Projects
DIES - Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies
DIES stands for "Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies" . DIES supports higher education institutions in developing countries to develop strategies, which improve the quality and relevance of the training offers. DIES is conducted in close cooperation with the German Rector’s Conference (HRK).
DIES Dialogue supports high-ranking conferences and seminars for the development of higher education institutions.The DAAD-DIES Department organises praxis-oriented transnational DIES Training Courses pertaining to higher education management issues, such as the "International Deans Course". DIES Partnerships supports South-South-North multiple-year higher education projects. With the DIES Projects extending over several years, we support the regional higher education organisations in their development and implementation of a quality assurance system. Moreover, within this framework, we direct our attention in particular to the incorporation of the working world and international evaluators.
Announcement of DIES-Partnerships with Higher Education Institutions in Developing Countries
Funding Term: 2013-2016
Deadline: 30th June each year; however the funding can commence as from January in the following year
The "Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies" programme offers a whole package of measures made up of training courses, dialogue Events, projects and partnerships with which higher education institutions in developing countries can align their training programmes in accordance with international quality standards can expand their research capacities and can competitively develop their organizational structures. This programme is jointly developed by the DAAD and HRK (German Rectors' Conference) and financed from the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The Objectives of DIES Partnerships:
DIES Partnerships promote cooperation between universities in Germany and in emerging and developing countries in the field of higher education management with concrete projects designed to run for a maximum of four years .
Applicants Profile:
- University executives and senior staff from the central university management
- Heads of central university facilities (International Offices, Careers Advice Centres, Technology Transfer Units, university-wide graduate schools, etc.)
- Deans and Faculty Managers
- Heads of University management degree programmes
N.B:
1. Please submit a full Online Application via the DAAD Portal ( https://portal.daad.de ).
2. These documents are available for download: Info Sheet and Annex1.
3. Further information is available under the following websites:
http://www.daad.de/dies-partnerschaften
http://www.daad.de/dies-partnerships
DIES Seminar on "Joint Degrees – A Catalyst or a Challenge in Quality Assurance?" in Cairo
Cairo, 28. – 29. January, 2012
Study programs offered by two or more universities together – so-called joint degrees – strengthen the international profile of universities and introduce transgressive perspectives on teaching and research. High-level scientific exchange and innovative research across cultural borders serve as a means for the universities to meet the changing social requirements of globalization.
Joint degree programs are an innovative instrument of university cooperation that is being used at an increasing rate, but that demands high standards of curricular constitution and program coordination. Quality assurance, especially the compatibility of national requirements for accreditation, often proves to be a special challenge in transnational university cooperation.
In the course of the DIES-Seminar "Joint Degrees – A Catalyst or a Challenge in Quality Assurance?” on January 28th and 29th 2012 in Cairo, about 100 top-class international experts dealt with the chances and challenges with regard to planning and realizing joint degree . The conference was organized by the DAAD (Branch office Cairo and department 433) in cooperation with the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ANQAHE) in Cairo.
The opening speech was given by the German ambassador to Egypt, Michael Bock, and the Egyptian Minister of Higher Education, Prof. Dr. Hussein Khaled. They both agreed that joint degrees promote the acquirement of intercultural competencies, the technological and scientific exchange and the consolidation of different cultures enormously.
University presidents, vice presidents, deans, heads of study programs and accreditation experts from 13 countries held lectures and discussed the requirements of and the conditions for the establishment of bi- and trilateral study programs, as well as the long-term chances for the development of teaching and research and the organizational challenges that come with the realization of joint degree programs.
Due to the innovative structure of the conference, which consisted of rotating professional groups, small working groups, plenary discussions and poster presentations, the participants had the opportunity to swap ideas and develop specific recommendations. While one professional group was working on the question of how joint degrees can contribute to building a critical educational culture, other groups were discussing the optimization of the accreditation process and the possibilities of recognizing credits at the research institutes. Subsequently, the results and the proposed solutions of the working groups were collected in the plenary and thus gave the participants the opportunity to get a comprehensive idea of the challenges and chances of joint degree programs.
The participants were enthralled by the structure and the contents of the conference. One of the Egyptian colleagues summed up his impressions as follows: "I expected a platform for exchanging experiences with colleagues from Germany and the Arab Region. This exceeded all my expectations. The conference gave tremendous impulses for quality development at the universities in the region”.
