Latest News/ Meeting Reports
Below you can find reports on the latest MVU meetings and Partner visits.
3rd MVU partners meeting,
Sabanci University – Istanbul
12-13th September 2005
MVU’s 3rd meeting was held at the Elite Hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. All partners attended the meeting with the exception of IUG, who were greatly missed for the second time.
This meeting focused on progress-to-date and further development required. Those covered updates on:
- Deliverables, schedule, tenders and budget.
- Content development and a pilot module delivery schedule.
- Enrolments and the online tutoring course
Progress and further feedback on the issues of:
- The business plan.
- The MVU online registration system.
- Publicity and dissemination.
The Steering Group held 2 meetings at the beginning and the end of the 2 day event.
The MVU team said goodbye to Niall Sclater, the project director (considered by many the Godfather of MVU!) and extended their wishes of a successful future for him in his new post at the Open University.
Partner Visits (March-May 2005)
A series of visits to all partners was planned and is still taking place. The visits to the individual institutions were organised to discuss issues related to many aspects of admin, PR and marketing with a futuristic projection of what MVU will emerge to be at the end of the funding period.
From the Strathclyde team, Niall & Sana had the opportunity to meet staff from Registration departments, Student Affairs or public relations, Faculty staff and Deans of faculties and at times Presidents and Vice Presidents.
The discussions were extremely beneficial to the project development and the sessions brought us closer to our partners.
From Accreditation and Credit transfer systems to addressing the need for developing an MVU mini registration system to planning a work schedule to keep the students well informed of developments, moving onto the future and exploring the possibilities of self sustainability. All sessions were dynamic and all suggestions were noted. The team is now in the process of translating all steps into action while continuing to visit the other partners for more input and cooperation.
See pictures of Partner Visits
1st MVU Partners Meeting
Amman, Jordan
20th-21st September 2004
The first MVU meeting was held at Amra Hotel, Amman, Jordan. Representatives from 10 partner institutions attended the meeting and met each other for the first time.
This was the project’s kick off launch-pad where many basic issues and essential mechanisms were discussed: From roles division to decision making and communication strategy, from marketing and potential expansion to LMS and pedagogical matters.
In many ways, this meeting represented the foundation stone for this unique project.
The partners who chose to take the opportunity of discovering one of the most impressive historical locations on earth, Petra, managed also to get to know each other better and enjoy mankind’s pre technology era.
Our host partner, JUST University staff have organised a huge media campaign where the meeting was awarded full coverage by TV, Radio and the Press. All available on our website’s press reports page.
EUMEDIS Conference
Dead Sea, Jordan
17th-18th April 2005
The Dead Sea Resort, Jordan, played host to the inaugural EUMEDIS International Conference on 17-18 April. Almost 300 participants from across Europe and the southern Mediterranean took part in the Conference which had as its focus the subject of “Closing the Digital Gap in the Mediterranean Region”.
Organised by the EUMEDIS MDP team, with the collaboration of the EUMEDIS Desk at the European Commission’s EuropeAid Co-operation Office and the European Commission Delegations in Cairo and Amman, the Conference provided the opportunity to assess the dissemination of project results and for the 22 Pilot Projects to exchange experiences and best practices after four years of sustained activities. All Pilot Project’s were represented in Jordan, each presenting a stand in the atrium of the Conference venue, facilitating an exposition of their projects and an opportunity for some to meet EUMEDIS colleagues face-to-face for the first time.
The MVU Project was represented by Niall Sclater and Bruce Durie (Strathclyde), Prof Abdel Wahab (Ain Shams), George Papadopoulos (Cyprus) and Omar Al-Jarrah, Taisir Eldos, Basel Mahafzah, Amer Baderneh (JUST).
This was a great opportunity to meet and discuss with other project teams and look at futher collaborations.
Show and Tell Workshop
Sabanci University, Istanbul
19th-20th April 2005
This workshop was a chance for all partners to come together to show and talk about the courses they have been developing for the last few months.
General comments
All the presentations were well received and stimulated significant discussion. All developers were able to draw inspiration for the different approaches adopted by their colleagues in different institutions
The presentations demonstrated that the partners have made considerable progress in developing content for their online courses. Almost all partners have made use of the Moodle environment for delivering the courses and some have made significant use of the various features of the environment.
Jim Everett will be contacting individual development teams with more detailed feedback. Partners will also be asked to provide details of their workplans for the weeks leading up to the deadline for completing their first two courses, August 15 (August 31 for partners not able to attend the Aalborg Workshop in December 04)
Not only was the workshop itself successful but the evening meals and trips were also enjoyed by all.
The evening of the 19th saw us all heading off on a Bosphorus mini cruise, a visit to the Blue Mosque finsihing off with a lovely meal in the old Istanbul, Hagia Sophia area. The evening of the 20th was a little more relaxed affair with another lovely meal in the residentail area of Istanbul.
Next on the agenda regarding MVU courses is a Tutor's workshop in Cyprus at the end of June 2005.
2nd MVU Partners Meeting
Ain Shams University, Cairo
31st January- 1st February 2005
MVU’s 2 nd meeting was held at the ‘Hospitality Centre’ of AinShams University in Cairo, Egypt. Representatives from 11 partner institutions attended the meeting.
Our partners in the Islamic University of Gaza were greatly missed for the closure of Gaza borders prevented them from joining us.
All participants welcomed our new partners from the American University of Beirut ( Lebanon) and the Institute for Development Studies ( Palestine) into the MVU team.
The meeting discussed issues related to
- Infrastructure (learning labs requirements, Video conference..etc)
- Organisational matters: Updates and Progress Summary, Budgets, Schedule, EU matters ..etc
- Course development approach & delivery.
- Marketing, promotion and MVU future plan.
After many presentations, group discussions and one-to-one meetings, participants still managed to enjoy tours of some of Cairo’s landmarks, dinner on a Nile cruise and Khan ElKhalili nights.
“ To say that we were treated like kings would not be enough. Thank you Ain Shams.”
One partner’s comment, that represents what many others have said about our host.
The 3rd MVU meeting will be held in Istanbul, to be hosted by Sabanci University on the 12th – 13th September 2005.
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