EUROPE: EUA promotes full costing

Two projects aimed at improving the ability of European universities to meet the challenges posed by the EU's Lisbon Strategy for increasing the union's technical competitiveness are to be launched by the European University Association.

The programmes reflect a need for new tools and methodologies if Europe's higher education sector is to play its part in equipping the EU to compete successfully in tomorrow's world.

With the backing of the European Commission, the EUA will launch a range of activities to help universities manage their funding by developing full costing and promote successful collaborative research projects between universities and a wide range of external partners including other research organisations, businesses and agencies of regional government.

Both projects are part of a two-year project by the European Universities Implementing Modernisation Agenda and will run against the background of a third theme - the identification of requirements for the further development of human resources in universities so as to enhance the attractiveness of university careers.

Under the "full costing" heading, the EUA will organise five country workshops over the two-year duration of the project attended by university leaders, funding bodies and responsible government ministries.

The association said in a statement the aim was to raise awareness about full costing as a crucial tool in the financial management of universities and to achieve added value through working together to coordinate its implementation in the national or regional environment.

It defined full costing as "the ability to identify and calculate all direct and indirect costs of a university's activities, including projects, while allowing for a variety of approaches".

The workshops will draw on best practice examples and expertise from across Europe, while allowing workshops to best suit the specific needs and conditions in each country.

To promote collaborative research projects, eight workshops will develop monitoring tools and indicators for the assessment of university-based collaborative research building on experience from previous and current EUA work "looking at building strong relationships between universities and industry for doctoral education and the professional application of PhD holders.

The statement said the EUA would cover the costs of participants' travel, accommodation and subsistence costs for the one-day events. One factor in assessing applications would be the ability of the institution to attract a substantial amount of relevant stakeholders (between 60 and 120 participants), including representatives from other universities in the region.

The deadline for expressions of interest is 26 February. More information at www.eua.be.

alan.oxborn@uw-news.com