. OSEU is also involved in the projects devoted to modernization of course syllabus according to European Standard.

This collaboration comes at a particularly important time for OSEU during the modernization education system and creation new Master Programs according to the European Standard. But at the same not only curriculum development in the main priorities of OSEU, it also forwards to improve its management of educational process, as well as, to increase the level of distance learning education, its quality and assessment.

Glasgow Caledonian University

GCU is one of the largest universities in Scotland with over 14.000 students. GCU has over 90 undergraduate, 40 postgraduate programmes and a large number of students engaged in research for PhDs in topics that put them at the forefront of their disciplines. GCU has pioneered a large number of innovative programmes and has introduced a number of firsts in Scotland, the UK and even Europe. The University has recently invested over £45 million in the development of new facilities including a new Health Faculty building, an extension to the library and state of the art leisure facilities. Together this means that they are able to offer some of the most modern facilities available to students. GCU is proud of its reputation for designing programmes that allow people from all over the world to take full part in the economic development of their countries. The teaching staff not only teaches but also engages in research and is expected to publish the results of their scholarships. A recent survey of major employers in Britain ranked GCU one of the leading Universities in the UK due to both of these facts.

GCU is one of the leading Scottish institutions in fulfilling the Scottish Parliament's policy of social inclusion regarding improving access and widening participation in higher education through non-traditional routes and sectors.

The involved Unit in the project is the Centre for Engineering Education at the School of Engineering, Science and Design. The Centre is engaged in several research branches: the relevant one, in the frame of the present JEP proposal, is the Information Systems and Development Methodologies Group.

Among the several EU cooperation programmes in which the GCU has been involved, the recent ones are the following: 4th Framework Program ('Virtual software corporation universal test bed'), Cost 14 - Cotech 14, British-German academic research cooperation scheme, EU-Scottish funded work on 'Man-based tutoring in computer-human interaction'.

Lapland University of Rovaniemi

The University of Lapland at Rovaniemi is a diversified centre for education and research. The four faculties of Education, Law, Social Sciences and Arts and design, all form an aggregate that will creatively meet the challenges of the new H.E. This unity enriches the other units at the University: the Arctic Centre, the Continuing Education Centre and, combined with the University of Oulu, the 'Meri Lappi Institute'. The dynamic and young environment of its teaching and its specific experience in new forms of education, training and communication give the Institution a high level knowledge of e-learning technologies.

The University in committed in several international cooperation agreements with Universities in different countries. Students and research exchange programmes, cooperation in research and other international functions make up these undertakings. Cooperation is carried out with about 200 foreign Universities. University student and researcher exchange is based on either a bilateral exchange agreement or the international exchange programme (Nordplus and Socrates Erasmus). The University is involved in several framework programmes of the European Union: 4th and 5th Framework Programme, Objective 1 Regional Development, previous Tempus projects.

The contact person will be Prof. Ahti Saarenpaa, Dean of the Faculty of Law. The Faculty has worked a long time in the area of Law, Informatics and Public Administration; they have made widely research especially in legal data management issues. In addition the development of quality management in education and administration has been strongly in focus.

Tambov Regional Administration - Committee for Science and Innovation Policy

The Committee for Science and Innovation Policy is a new structural subdivision of the TRA. It was founded in 2002 and has the following goals and objectives:

• Development of scientific, engineering and innovation strategy of the Tambov region;
• Determination of priority directions and spheres of innovative activities;
• Innovative forecasting for the main directions of industrial application of research results in the region for the short-term and long-term perspectives;
• Development of the regional innovative program based on the state innovative policy;
• Problems analysis and proposals development for the innovative policy, including the use of Russian natural resources when realizing innovative programs and projects;
• Coordination of activities on introduction of the engineering knowledge, production technologies and methods to the industries considering economic and social needs of the region;
• Actions for economic and financial mechanisms of research and innovation potential realization;
• Interregional and international cooperation as far as research and innovation are concerned.

Mr. Alexei Biryukov, Consultant Expert from Ministry of Education of Russian Federation

The quality control on the pilot training course will be performed by a specific external expert, Mr. Alexei Biryukov. The Consortium decided to involve him for the Quality Control activities related to the pilot training courses in consideration of the remarkable cultural and professional background achieved by Mr. Biryukov during his diplomatic career at the Ministry of Foreign Affaires and then as Adviser of the Ministry of Education, mainly in the development of Regional Programmes Policies. Mr. Biryukov will also be involved in the control and monitoring actions performed by the Evaluation Board.