On 29 January 2025, the partners of the newborn EU project SuProM met in the beautiful setting of Ljubljana, Slovenia, to kick-start work.

The University of Ljubljana, the project coordinator, warmly welcomed all the partners: University of Palermo, CESIE and UNIMED from Italy, University of Elbasan ‘Aleksander Xhuvani’, University of Vlores and University Fan S. Noli Korçë from Albania, University of Tuzla and University of Mostar from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The project addresses the urgent need to improve sustainable project management skills in Western Balkan universities, following a recent higher education reform that revealed skills gaps among academic staff and students. In Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the authorities have encouraged international cooperation through university consortia and joint projects with global partners. However, staff often report inadequate project management skills within administrative teams and limited sustainable management skills across the workforce. This initiative aims to fill these gaps by providing targeted training and integrating sustainable project management into university curricula.

The first step will be to assess the current state of process management in the participating countries. Many gaps and needs are common, but universities also have their differences and specificities. It is therefore important to carry out a thorough analysis of the situation, involving as many stakeholders as possible, in order to ensure a comprehensive overview and to better target activities. The partners agree that qualitative and quantitative elements must go hand in hand and the format of the process management approach will be geared towards this.

The core of the project is on the two training sessions to be held in autumn 2025 in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The partners have brainstormed to develop formats and content without forgetting the importance of practice. Closely linked to the training will be pilot courses to be tested in the beneficiary countries.

Finally, the partners discussed dissemination and exploitation strategies. In the digital age, what is not visible is not happening. Therefore, the whole consortium will pay attention to the dissemination of activities and results in order to increase the number of beneficiaries and to transfer capacities also beyond the project lifespan.

The best is yet to come, stay tuned for what the SuProM project has to learn and teach!