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15INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION VIA ERASMUS+ PROJECTS: THE CASE OF TALENT PROJECT
Smagina O., Asadova Sh., Inoyatova S., Yakubova Yu.
Abstract: Internationalization of higher education activities is initiated all over the world with the support of the projects, grants, involvement of public and private organisations. The process is quite strategic and involves multiple stakeholders and agents. There is still an operational routine and experience which implement the requirements and fulfill the objectives of the projects.
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the experience and dissemination of the best practices as well as challenges of the Erasmus+ TALENT capacity building project, which was implemented at the Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) postgraduate programme.
This article includes the discussion about the market needs analysis, design of the master programme, mobility and the professional development programme for the academic staff members, validation of the programme, challenges of the project implementation and the master programme promotion and launch during the pandemic, the process of internal quality audit. Also, the paper provides recommendations for future project development and implementation.
Keywords: capacity building project, programme design, market research, pandemic time, mobility, HRM and talent development.
ERASMUS+ И ИНТЕРНАЦИОНАЛИЗАЦИЯ ВЫСШЕГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ: КЕЙС ПРОЕКТА TALENT
Смагина О., Асадова Ш., Иноятова С., Юкубова Ю.
Аннотация: Интернационализация деятельности высшего образования происходит во всем мире при поддержке проектов, грантов, привлечении государственных и частных организаций. Этот процесс является стратегическим и включает в себя множество заинтересованных сторон. В осуществлении проектов необходима операционная тактика и опыт, которые помогают реализовать требования и выполнить цели проектов.
Цель этой статьи - продемонстрировать и распространить опыт, а также проблемы проектов по наращиванию потенциала Erasmus+ на примере проекта TALENT, осуществляемого в программе магистерского образования Международного Вестминстерского Университета в Ташкенте (МВУТ).
Эта статья включает в себя анализ потребностей рынка, обсуждение разработки магистратуры, программы профессионального развития для преподавателей и мобильность, контроль качества, проблемы осуществления проекта, а также продвижения и запуска курса во время пандемии, процесс
внутреннего аудита проекта. Кроме того, в документе представлены рекомендации для будущей разработки и реализации проектов.
Ключевые слова: проект по наращиванию потенциала, разработка программы, исследование рынка, пандемия, мобильность, управление персоналом и развитие талантов.
Introduction
The Strategy of Actions of the Republic of Uzbekistan manifested time for educational reforms and innovative approaches to social development of the country. Higher education is one of the cornerstones and it is accountable for the development of future generations. To implement the changes and design the relevant and right programmes, higher educational institutions need collaboration with partners from Central Asia (CA) and European Union (EU) within the framework of Erasmus + projects to widen the outlook for the international best practices and cultivate innovation. The capacity building projects provide opportunities for transnational projects that allow to modernize the educational system, develop curriculum, and reinforce the relationship between the economic and educational environment (European Commission, 2022).
Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) became a partner university for the TALENT Erasmus + project to establish a new master programme in Human Resource Management and Talent Development in collaboration with four EU universities and six Central Asian universities.
The main goal of the project was to create an accredited two-year TALENT master programmes in human resources management in six universities in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The duration of the project was initially three years but due to a pandemic it was prolonged for one more year, and it is about to finish in October 2022.
Setting the scene for the curriculum development and project
According to the World Economic Forum's Center for the New Economy and Society (2018), there is a projected change in professions, and workforce transformation is not a matter of the distant future. Along with trends in Artificial Intelligence, digitalization, automatization, the roles that "leverage the human skills" such as Training and Development, People and Culture, and Organizational Development specialists are projected to grow. The Human Resource profession has a promising outlook.
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the function that is to align the human resource management strategy with business strategy and function as employees champion, administrative expert, change agent and business partner as
commented by HRM guru David Ulrich (Kuipers, 2017). Human resource management and talent development has been accentuated on the governmental level of Uzbekistan. A regulatory framework has been adapted to enhance management of human resources in governmental organisations (resourcing, professional development, performance evaluation of human resources and management of organisations). Uzbek Presidential Decree № YH-4947 set the stage for the Strategy of Action of Uzbekistan's development in 2017-2021 that seeks to bolster state and public development and as commented by the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the United Nations (2017), special measures are planned to create a broad range of opportunities for upgrading skills, training at leading international companies and organizations and engaging in mutually beneficial cooperation with them.