The participants and organizers of the DIES-Seminar
The seminar presentations are available here:
Saturday 28.1.2012
Introductory Note: Joint and double degree programmes in the global context
The role of joint degrees in developing higher education: Experiences in the UAE
Exchange on experiences with joint and double degrees: Possibilities, Hindrances and Motivation
Working Groups:
Experiences in designing and running international double degree programmes
Sunday 29.1.2012
Quality Assurance and Accreditation of joint or double degree programmes
Challenges in joint and double degrees – World Café
The World Café, which took place on the second day of the conference, was executed as follows:
The participants split into three groups. Each group was assigned to one topic and was moderated by one moderator who remained with the group for the entire time of the World Café. One expert per group gave an input in each group for about 10 minutes, the group then had another 40 minutes to discuss the input and further questions and points of interest. The results were visualized in a Power Point presentation.
After 50 minutes, the participants moved on to the next topic and the next round started with the moderator giving a brief summary of the discussions so far.
In the end, each participant had the chance to attend every discussion group.
Comparability and Recognition (Garden City Room)
The Accreditation Process (Citadel Room)
The Institutional Set-Up (Opera Room)
Also you can take a look at the DIES Seminar Programme and the list of participants.
A photo gallery is available here.
A report about the event will be available soon.
Stakeholder Involvement in the Process of Developing and Assessing Expected Learning Outcomes, 30th – 31st October 2010
A Regional Learning Seminar of ANQAHE and DAAD
In continuation of the productive and successful cooperation between the Arab Network for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ANQAHE) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in the field of Quality Assurance and Accreditation, ANQAHE and DAAD organized the second joint workshop under the title "Stakeholder Involvement in the Process of Developing and Assessing Expected Learning Outcomes” from 30th to 31st October 2010 in Cairo, Egypt.
The workshop’s objective was to bring together the Arab region’s key players in the field of quality assurance in higher education with European experts to discuss current challenges in quality assurance in higher education, to exchange information and create co-operatives or links between the European and Arab region in the field of quality assurance in higher education.
In association with this objective, the following topics of the program were tackled in the workshop sessions:
- Development and assessment of learning outcomes
- Interaction between internal and external actors
- Stakeholder involvement including student involvement in quality assurance and the needs of the labour market.
The participants and organizers of the DAAD-ANQAHE Workshop
You can download the presentations here:
Saturday 30.10.2010
Keynote Presentations
Session 1: Development of Learning Outcomes
Session 2: Assessment of Learning Outcomes
Session 3: Case Study
Session 4: Interaction among internal and external actors
Sunday, 31.10.2010
Session 5: Introduction on Stakeholder Involvement
- University and QA agencies: What are our experiences?
- Labour market: What do we need?
- Students: What do we expect?
Session 6: Stakeholder involvement: How can it be put into practice?
Session 7: Presentation of Working Group results
- Wrap Up and Closing
For photo Gallery click here
Report for Download
Joint workshop between DAAD and MoHE 1st of November 2010
As a result of a very fruitful cooperation between the Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), MoHE and DAAD organized the first joint workshop for Egyptian deans on 1st of November 2010 at Alexandria University.
The workshop’s main goal was to involve representatives of Egyptian universities actively in the process of quality assurance in higher education. Therefore, an introduction to the DAAD-DIES program was provided and outcomes of a previous workshop concerning "Stakeholder Involvement in the Process of Developing and Assessing Expected Learning Outcomes” were discussed. Subsequently a training session concerning "managing quality within the university (responsibilities of and challenges for a dean)” was held, followed by a working group session on "approaches to assess students' achievements according to expected learning outcomes”. The workshop represented a priority area for involved higher education institutions trying to get qualified for accreditation in the near future.
Participants were selected to reflect a cohort of active higher education institutions leaderships keeping into consideration equitable representation of all groups within the higher education sector, i.e. geographic distribution, gender, varied academic disciplines and young leaderships for a more sustainable impact for the workshop.
The Ministry of Higher Education is responsible for the development of the higher education sector policy in Egypt and ensuring its implementation among higher education institutions. The Ministry also reports to the public community about the higher education sector performance through the internationally employed indicators.
Due to the diverse variety of the participants and their high standard of contributions, it was widely agreed that such a format was very help- and fruitful. The need and whish for a similar event in 2011 was clearly expressed.
DAAD co-organized this event within its DIES (Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies) program. DIES aims to support higher education institutions and quality assurance agencies to enhance the quality and relevance of study programs. DIES has been jointly coordinated by the DAAD and the German Rector’s Conference (HRK).
