The critical role of universities in socio-economic development is nowadays widely recognised. Enhancing linkages and cross-fertilisation between Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and their business environment in the interest of employability of graduates and sustainable and inclusive growth is high on the agenda of policy-makers around the globe and a relevant target under the current Europe 2020 Strategy and its Flagships Initiatives. In this vein, Agora Institute enhances university-business cooperation through SMART, a project co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Programme that facilitates the transfer of good practices from the EU to Indonesia. Thanks to this ambitious project, Agora Institute has implemented one of the largest studies into cooperation between Indonesian HEIs and business yet completed, which has provided the basis for the three intensive trainings to be implemented throughout the project. Implemented and developed by Agora Institute, the University of Bologna, and the University of Turku, the first successful training on entrepreneurship was held from 6-8 October 2020 and counted on the active presence of experts from different European universities. The first training targeted different groups such as academic staff and local enterprises and was attended by more than 50 participants from Indonesia and Europe. Moreover, the event provided a forum for the participants to learn and discuss various aspects of entrepreneurship such as strategies, university’s third mission, entrepreneurial training and scouting programmes, and entrepreneurial ecosystems, networks and collaborations. The three-day training workshop constituted an excellent opportunity for an in-depth exchange of practices and valuable experiences Europe/Indonesia.

IP Capacities for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in the MEDiterranean Region (IPMED) has been successfully running for a year now, giving rise to a unique study on IPR in Mediterranean MSMEs conducted by Agora Institute and completed by more than 270 companies and organisations from Jordan, Tunisia, Greece, and Italy. Within the ENI CBC Med framework, the largest Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) initiative implemented by the EU under the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI), IPMED aims at building intellectual property capacities and entrepreneurship in the Mediterranean area by helping local authorities understand how they can better support entrepreneurs in accessing, using, and optimizing the growth potential of IPR, and enhancing the IPR of young entrepreneurs.

Thank you to all partners and participating MSMEs for their support and fruitful cooperation during the study!

For more information about IpMed, please visit the promotional video

The EU co-funded project SMART was launched online on 24-25 June, 2020. Participants in the event included official delegates from 9 Indonesian and European universities, including representatives from Agora Institute.

The kick-off meeting was held in an extremely productive and harmonious atmosphere since representatives of all project partners from Indonesia, Finland, Italy and Spain presented the work packages and objectives of the project, discussed activities of the first project year, and made different constructive suggestions.

SMART aims at enhancing university-business cooperation at Indonesian HEIs to help them identify opportunities for development, generate research-based knowledge, and contribute to the on-going education in the field.

On June 17-18, 2020, the University of Genoa and Agora Institute co-chaired the kick-off meeting of the Merge project. The successful meeting was held online and gathered all consortium partners: Università degli Studi di Genoa, Agora Institute, Universitatea Lucian Blaga din Sibiu, Anna University, Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Mid – Westerns University, Tribhuvan University, Kabul University and Nangarhar University.

The two-day meeting was properly organized according to the schedule proposed by Angelo Musaio (Project Coordinator and head of the International Cooperation Office at the University of Genoa): presentation of each partner, work packages, objectives, responsibilities and key dates. The meeting was an excellent opportunity for the consortium to get to know each other, discuss the implementation of the project, and clarify questions on the impact of COVID-19 on its development.

The main objective of Merge is to improve internationalisation practices through strengthening institutional capacity in south Asian higher education institutions on a regional level.

The EU-funded project IPMED – Intellectual Properties Capacities for Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth in the Mediterranean Region- was officially launched on 10 of February 2020 in Amman, Jordan under the premises of the Jordan Enterprise Development Corporation (JEDCO). In addition to the project partners, The event counted with the participation of several IP and innovation stakeholders in Jordan, the  ENI CBC Med Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office representatives and the head of the European Union Delegation, Ms.Maria Hadjitheodosiou. IPMED  project will  contribute to the innovation potential of Mediterranean start-ups, young and women entrepreneurs through enhancement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) support and capacities and  more specifically the action will aim  to strengthen IP related knowledge and awareness of start-ups, youth and women entrepreneurs,to set up/upgrade specialised IP support services and to improve the capacities of public authorities and innovation brokers in the Mediterranean basin.The consortium will be composed by the Enterprise Development Corporation – Jordan ,Thessaloniki Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Greece ,FILSE Financial Agency of Liguria Region-Italy , the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tunis-Tunisia and Agora institute who will play a key role in the project capacity building programme targeting the Mediterranean MSMEs.

The Spire project has organised it’s first regional  conference aimed at strengthening the ASEAN local innovation ecosystem in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 28-29 November 2019. A total of 120 people from 9 countries around the world, namely: Malaysia, Indonesia, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Philippines and Thailand participated in the above conference.  The conference, themed “IP exploitation creativity”, provided a platform to interlink and enhance IP exploitation innovation and creativity knowledge in the arena of research, innovation and commercialisation. In particular, the conference contributed to strengthen knowledge and skills among IP Managers in Institutions of Higher Learning (IPT) towards providing comprehensive IP management services; to empower IP Management Units in providing efficient IP management services to industry and community and to establish a network of IP managers in the ASEAN region  as a reference point for all IP exploitation efforts. Spire is a capacity building project funded under the EU Programme Erasmus plus. 

Agora Institute participated in the  EQASA final conference held on 21 and 22 February 2020 in Chennai, India. Hosted by the Anna University, the event welcomed over 70 participants including directors of university centres, professors, students, and other stakeholders such as faculty deans and experts from India, Afghanistan, Nepal, Greece, Italy, Spain and UK .Within two days, speakers from 10 different institutions lectured about Quality Assurance in Higher Education Institutions, presented their final case studies and strategic plans, and analyzed the impact of the project on each partner University.