Currently the human resource management at Uzbek companies is still implemented in the views of traditional personnel management. However, "during the last 5-7 years in Uzbekistan we are observing that the perception about the role of Human Resources is beginning to change" (AmCham Uzbekistan, 2018). The labour market is becoming more competitive and international, organisations are having to adapt and develop their practices to fit to these changes, the regulatory frameworks are being upgraded to international standards, all these changes require changes in the professional support that HR had traditionally provided. The European Union recognised this need and through the Erasmus program agreed to fund a collaborative project with a group for Central Asian Universities to develop a postgraduate program in HRM.
Market Needs Analysis
To analyze the Uzbek market and identify the demand for the HR profession, WIUT conducted market research that included round table discussions, interviews with HR managers and online questionnaires among employers. Respondents specified that currently there is a shortage of HR specialists and managers in the Uzbek market. Employers indicated that the proposed program has a good potential, and the HR profession is in demand in the Central Asian region. The initiative to open the postgraduate course at WIUT has been fully supported by the respondents due to the lack of appropriate course availability at the local and international universities of Uzbekistan.
Project Objectives
TALENT project objectives have had a focus on the development, dissemination and sustainability. The summary of "development" objectives of the project are:
1. To upgrade the skills of the teachers from CA universities in the HRM related courses in terms of HRM research and practice and develop comparative
courses. The partners were to develop syllabi and introductory texts to their courses.
2. To establish 6 accredited master programmes in HRM and Talent Development field. At WIUT the master programme is designed to prepare professionals for a career in the field of Human Resource Management [HRM] and Talent Development. Graduates will become proficient in enabling an organisation to align and develop its HRM policies, procedures, and practices to the strategy of the organisation. They will also explore the acquisition, development and sustainability of the Talent within the organisation.
3. To make an informal network of EU and CA teachers so that CA teachers delivering similar courses will cooperate in the workgroups and HRM workshops with the EU teachers.
The dissemination and sustainability objectives are:
1. To facilitate the interest of the public and inform potential students via the project website illustrating case studies and activities.
2. To raise awareness of trade unions, employers, and public organisations on the master programme in HRM and talent development.
3. To guarantee the sustainability of each master programme. Each CA university was to prepare a business plan for its HRM master programme.
TALENT project experience before pandemic: Course Development
The partners of the TALENT project designed the curriculum and went through the professional development training with EU coaches. The main responsibility for the EU partners has been to guide development and to monitor the academic quality of the courses. Each EU partner has been specifically responsible for the guidance of two courses in each of the CA universities. The programme of the master course covers specific HRM related courses, supportive and contextual subjects as well as master thesis component.
In conformity with the project requirements and for the sake of developing a common and transparent structure of the master programme the four specific courses (Strategic, Organisational, Regulatory and HR Practice) were developed in the first year of the project. Such a transparent structure produced comparable master programmes in the six CA universities facilitating future exchanges of teachers and students between the universities. The specific courses included the study of the following areas:
1. Strategic aspects
Corporate strategy and strategic HR management (i.e. positioning of organisations; societal importance of HRM), corporate culture; ethics, corporate
accountability; business and corporate strategy; organizational performance; leadership/management styles as they relate to corporate strategy;
2. Organisational issues
Actions in organisations; learning processes of organisations: career/professional development; internal labour market; relation to the external labour market; positions, perceptions, interests, power relationships; organisational change; leadership styles; coaching/mentoring procedures; team building; retention policy; competence management.
3. Regulatory framework
Application of national laws and regulations within the framework of employment relationship; employee representatives; employee engagement, participation and voice; individual and collective dispute resolution; comparative analysis of international and national regulatory approaches.
4. HR practices
Job and competency analysis, job design, recruitment and selection; employer branding and employee value proposition, engagement and retention practice; performance management and appraisal; job evaluation, compensation and benefits management; training and development; coaching and mentoring procedures; stress and wellbeing; redundancy support.
During the general meetings, partners from CA presented the curriculum and discussed the specific, contextual, and supportive courses within the HRM programme. The programme learning outcomes and proposed graduate attributes have been generated and discussed during the meetings of the consortium. The focus of the programme was determined as a blend of theoretically informed and practical approach backed up by work-based learning, research in HRM and Talent development field, looking into the trends globally and locally.
