Become an ECQA Certified EU Project Manager www.ecqa.org How? Through an ECQA Certified Online Training Campus When? 1. 2. 2010 26. 2. 2010 7. 4. 2010 30. 4. 2010 7. 6. 2010 2. 7. 2010 4. 10. 2010 29. 10. 2010 Who? - New-comers to the world of EU projects - Project Managers - Experienced EU Project Managers - Representatives of managing authorities for EU projects Costs? 1000,- per participant excluding examination costs and VAT
Aim of the Training At the seminar participants will obtain and improve knowledge, applicable to all EU programs. They will understand: - Mechanisms of EU programs, program calls and monitoring of EU projects - Responsibilities and authority of EU projects related EU authorities - The general life cycle of EU projects - The process and best practices for EU projects application - Issues and best practices related to financial planning and reporting - Importance of quality planning and assurance - Best practices in selecting and managing (usually an international) EU project partnership - Management principles for management of distributed team - Principles of and need for relevant IT support for distributed EU project teams - Most often risks related to EU projects and best practices to avoid them. Participants, who will successfully pass the ECQA exam for ECQA Certified EU Project Manager, will be able to justify their skills with the Europe wide market recognised certificate. It will provide them advantage in sovereign cooperation in EU project partnership, in proving their skills as a reference for employment or for service providing on the market. Background ECQA EU Project Manager is one of the eighteen job roles, for which the certification and training schema is running all over Europe. The ECQA (www.ecqa.org) is a non-profit association and provides an examination and certification system, meanwhile other authorised bodies provide training services. The certification and the training system comply with guidelines for European Qualification Framework, aimed to assure that trainings offered all over Europe are comparable in relation to content and outcomes. Accreditation of exam organizations, training organizations and trainers assure that the same level of service quality is assured all over Europe. Target Group New-comers to the world of EU projects: Learn to swim before you jump! There are lots of opportunities for gaining the financial support from European budget; still, you need to understand the whole mechanism to take the advantage of EU funding. Otherwise the risk of crucial mistakes in a project is quite high. - 1 -
Experienced in managing EU projects: Learn and exchange! We can always learn something new and improve our skills with best practices of others. There might be some problems which make your EU project life difficult discuss them, get guidelines. Representatives of managing authorities for EU projects: Accelerate cooperation with beneficiaries! Tasks related to managing EU programs, even in a local area, are complex; the fluctuation of personnel is more intensive than in other modern business. Understand how EU project partnerships operate and what their most common challenges are. Training Program The training course will be hold online on the Learning Management Systems Moodle and for Self Assessment and the Exam the ECQA Skill & Exam Portal is used. Schedule Week 1 - Introduction to the EU Project Manager and ECQA - EU Structure and EU Programs - Start Up and Objectives - Management of Work Packages and Project Results Week 2 - Finance Management - Contract Management - Exploitation and Sustainability - Reporting Week 3 - Communication and Team Management - Quality Planning - Quality Assurance - Risk Management Week 4 - Deadline for the Assignments - Preparation for the Exam - Exam - 2 -
Assignments The training will be based on assignments and discussions. The participant will have to submit 7 assignments and participate in discussions to a certain topic or question. Assignments will be based on a fictional project proposal from one of the EU Programmes. The participant will learn on the basis of examples and best practices: - How to identify the strategic goals, the call and objectives supported by a call - Define clear and measurable objectives - Define deliverables and plan work packages - Comply with the financial guidelines and rules - Calculate a budget for a fictional project - Understand the terms pre-financing and co-financing in practice - How to setup a consortium agreement - What the terms dissemination, exploitation, valorisation and sustainability mean - How to prepare an interim and final report - How to define quality criteria and assure them in the project - Understand the importance of risk management Each week a Skype conference is organised where the training material is briefly explained, the assignments and goals are introduced and the previous assignments are discussed. Trainers are also available during the week for individual Skype conferences or discussions. Certification and Exams To be accredited as an ECQA Certified EU Project Manager ALL elements need to be passed. The multiple choice exam will be online on the ECQA Skill & Exam System. The exam is modular, which means that if a participant passes a certain element that element is recognised as successfully passed element on the long term. On the certificate all elements, which the participant passed, are listed. For examination of missing elements participant may apply to a new exam, independently of previous exams. Each element includes 10 random generated multiple choice questions. To pass the element at least 66,7% has to be reached. The exam takes 4 hours and approximately 110 questions have to be answered, therefore it is done in two parts. Those participants which have passed at least 9 out of 11 elements will be published on the ECQA web page list of ECQA Certified EU Project Managers (if they will approve the publishing). The certificate will be issued by the European Certification and Qualification Association (ECQA). - 3 -
Trainers Damjan Ekert studied Telematics at the University of Technology, Graz, Austria. He finished his master study with distinction. Since 2001 he has worked for the Austrian-Irish company ISCN and participated in more than 15 EU projects. He is a certified ECQA EU Project Manager Trainer and worked for two years as an evaluator for the Life Long Learning Programme. For the last three years he has been working as a consultant in the field of Software Process Improvement and Quality Assurance, he is member of the S2QI Initiative, certified ISO15504 Competent Assessor and member of the European Certification and Qualification Association and vice- president of the ISECMA e.v. (International IT Security Management Board). Registration To register for the online course please contact the trainer Damjan Ekert, dekert@iscn.com More Information can be found at www.ecqa.org. - 4 -