ELEGANT is an Erasmus+ CBHE project that aims to enhance university enterprise cooperation in Jordan and Lebanon in order to improve the teaching and learning experience of students and enhance the employability of graduates. The project responds to the widely recognised problem that university graduates often lack the employability skills needed by employers and, in addition, their knowledge in the field of ICT is behind the state of the art and below that of companies they want to work in. The project involves upgrading and updating the capacities of University staff and improving the curricula of at least ten subjects in each university. Study periods to EU universities will be arranged to provide the updating and upgrading opportunities for Jordanian and Lebanese academic and technical staff during which they can improve their own knowledge of the latest developments in their subjects and also upgrade the curricula of their subjects. The upgrading of curricula consists of enhancing both the scientific and technical skills of students as well as their employability skills. EU universities have been engaged in serious discussions about graduate employability and partner country staff can learn a great deal from this experience and take steps to produce ‘work ready’ graduates. EU staff will support the upgrading of curricula and engage in teaching in Jordan and Lebanon institutions and help the internationalisation agenda.
Project Objectives
The project aims to enhance university enterprise cooperation in Jordan and Lebanon in order to improve teaching and learning in partner universities, enhance the employability of graduates and create conditions for applied research cooperation and knowledge transfer between partner universities and enterprises. The general objectives of the project are:
- To stimulate the development of an enterprise cooperation culture at partner universities.
- To promote the sharing of good practice for establishing university-based Enterprise Liaison Offices, and developing new forms of industry-oriented education in a number of Jordanian and Lebanese Universities.
- To improve the ICT curricula and upgrade the capacities of academic and technical staff of partner universities.
- To develop a coherent information and communication strategy for the University communities within the local business environment.
- To develop a programme-strategy to support students to develop their master theses and internships with enterprises to enhance their employability
Expected Results
- Establishment of a Universities-enterprises cooperation network.
- Appointment of Liaison Officers and establishment of Liaison Offices in partner universities
- MOUs signed with enterprises
- Pilot implementation of the operations of the newly created Liaison Offices.
- Student internships/placements in enterprises
- Student projects based in enterprises and mentored by staff of enterprises
- Enterprise staff participating in lectures at universities
- Upgrading the knowledge and capacities of teaching, technical and other staff of universities
- Raising public awareness and dissemination actions of project results throughout the project duration.
Visit the official website at https://www.elegant-project.eu.