As a part of professional development, TALENT project academic staff took part in mobility to EU universities in February 2020. The aim of the mobility was to work on the design of course reader materials for the syllabus generated by the partner universities. WIUT project team acted as team leaders for each work group of Central Asian partners of the project. WIUT teachers coordinated the activities of the work group starting from syllabus design with the focus on design of the course materials i.e., course readers. The mobility was organized in the following pattern:
Work group 1 "Strategic aspects" visited Athens University of Economics and Business. The aim was to develop course readers for two modules, namely: Strategic Aspects for HR Managers and Comparative Human Resource Management, as well as to undergo a series of seminars for development purposes.
There was a planned visit to one of the biggest banks of Athens - Piraeus Bank, where representatives of the bank presented and shared based practices of the bank's HRM system.
Work group 2 "Organisational Issues" visited the Otto von Guericke University (OvG) Magdeburg. The workgroup participated in a series of seminars on topics such as Human Resource Management in OvG, Visit and Talks at Volkswagen and HRM in the rural district of Stendal. The course readers for Organisational Behaviour and Leadership as well as Work, Organisations and Society were developed.
Work group 3 "Regulatory aspects" had professional development to Sofiya, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology (IPS) at Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The team completed a training program and drafted course readers on Labor Law and Employee Relations. The team attended several professional development seminars on Employment Relations with representatives of Bulgarian Trade Unions.
Work group 4 "HR Practices" participated in the seminars at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and worked on the design of course readers for Applied HRM and Talent Management courses. There was a series of seminars about the structure and functioning of the department - People and Organization (Mens en Organisatie) of Vrije Universiteit Brussel by Director Raf Devos and Recruitment and Selection by Roland Pepermans.
As a result of the project team mobility, there was a tangible progress on the design of the course readers. Additionally, certificates were awarded to members of the work group by EU coaches for successful termination of this stage of the course development. The participants of the mobility noted that group work and discussions, lectures from EU professors, field trips motivated them for professional development with a desire to implement the activities in the home counties passing the best practices, research and opportunities to students and peers.
TALENT project activities during pandemic time
Among the main challenges during the project implementation was the Coronavirus Pandemic of 2020, and the main challenge is that the task execution took place without face-to face meetings considering the obstacles to mobilities inside the country and between the partner countries, price increase for equipment and difficulty in transportation and logistics.
In March 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic situation, the TALENT project team at WIUT had to work on the project activities online. WIUT TALENT project team had to participate in two-days meeting with EU coaches virtually via Skype. WIUT team leaders reported on the improvement in the course readers of
each specific work group. EU coaches provided their feedback on the progress. At the end of the virtual meeting, EU coaches and team leaders have mapped a course of actions for further course development.
The team spirit and the bonds that have been established during the one-and-a-half-year project implementation could help to get through the pandemic period. Zoom and MS Teams sessions were held to meet online, discuss, and meet the tasks and deadlines.
As part of the project activities, the business plan and the sustainability of the programme is of a great focus for the partners and stakeholders. The TALENT project team worked out the business and the promotion plan identifying the propositions to offer the master programme to the target audience who want to pursue the career in HRM and talent development field. Below is the example of a unique proposition identified for the master programme at WIUT.
Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) is the first university to provide international accredited degrees in Uzbekistan. WIUT has blended the traditions and standards of British education with culture and environment of Central Asia, and it has been the first university to provide high quality, relevant and at the same time affordable international education in the region.
• WIUT has a stable brand image as the best university among international universities of Uzbekistan. WIUT provides international diplomas which are recognized worldwide. Since WIUT has a direct relationship with their partner University of Westminster (London), their relationship is more open.
• WIUT has a friendly environment. Students actively organize different clubs, events and activities. The atmosphere is so friendly that students prefer to stay in university till the evening.
• WIUT has a comprehensive Learning Resource Centre with a wide range of materials both hard copy and electronic. The Learning Resource Centre has been developed over the last 16 years and has been redesigned a number of times to reflect the changes in the needs and environment for students. It is a contemporary open access environment focusing on the independent learning of students. It has a range of services including a comprehensive student/staff training programme in a range of learning materials, databases, research software and related services.
• MA HRM and Talent Development course focus on employ ability. The expertise and skills developed during the course can be applied to almost any organisation in any sector. It's a versatile qualification for dealing with talent resourcing, people management, training, development, and general people skills.
• MA in HRM and Talent Development is the 6th postgraduate course that has been opened at WIUT and it has a distinct feature that was done in collaboration with Erasmus + TALENT project partners.
