Official launch of the La MANCHE Virtual Think Tank (La MANCHE VTT)
At the La MANCHE VTT Panel organized in Yerevan in June 2014, the 29 La MANCHE partner institutions officially launched the activities at La MANCHE VTT. The virtual think tank is a member-driven online community unifying the expertise, experience and efforts of a large number of key stakeholders in higher education in Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and the EU. The online platform is accessible through the project website and membership requires initial registration.
Senior and middle managers of universities outside La MANCHE project consortium, policy makers, business leaders, civil society representatives, members of student organizations as well as advocates for gender equality in higher education are welcome to register at La MANCHE VTT and to become members of one of six transnational themed working groups established in the project. Screenshots of the registration steps on the website could be seen at the bottom of this article. The Mission, Vision and Values statement and the Code of Conduct of La MANCHE VTT attached include the main goals, activities and rules for use agreed in the consortium and applicable in La MANCHE VTT.
We in La MANCHE firmly believe that in times of economic turmoil, growing social discontent and political crisis, all of which seriously affecting the higher education sector, the voice of all stakeholders in higher education should be better heard. In particular, through the La MANCHE VTT we hope to provide a voice for a new generation of higher education leaders giving them the opportunity to debate side by side with established opinion leaders in the higher education sector of the five Partner Countries involved in La MANCHE. During the project life one of the most significant tasks of the La MANCHE VTT members will be to jointly create, negotiate and agree on a Strategy for Leading and Managing Change in Higher Education in the Eastern Neighboring Area, e.g. the La MANCHE Strategy.
Between September and December 2014 the La MANCHE consortium members will initiate various online discussions on a large number of topics related to university governance and funding, quality assurance, human resource management, stakeholder management, student engagement, gender equality in higher education etc. The online discussions will take place within the Consultation Section at the La MANCHE VTT platform until March 2015. All members of the six themed working groups are invited to share their perspectives and vision by providing feedback, remarks and comments.
Summaries of the different discussions will be prepared in April 2015 and based on these a La MANCHE Strategy draft will be designed in spring 2015. A preliminary draft of the Strategy will be discussed and further fine-tuned at the National La MANCHE Conferences to take place in the five Partner Countries involved in the project in the course of May and June 2015. The final text of the La MANCHE Strategy agreed in the La MANCHE VTT will be presented and disseminated at the final dissemination event in the project to take place in September 2015.
