Recruiting a pilot cohort

Much of what I have written about in recent weeks has been about the current recruitment drive to attract students to the IBCM for the new academic year starting in October 2010.  However, from a historical perspective, we have already had a very busy time recruiting at the beginning of this year because we had made the decision to start with a pilot cohort in the spring semester of 2010.

It was important for us to begin teaching at the International Business College Mitrovica as soon as possible because I am convinced that the best argument supporting the choice of a college for new students is for them to see a functioning institution where they can meet contemporaries who are already benefiting from what is being offered.  As a result of this decision to start teaching early, there was a major push to put the IBCM on the map of student perception during January to March - not a traditional time for starting undergraduate studies!

However, with a lot of work from the whole team (as usual - thanks to them all!) we succeeded in putting together a high profile and very effective publicity campaign that revolved around the following activities:

1. Providing English lessons, given by native speaker teachers, to potential students
2. Meetings with student groups and their parents arranged by NGOs in the field
3. Publicity on local radio in Albanian, English, Serbian and Turkish
4. An intensive campaign on Kosovo television - the clip is shown below

As a result of some very energetic campaigning, which generated over 4000 registrations for places at the International Business College Mitrovica, we were able to invite candidates to an entrance examination in mid February and then to fill the places on our pilot cohort from 1st March 2010!

So as we approach another round of admissions, our second in 2010, it does feel as if we have gathered a lot of valuable experience in the recruitment of students to start up tertiary institutions!

Designing our curriculum

I have been so busy working on recruitment and on "building the brand" of the International Business College Mitrovica in recent weeks that most of my posts have been diary events and I seem to have drifted off telling the background story of how we have got where we are today.  In this post I want to talk about the curriculum that we are offering and how this decision, that is central to defining the character of the IBCM, was made.

In March of 2009 a study mission was undertaken by four international experts in higher education and they spend some time in Kosovo looking at how tertiary education was developing here and where gaps in delivery could be identified.  They worked from the basis that these are three main objectives for the IBCM:

1. Private sector development and job creation to meet the needs of the labour market
2. Potential integration within the European Union (EU)
3. Bridging the communities in Mitrovica in the medium to long term 

The authors came to the conclusion that there was a paucity of data on what they called the "market" for higher education in Kosovo but they identified the fields of Business Studies, Public Administration and Environmental Protection as areas in which skills are and would be needed in the future as the Kosovan economy develops.  They also felt that entry to the Kosovo work place occured most frequently after the completion of Bachelors or Masters degrees but the team formed the impression that graduates often lacked general skills that are required in the work place in the early 21st Century.

The authors concluded that an institution positioned at Level 5B of the UNESCO International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) would go some way to filling an obvious gap in tertiary education provision.  The team drew attention to the UNESCO outline of the distinguishing features of a "5B" programme which says that:

"...the distinction between long stream and short stream programmes is very important.  The long stream programmes (5A) are more theoretical and can lead to advanced research programmes or a profession with high skill requirements. The short streams (5B) are more practically oriented." UNESCO, ISCED, 1997, Para 85.

The authors made a very clear recommendation that the International Business College Mitrovica focus on delivering programmes in English, as a unifying language and that a flexible curriculum be offered to ensure continued relevance to a broad range of potential students from various communities and countries in the region.  They recommended a diploma course as a foundation with the option to "top-up" to a Bachelors degree.  Importantly, there was a clear view that the IBCM should aim at house style that would be based on student centred learning and participative teaching.

This approach represents a very big step in the environment of Mitrovica but I am confident that today, as we teach exclusively in English and as we offer a 120 ECTS Diploma course with a possible top-up of 90 ECTS to a Bachelors degree in Business Studies, Public Administration and Agriculture with Envionmental Protection, that we have laid the foundations for a truly high quality, internationally oriented curriculum.

 

Moving into temporary premises

We started teaching on 1st March 2010 in temporary premises in both of our locations.  I say "temporary", but in fact the facilities that we have in the south of Mitrovica would already be the envy of many an institution in western Europe or the USA.  We have been held up a little in the north of the town, but I fully expect to be able to offer the same quality of teaching accomodation to students at both campuses by the middle of May 2010.