Despite the pandemic, MA in HRM and Talent Development programme started on time at WIUT. MA in HRM and Talent Development was validated in 2019 with the aim of starting delivery in September 2020. WIUT TALENT project team together with the Marketing department have developed a promotion strategy to recruit students for the master programme. It was a major challenge to organize the promotion of the programme at the peak of pandemic. There was an active use of social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram) pages and advertisements, University website (http://www.wiut.uz/ma-hrmatd), news channels, open days, and presentations. Video about the program was created and it is available on Youtube, the University website and social media (https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=7qHsbCscphg). WIUT marketing team also used -MasterStudies.com and FreeApply.com channels for the promotion purposes. There was also an article about studying at WIUT and Uzbekistan at the MasterStudies.com website.
WIUT launched the MA in HRM and Talent Development programme under the School of Business and Economics, department of Management and Marketing. The department employs a diverse group of academics who can teach a range of modules outlined in the programme. The existing recruitment and selection process ensures to hire the qualified academics with both teaching and industry experience.
In March 2022, there was a planned internal quality audit by the EU partners, which yielded very positive feedback pertaining to the course delivery and project implementation. There were rounds of interviews and focus group discussions with the WIUT administration and teaching staff, Admission office, Career Center, and Learning Resource Center. The partners explored the internal procedures set to sustain the further development and delivery of the programme.
The TALENT project partners also interviewed the master's degree programme's academic staff and students on their feedback and progress in the course. The results of the internal quality audit shall be sent to the European Union (EU) commission on the project implementation status at WIUT. The partners have had positive impressions on the WIUT teaching and learning environment. They commented that WIUT Master's Degree programme meets the TALENT project goals and objectives.
As part of the quality assurance process, the university organizes course committee meetings so that students could provide feedback on teaching and learning as well administrative aspects at the course and university. The students provided positive and encouraging feedback to the programme. Below is the example of two modules: 1) Organizational Behaviour and Leadership and 2) Managing Talent and HRM:
"Lectures in Organizational Behaviour and Leadership are very interesting dynamic and informative. The subject itself is very interesting."
"Managing Talent and HRM practice is very useful at work (for future HR managers) from first lectures, interesting topics and tasks, very detailed and deep knowledge is given in this subject. All information is provided fully, with detailed explanations and examples. The topics are explained clearly."
Best practices of the project
- It is essential to conduct good quality market research and stakeholder analysis and consider the trends prior to the programme launch.
- Capacity building project helped to disseminate the EU best practices and consolidate resources for the programme implementation. The curriculum reflects the international experience of the project team.
- The programme aims and learning outcomes are articulated, teaching, learning and assessment are aligned with the learning outcomes.
- Programme design and curriculum development need to be driven considering the insights from employers, partners and potential students
- Promotion of the course is to be planned and implemented taking into the target audience. Social media, short videos, open days, and master classes are practiced in this case.
- Partner network and cooperative culture is vital in implementation of the project. Therefore, team building events are needed.
Recommendations
1. It is important to consider the needs of the partner universities in the curriculum development. The HRM and Talent Development curriculum and material could be enriched with the visits and exploration of the assessment centers which is essential for talent resourcing and talent development.
2. The continuous professional development and life-long learning are mandatory. Professional certification courses in HRM and Talent Development could foster the upgrading of the teachers and image of the master programmes. The contact with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development could take place.
3. Flexibility and agility are necessary in the project activities (i.e. equipment quantity and quality, process of purchase during the force major cases such as pandemic).
4. There were some informal misunderstandings due to unequal rates in staff payment rates for participant countries.
5. The project team could establish detailed written guidance providing clear information on technicalities such as the specific budget allocation for conference
fees, travel and stay costs considering inflation, hospitality fees such as coffee breaks, publication fee costs.
References
1. Official website of the President of Uzbekistan. (2022). National Action Strategy for Five Priority Development Areas in 2017-2021. Available from https://president.uz/en/pages/view/ strategy?menu_id=144
2. European Commission website. (2022). Capacity building (higher education). https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/opportunities/organisations/coope-ration-among-organisations-and-institutions/capacity-building-higher-education
3. World Economic Forum. (2018). The Future of Jobs Report. Available from https://www3.weforum. org/docs/WEF_Future_of_Jobs_2018.pdf
4. The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Uzbekistan to the United Nations. Practical measures taken by the Government of Uzbekistan to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Available from https://www.un.int/ uzbekistan/fr/news/practical-measures-taken-government-uzbekistan-implement-2030-agenda-sustainable-development
5. Kuipers, B.S. (2017). Does alignment matter? The performance implications of HR roles connected to organizational strategy. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 28 (22). pp 3179-3201. Available from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09585192.2016.1155162