The participants and organizers of the Dean’s Workshop
You can download the presentations here:
Studying in Germany (please find it here)
"Improving the Management of Quality Assurance in the Arab Region. Agencies and Universities Working Together.”: A Regional Learning Seminar of ANQAHE and DAAD. 17-19 October 2009
The main goal of this workshop is to bring together the Arab region’s key players in the field of quality assurance in higher education with European experts to discuss current challenges in quality assurance in higher education, to exchange information and create a cooperation or link between the European and Arab region in the field of quality assurance in higher education.Deriving from this objective, the following topics will be tackled in the workshop sessions:
- External and internal quality assurance systems for agencies
- Internal quality assurance systems in higher education institutes
- Experiences of the UNDP quality assurance project in the Arab region
You can download the program here.
You can download the presentations here:
Saturday 17.10.2099
Session 1: Opening Session
Session 2: The QA Process and the Management of QA Agencies
Session 3: Breakout Groups on Internal QA Processes and Management of QA Agencies
Session 4: Ecellent QA in Higher Education Institutions- Key Condition for Excellent QA System
Sunday 18.10.2009
Session 5: Breakout Groups on QA in HE Institutions and cooperation with QA Agencies - with experts
Session 6: Organizing Regional Cooperation for Effective and Internationally Credible Internal and External Evaluation of Study Programs
Session 7: How can the QA capacity created by the UNDP HE Project be used by QA Agencies and Universities in the Arab Region?
Session 8: From voluntary peer review to accreditation. The art of standard setting and process monitoring
- Plenary discussion
Session 9: How can Universities and QA Agencies cooperate more closely to enhance QA Processes in the Arab region?
Wrap Up and Closing
DIES-Workshop: "Proposal Writing for International Research Projects – Part II”, May 2008
The second part of the DIES-Training Course "Proposal Writing for International Research Projects” was held in Alexandria from the 27th of May to the 01st of June 2008. 24 DAAD alumni from Arabic countries (Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Sudan) who learnt already the basics of proposal writing during the first part of the trainings course in November 2007 participated in this follow up course.
Main objective of the second part of the training course was the participatory review of the proposals written and reworked by the participants on the basis of the evaluation criteria developed during the first part. Each participant presented his proposal in the plenum and was appraised by two reviewers. In this way the DAAD alumni got to know the real review process as well as they learnt from each other.
Additionally, the course emphasized on the deep and comprehensive knowledge and skills of proposal writing through focusing on project management, networking, funding and project monitoring and evaluation. Participants expressed their satisfaction about the workshop and their willingness to use learnt knowledge and skills in applying for research proposals afterwards. DIES parts I and II initiated a regional network among scholars and researchers from different disciplines.
DIES participants together with their trainers
DIES-Workshop: Intensive course on Proposal Writing for International Projects: Part I, November 2007
On the 9th of November 33 participants from Egypt and the region gathered in Alexandria to take part in the DIES Workshop. This workshop was held from the 9th – 14th of November and was part of the DIES (Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies) series of events prepared by DAAD and the German Rector’s Conference (HRF). The Workshop was organized by DAAD and the Center for Special Studies and Programs (CSSP) /Bibliotheca Alexandria in cooperation with the University of Kassel, the Free University of Berlin and the University of Potsdam.
The five-day workshop took place at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and was chaired by three trainers from Germany; Prof. Dr. Britta Schütt, Dr. Barbette Regierer and Dr. Siawuch Amini as well as Dr. Rasha Saraf from Egypt who shared their experiences in the field of proposal writing with the participants.
The main focus of the event was to improve personal and institutional abilities of university staff and researchers regarding preparation of effective research proposals and designs, the so called "proposal writing”. This included all aspects of proposals, like strategic thinking, system thinking, research cooperation, fund-raising, supervision, networking, etc. The workshop days were divided into group and plenary sessions during which the participants focused on how to define, redefine and improve their proposal based upon the information exchanged.
Enhancing Quality Across Borders - Regional Cooperation in Quality Assurance in Higher Education
The intensification of the transnational, regional cooperation regarding the quality assurance of study programs is becoming more and more important. This can be noticed against the background of the internationalization in the area of higher education and the globalization of the labour markets not only in Europe, but also in emerging- and developing countries.
A conference organized by the German Rectors' Conference and the German academic exchange service (DAAD) dealed with framework conditions and the practical realization of regional quality assurance programs. Experts from universities and international higher education organizations as well as representatives of the World Bank and the ministry of economic cooperation, students, entrepreneurs and unionists discussed with each other. The conference ended with a joint declaration of the participants which was addressed to the universities themselves, to ministries and regional coordination boards and international investors.
You can download the presentations here.
