1. What is E-le.G.A.N.T.S.?
The E-le.G.A.N.T.S. project aims to establish new skills in terms of technological
knowledge, training tools, knowledge sharing, networking, performing arts and the
ability to translate them into job opportunities in the higher education institutions of
three Western Balkan countries, aiming to develop a new digital readiness and change
the relationship between curricula, skills and performing events in a distant
perspective digital dimension. The project is in line with the Erasmus+ programme,
the main supporting component of the European Digital Education Action Plan 2021-
2027, and aims to improve the quality and inclusiveness of higher education systems
through the targeted and strategic delivery of e-skills, as they are crucial for personal
fullfilment, social cohesion, economic growth, and innovation.
2. Which countries and higher education institutions will benefit from E-le.G.A.N.T.S.?
The project focuses on three Western Balkan countries – Albania, Kosovo and
Montenegro – and their higher education institutions listed below:
- Shkodra University (Albania)
- University of Arts (Albania)
- University Haxhi Zeka (Kosovo)
- UBT (Kosovo)
- FAKULTETITI I ARTEVE (Kosovo)
- University of Montenegro
- Mediterranean University (Montenegro)
The project uses a joint initiative between these higher education institutions working
in the field of Performing arts, Multimedia and Digital arts to stimulate cooperation,
capacity building and exchange of good practice by improving the quality of higher
education in third countries not associated with the programme and increasing its
labour market relevance.
3. Why these countries?
One of the problems to be addressed in the three Western Balkan countries is the lack
of concrete actions to accompany the modernisation of higher education institutions
and support the employability of young people. The youth unemployment rate in the
Western Balkan countries was already high before the pandemic and stands at 26.5
per cent in Albania, 49.1 per cent in Kosovo and 36.0 per cent in Montenegro
according to 2020 data collected by the Platform for Employment and Social Affairs of
the Regional Cooperation Council and analysed in a report entitled “Study on Youth
Employment in the Western Balkans”. According to a study by the European Training
Foundation, the countries of the Western Balkans should accelerate the changes
needed to get back on the road to strengthening their economies and investing in
young people.
4. What are the specific objectives of E-le.G.A.N.T.S.?
The specific objectives of the project concern the role of higher education institutions
in the partner countries for economic and social development and their specific
capacities to link the academic world of culture and art, and research activities to the
labour market and civil society. The project focuses on three key aspects:
i. Develop digital readiness in partners’ HEIs restructuring training models and
contents.
ii. To prepare higher education students in Albania, Montenegro, and Kosovo to
enhance effectively their (self) employability and the capacity to access the
Creative Economy.
iii. Develop skills to tackle future employment perspectives and build
international aggregated answers through a digital transformation, that, by
definition, is borderless
iv. and asks to work globally.
5. What are the aims of the project?
The project aims to increase the employment rate by 3% of the total student
population in the performing arts, bearing in mind that the new skills will position
students in a market segment requiring increasingly advanced qualifications. In this
sense, the skills produced by the project will make it possible to develop new offers in
the digital world, to invent new ways of creating and connecting with the public, to
open up new avenues of development (live, streaming and other video recording
models, etc.) and new perspectives in the field of creation (digital art platforms, works
specially curated for the online environment, etc.). Also, the project meets the
expectations of universities in the partner countries as a great opportunity to
reorganise their business areas and strengthen the links between education, research
and business by collaboratively reviewing relations with companies and business
organizations at the national/regional level. The participation of the various university
institutions guarantees the formation of alliances for the birth of a supportive
ecosystem favorable to the transfer of knowledge and technology, attentive to
territorial instances of sustainable growth and the issue of social inclusion
6. Does the project have any specific care for a certain group of students?
In the youth labour market of the three Western Balkan countries there is a worrying
gender gap: in 2020, the gap between the level of female and male employment
amounted to an average of about 10 percentage points, compared to 4.5% in the
European Union. In this scenario, the project is designed to support educators in facing
the challenges, helping them to transform their teaching methods into innovative and
inclusive spaces with a special focus on women. The Commission on Women’s Rights
and Gender Equality (REPORT A-7-2013-0136) notes with concern that employment
rates for women in the Western Balkan candidate countries remain very low, stressing
that supporting equal opportunities policies is important for economic and social
development and calling on governments to introduce measures to reduce the gender
pay gap and to take steps to tackle high unemployment, establish a legal framework
for equal pay for equal work for both sexes, help women to reconcile private and
professional life, ensure better working conditions, lifelong learning, flexible working
hours and also create an environment to stimulate female entrepreneurship