When I first saw the building in the south, in early December 2009, it had unplastered walls and the windows had just been installed.  There were no internal partitions, no heating and the wiring had not been undertaken.  The floors were raw concrete and, basically, we could do anything we wanted in the way of final design!

The International Business College Mitrovica team, together with the owner of the building, worked very hard throughout the winter to create a lay-out, establish infrastructure connections and design and manufacture all the required furniture for a school building.  It seems easy, but the amount of detail in a tough project timetable that included basic building work (e.g. plastering of walls and putting in false ceilings) and final details (e.g. hanging beamers from ceilings and arranging janitorial services) is phenomenal.  Lennard, our Operations Manager, was at the forefront of this activity and deserves particular thanks.  Take a bow, Len!

  Source: ©Thom Van Der Veen - 1st March 2010

The take over of the building in the south of Mitrovica on 15th February was one of the early landmark moments in the history of the development of the institution.  I was very proud of all the work that went into the building and for perhaps the first time, much of the planning began to take on the feeling of becoming real!

For the moment then, our students in the south are in a state of the art building boasting four classrooms with plenty of natural light and four large working areas for less formal group work.  We have a library and the whole building is set up with Wi-Fi Internet connection and in all can accomodate over 90 students.  It really is a pleasure to work in this environment - even if it is only "temporary"!

The main entrance to the temporary south building of the International Business College Mitrovica and a project group hard at it in one of the four working areas

Source: ©Thom Van Der Veen - 1st March 2010

Lillebaelt Academy of Professional Higher Education

One of my first actions upon starting with the International Business College Mitrovica was to finalise the selection of a partner institution which would validate our diplomas and degrees.  It was clear that this needed to be a European institution that had embraced the Bologna Accord which aims to harmonise 40 different European higher education systems within a framework of a consistent credit and grading system.

Following a tender process, and the review of applications from four European countries, we were able to settle on the Lillebaelt Academy of Professional Higher Education from Odense in Denmark.  The Academy is a relatively new construct that brings together three existing institutions that are located around the Lillebaelt sound.  Their striking logo represents the spectacular bridge that makes travelling from Odense to Copenhagen a lot easier than it was in the past!

You have to admit there is a resemblance!

Source: Google Image Search "Lillebaelt Bridge" - 30th March 2010

An excellent working relationship is being established between our institutions and the International Business College Mitrovica is today able to offer Academy Professional diplomas that represent an achievement of 120 ECTS (or 4 semesters study) and Bachelor of Arts degrees with a value of 210 ECTS (or 7 semesters study).

It is important to stress that all our teaching in Mitrovica is in English and this requires a high level of preparation by prospective students of the International Business College Mitrovica.  Our programmes replicate exactly those taught in Denmark where the Lillebaelt Academy of Professional Higher Education has significant experience in delivering a wide range of business education in English to students from around the world.

Both AP and BA certifications are issued by Lillebaelt Academy of Professional Higher Education and provide our graduates with a unique chance to get a European education and degree without leaving their home region.

A potted history 2

These first posts will try to compress the activity of five months into a few words.  Suffice it to say that in that in very short space of time, we built on the foundations laid by a large group of people over a two year period - but essentially since my first day on the job in early November 2009 we succeeded in:

• Linking up with a Danish partner who will validate our undergraduate programmes
• Contracting temporary premises to tide us over until our main campuses are built
• Designing programmes in three areas of study
• Recruiting pilot cohorts in North and South Mitrovica
• Kicking off teaching on 1st March 2010

I will provide more of the history of each of these key activities before the detail slips my mind!

A potted history 1

The idea of establishing Mitrovica as an academic centre of excellence has been discusses in various fora at least since the first Wilton Park - ESI Mitrovica conference in January 2004.  A dutch NGO under the name of SPARK then began working with the idea around 2007.

Political sensitivites were well to the fore in all early discussions - it was felt by all stakeholders, both North and South of the river Ibar, that any such institution should be self sustainable.  Thus a feasability study was carried out by the Dutch NGO which indicated that a foundation for a institution of tertiary education existed in Mitorvica.  It was a change of emphasis from designing a purely academic institution, which might be labelled a "university", to working on establishing a more "vocationally" based college that proved to be the key that unlocked the door of progress.

Since 2008, work has gathered pace to design both soft and hard assests for the burgeoning college as well as to fund its early years of operation.