Category: News

The project consortium met online on 19^th of May 2020, to discuss the latest and upcoming activities within MOBI-US, as well as to follow-up the current activities from the partners. The monthly e-meeting has the purpose of keeping track of the workplan, and to discuss the work packages and the project’s timeline.

The current activities, as mentioned in the previous blog posts, comprise the development of the guideline documentation – by the mentoring partners – for the appropriate matchmaking process; and the compilation of the education programs, in English, that are going to be offered in MOBI-US – by the networking institutions. These activities are in advanced state and will be finished on time. Once available, these materials will be shared among the participants of the First Matchmaking Workshop.

Due to the current COVID-19 situation, the First Matchmaking Workshop will be split in two parts: 1) Online; and 2) In person. The online workshop will be held in late June/early July, which will be joined by the project consortium and, mainly, the education programs representatives of the networking universities. The event will start with a short introduction of the participants and an overview on the objectives of this phase of MOBI-US. After that, the work regarding guideline documentation and program portfolio compilation will be presented and briefly discussed among the participants; in order to plan the following activities before the second part (“face-to-face”) of the workshop, whose date is still to be decided – possibly early September 2020.

In addition, the consortium discussed management-related subjects and decisions to be made, which are already being implemented. One of these subjects include the plan of offering online courses in MOBI-US. Interested students will be able to start some online courses from other universities, as part of the mobility program, already in the next academic year!

The project’s next steps include mainly the mobilization of the key participants of the First Matchmaking Workshop – i.e. education programs representatives – and the development/improvements of the online courses that will be offered in MOBI-US.

Follow MOBI-US on

On April 24th the consortium had a follow up e-meeting in order to discuss the current state of the project’s activities and future steps according to the MOBI-US’ timeline. The most important topic of the meeting was the risk mitigation measures due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing and travel restrictions made the MOBI-US partners think about alternatives and adjustments in the workplan for the time being.

Best case and worst case scenarios were imagined, in terms of quarantine restrictions. For both situations the consortium came up with solutions, adaptations and adjustments in the work plan of each work package, in order to accomplish the MOBI-US objectives within the envisaged timeline.

Tasks that are completed online, such as the education portfolios and guideline documents, will not be heavily affected by these restrictions, therefore no major adaptations are needed. However, the workshops for 2020 – first Matchmaking Workshop and the Industry Workshop – needed special care in order to build a solid mitigation strategy to be followed in the next months. The first Matchmaking Workshop is going to be slip in two parts: the first will be held in late June, online, and the second will be held in early September, in-person. Consequently, adjustments in the mentoring and joint program development tasks were also addressed in the mitigation plan.

In addition to these measures, the COVID-19 situation brought new ideas to the consortium, which will potentially be implemented in MOBI-US: Online courses will be offered to students within the network in the next academic year, in order to introduce the training palette of the partner institutions.

Stay home, stay safe!

Follow MOBI-US on

MOBI-US, structured mobilities for ESEE raw materials master programs, is currently active and running, despite the necessary restrictions due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Through online communication and e-meetings, the consortium has been able to carry on with the work, in order to successfully meet the project’s milestones within the envisaged timeline.

The current state of the project’s activities involves mainly the work packages 1 (Guideline document compilation), which is going to be developed by the mentoring partners; and 2 (Portfolio compilation), to be prepared by the partner universities.

For WP1, the mentoring partners (LPRC; Aalto; TU Wien) are preparing a guideline material for the networking universities, in order to help the efficient partner finding and the preparation of documentation background for linked programs. This document will be based on policy materials issued by the EIT RawMaterials, and will contain policy and business environment analysis, highlighting the important and relevant possible tracks for the mobility networking, as well as management measures necessary to establish structured mobilities, showing also best practice examples. The guideline will give an analysis of the latest developments of the European qualification framework related to the raw materials sector, so the networking institutions can properly develop the joint curricula for the MOBI-US’ student mobilities.

Meanwhile, the networking institutions (WUST; AGH; UM; UNIZG-RGNF) are currently working on the detailed education portfolios – in English – of their raw material-related Master programs that will be offered in the MOBI-US network. These portfolios include the structural scheme; curriculum; course descriptions; legal framework of the program and learning outcomes; syllabus; admission and alumni statistics for the last 5 years; and extra-curricular activities.

The MOBI-US next steps, once the travel restrictions are ceased, will be the organization of the first matchmaking workshop, in order to work out the details of the mobility window options among the institutions, mentored by a panel of experts.

Follow us on

The MOBI-US consortium participated in a follow-up e-meeting on March 20th. In this opportunity, the Project Coordinator, Ferenc Mádai, moderated the discussion about the project’s activities, its progress, envisaged workshops, and the project’s next steps.

The meeting started with a presentation from the Project Coordinator about the updates regarding EIT RawMaterials – our funding entity – on the Business Plan. After that, the networking universities presented their current state about the portfolios of their education programs that will be offered for MOBI-US’ structured mobility network. The next topic was the communication and dissemination plan, commented by La Palma Research Centre – LPRC (person: Márcio Tameirão). Finally, the consortium discussed about the strategy regarding the matchmaking workshops, envisaged among the partner universities, due to the current quarantine measures to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consortium e-meetings are planned to be held monthly, in order to maintain a good flow of information among the partners on the project’s activities, and to align the work plan for the upcoming months of MOBI-US’ implementation.

Follow us on

The MOBI-US project, funded under EIT RawMaterials, has now started. Last week, on the 5th and 6th of February, the consortium partners attended the MOBI-US kick-off meeting in Budapest, Hungary. In this opportunity, the coordinator Ferenc Mádai, together with the networking universities and Work Package leaders presented their work plan for the next eighteen months.

The first day started with the coordinator’s introduction of the project, its objectives and expected results. After that, the networking partners introduced themselves and their respective MSc programs. Finally, the mentoring partners talked about their experience with structured mobility development, and how they will contribute with MOBI-US network.

On the second day the Work Package leaders presented their work plan, each followed by an open discussion on the following topics:

• • Universities portfolios
  • Guideline document
  • Matchmaking and industry workshops.
  • Joint program’s development and mentoring
  • Dissemination and communication.
  • Project management.

Now the consortium is ready to start consolidating the structured mobility network among the partner institutions!

Follow us on