This conference closes a 3-year Erasmus plus project aimed at supporting sustainable socio-economic growth in South Asia by strengthening institutional capacity in HEIs and enhancing the culture of QA.

Agora institute has organized a successful training workshop on quality assurance strategic planning on 14-15 November at Battambang University Cambodia within the frame of the Erasmus plus funded project SICA. The purpose of the workshop was to introduce the participants to strategic planning processes and to coach Cambodian universities working groups during the development of  their strategic plans. The training workshop has been attended by up to 25 trainees from 6 Cambodian universities’ and the national quality agency.

The Meeting of the Steering Committee of HR4ASIA  project was hosted by Agora Institute in Alicante-Spain on 26 & 27 March  2019 with the participation of all the project representatives from South East Asia. During the meeting, the results of six month’s work of the HR working Groups were presented, as well as the prospects for further development of the project.

Project Beneficiaries also provided their feedback on the work of the Project and defined priorities for the work in 2019.

PSC members unanimously accepted the Report on the activities implemented in the 2018, and the Plan of Actions. The next meeting of the Steering Committee of the HR4ASIA will be held in In Vietnam in  October 2019.

The Eqasa project regional conference  on  Quality Assurance in South Asian Higher Education was held at BAMU University, Augurabad – India on 2-4 March 2019 .The conference aimed to provide current information on strengthening internal quality assurance toward international recognition for academics, practitioners, and policy makers as well as stakeholders. Moreover, the event provided a forum to stimulate idea, share good practices , evidences and lesson learned among participants form India and Europe.  This Event was implemented as a part of the Erasmus+ Capacity building  project  EQASA – Enhancing quality assurance in South Asia HEIs, aiming  at supporting sustainable socio-economic growth in South Asia by strengthening institutional capacity in HEIs and enhancing the culture of QA.

Agora Institute has participated in the successful training workshop on study programme assessment and accreditation held from 17-21 December 2018 in Kathmandu, Nepal. The purpose of this EQASA project training workshop was to share quality assurance practices and analyze the differences in accreditation processes between HEIs in Europe and South Asia. Moreover, the event provided a forum for the participants to learn about curriculum design, learning outcomes, quality culture and quality assurance mechanisms at HEIs. Throughout the five-day training workshop, each university had the opportunity to present self-implemented activities, quality assurance processes and strategic plans.

Agora Institute has joined the  regional conference on ‘Human Resources Management in Higher Education’ held  in Bangkok, Thailand on 26 October 2018. This ASEAN  conference was a unique juncture for HR professionals and people managers in Asian and Europe  to debate on HR function in HE as well as a  platform to  exchange  ideas and good practices on HRM. More than one hundred participants from the Asean has joined this event.  The main  topic addressed  was:  HR strategies and policies, Recruitment and retention and Workforce planning in Universities.

Agora Institute participated in the SICA Kick Off Meeting held on 7  & 8 of  June 2018 in Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Delegates from 6 Cambodian universities and 3 European universities from Romania, Lithuania and Sweden met to celebrate the Kick Off Meeting of the this new Cambodian national wide initiative. SICA project is part of the  Capacity Building Higher Education initiative, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and coordinated by the Royal University of Phnom Penh .

The new action  proposes a sound scheme of activities and capacity building  actions to contribute to Cambodian Higher Education Vision 2030 through the improvement of internal Quality Assurance in Cambodian universities and the promotion of quality assurance culture in Cambodian Higher education system.

Agora Institute has joined Hub4Growth project regional conference held  in Danang, Vietnam on 6 & 7 October 2017 . The event  aimed to bring together participants from academia, business, and other stakeholders who are interested in the interplay between education and economic development to develop solutions for new challenges in university-business cooperation between Asian universities .The conference allowed meaningful exchange and discussion among universities and businesses regarding useful and practical solutions for the university-enterprise cooperation development  with the aim of enhancing student employability, entrepreneurship  and career outcomes.

Agora Institute participated at the Strategic IP Management for Effective R&I in Asian Higher Education(SPIRE project) kick off meeting held from May 10th to May 13th, 2017 at , Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
In addition to Agora representative, total of 24 participants from 11 universities attended the meeting where they planned and discussed the SPIRE Project objectives and workplan.
This new ASEAN initiative is part of the Capacity Building Higher Education initiative, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and coordinated by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
SPIRE project overall objective is contributing to the effectiveness of R&I management at the PC HEIs by enhancing IP capacities in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.

Agora Institute participated at the kick-off meeting of the Hub4Growth project held in Hanoi  on September 19-21 The meeting gathered all project representatives from Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal ,Mongolia, UK and Lithuania and was focused on the exchange of information and experiences about university-enterprise cooperation at the partner Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The meeting facilitated a lively  debate about how to deal with this relevant issue for the advancement of HEIs in Asia in the upcoming years as well as the implementation of the project action plan for the next three years.

Agora Institute participated in the launch ceremony of the MED-HEALTH initiative held on 25 &26 February 2016 in Amman (Jordan). Representatives of 13 Universities and NGOs from Palestine, Tunisia, Jordan, Spain and UK joined this important event to formalise the alliance and to plan the implementation of this innovative regional initiative. The overall objective of MED-HEALTH is building up South Mediterranean HEIs’ competences in the field of Public Health to improve public health performance, employment & development perspectives in the region.The action is part of the Capacity Building Higher Education initiative, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.