Field monitoring visits The of Piia Heinämäki about the field monitoring visits was discussed.

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1 TEMPUS: Studies in Bioengineering and Medical Informatics (BioEMIS) Minutes of the meeting 18 December 2013 University Pierre and Maria Curie, Paris, France Present Duncan Shepherd. University of Birmingham Radovan Stojanovic. University of Montenegro Simon Hauptman. University of Maribor Matjaz Debevc. University of Maribor Goran Devedzic. University of Kragujevac Djuro Koruga. University of Belgrade Zeljko Stojkic. University of Mostar Zlatko Bundalo. University of Banja Luka Amel Dzamic. University of Bihac Atif Hodzic. University of Bihac Veronique Perdereau. University Pierre and Maria Curie Stevan Trbojevic. University of East Sarajevo Nedjegvo Lekic. University of Montenegro Bogan Asanin. University of Montenegro Milos Stojkovic. University of Nis Dragan Antic. University of Nis Miroslav Trajanovic. University of Nis Vesna Spasic Jokic. University of Defense Welcome Duncan Shepherd welcomed all partners to Paris. Management Duncan Shepherd gave an update on management activities. Intermediate report The intermediate report is due on 15 April To get the report signed off it needs to be finalised by 14 March In early January 2014 Duncan Shepherd will send a request for information to partners with a deadline of 14 February Goran Devedzic, Radovan Stojanovic and Zlatko Bundalo will coordinate a response for the partners in their country. Action: Duncan Shepherd Quality Control Professor Timo Jämsä from the University of Oulu (Finland) has been appointed as an external advisor for Quality. He will be paid EURO 400 per year from the University of Birmingham grant. Field monitoring visits The of Piia Heinämäki about the field monitoring visits was discussed. Equipment purchases should be finalised as soon as possible and joint tenders should be implemented at national level whenever possible 1

2 This is progressing well for partners in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Administrative delays have occurred for Serbian partners as they were purchasing all the equipment together. This will be reviewed at the beginning of February Even though there seems to be a good cooperation between universities at national level, more could be done to increase the cooperation at regional level between the Partner Country universities, for example in connection to curriculum development and preparation of teaching materials All partners have agreed to share teaching material. Planned curriculla will also be shared and joint materials developed where possible. The curricula should be fine-tuned by consulting the non-academic partners on the competences and learning outcomes Each partner is in contact with non-academic partners about curricula. The final draft of curricula will be sent to non-academic partners for approval. It would also be useful to carry out a thorough analysis of the employment prospects of the future students The current economic situation in countries is difficult and judging employment prospects would be mainly guess work. What can be said is that the employment prospects of all students completing a programme in BioEMIS will be enhanced, as judged by the nonacademic partners. Further, the EU partners believe that these students will have improved employment prospects in the EU having completed one of these programmes. The necessary steps for licensing / accreditation of curricula should be taken as early as possible. The planned international accreditation (EUR-ACE label) should also be applied for as soon as possible All partners have begun the process of licensing and accreditation. The University of Belgrade has completed this task. The planned international accreditation is likely to need students on the programme before approval can be given. It is recommended that the HEIs in Serbia consider the implementation of a joint PhD programme, instead of separate programmes at different institutions. We note that the same is already planned in Bosnia and Herzegovina The University of Kragujevac and the University of Defense will be developing a joint PhD programme. Considering that each country is not introducing the same type of curricula (academic vs. applied), it should be discussed how to take this into account in the regional context, for example in relation to student mobility or access to further studies Partners will be sharing teaching material and curricula so there will be some regional similarities in the programmes offered. Further, all partners are taking part in the training offered by the EU partners, so they will be learning new material at the same time. Cooperation agreements between HEIs and companies should be signed, in order to ensure high quality internships for students This will be completed during The visibility of the project results should be improved by further developing the project website, which at the moment contains only basic information on the project and is not easy to find via the website of the University of Birmingham. Reports produced by the consortium and any other relevant outputs should be published on the site The web pages will be updated to include reports and minutes of meetings. Some university partners have a web page. A google search for BioEMIS shows how well the project is getting disseminated. 2

3 Other dissemination activities should also be implemented, in order to inform other HEIs in the countries concerned and generate student interest. Once the curricula are defined and received the necessary approval we will into more dissemination. We have discussed holding a workshop in the future. Staff/student visits to EU partners Duncan Shepherd outlined the planned training visit to the University of Birmingham in February He will ensure that discussions involve micro/nano and laser technologies. Veronique Perdereau discussed the visit to University Pierre and Maria Curie. Simon Hauptman discussed the visit to University of Maribor. Progress of West Balkan Universities Serbia University of Kragujevac Goran Devedzic gave an overview of the activities of the University of Kragujevac with work packages progressing well. The preparation for the MSc and PhD programmes are ongoing. The legal documents to progress are in place and the programmes will be going to the Faculty Teaching Committee. The University of Kragujevac has participated in 3 training visits so far. The development of teaching materials has been started, which includes 2 books. The progress in equipment purchasing is behind schedule. Partner universities in Serbia have decided to purchase all equipment together. The University of Kragujevac has sent a letter to all partner universities in Serbia to get agreement on this and progress the equipment purchase. It is hoped that progress will be made by the end of January The curricula are expected to be finalised by the end of December The plan for the implementation of the new PhD curricula involves 2 compulsory courses and 8 elective courses. There was a discussion that the University of Kragujevac might want to consider reducing the number of elective courses offered as such a high number will lead to modules with small numbers of students and reduce staff time for undertaking research. Goran Devedzic will consider any support required from EU partners. Action: Goran Devedzic University of Belgrade Djuro Koruga gave an overview of the activities of the University of Belgrade which are progressing well. Improvements to curricula at Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral levels have been developed and implemented. This includes developing new courses: Bachelor: Basis of Chemical Engineering; Mechanical Engineering in Medicine; Introduction to Clinical Engineering. Masters: Biotechnology in Medicine; Clinical Engineering; English for paper writing. Doctoral: Contemporary BM software; Contemporary BM devices. A new statute has been produced to include Biomedical Engineering. Accreditation has been completed at institution, national and international levels. Djuro Koruga will send copies of accreditation certificates to Duncan Shepherd. Action: Djuro Koruga An information day was help at the University of Belgrade on 27 November Djuro Koruga put forward a proposal for a Regional Balkan Centre for Biomedical Engineering. This will be discussed in future meetings. University of Defense 3

4 Vesna Jokic gave an overview of the activities of the University of Defense. The curricula is being developed. The University of Defense will develop a joint PhD programme with the University of Kragujevac. Curricula discussions with Faculty Chairs have been completed and will be adopted by the Council of the Medical Faculty. The curricula will then go to Senate for approval. Accreditation has been started and will be completed by April Tender for equipment is ongoing with other Serbian partners. Dissemination is ongoing and a web page has been developed. Training the trainers is underway. Equipment list is complete. University of Nis The new programmes will be 4 years for Bachelors, 1 year for Masters and 3 years for PhD. Course material being developed includes: Bachelor: Modeling bioforms; Informatics in Medicine; Introduction to biomedical engineering; reverse engineering and engineering ethics. Masters: Surface technology for biomaterials; biomaterials; production of medical devices and implants; web in medicine; analysis and simulation of biomechanical systems. PhD; Bioforms; tissue engineering; design of medical devices and implants; data acquisition; production of medical devices; analysis and simulation of biomechanics. The proposed syllabus is finished and it was adopted by Senate on 25 November Teaching material is being prepared and accreditation has started. There has been consultation about a cross-faculty PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Dissemination activities are progressing. Montenegro University of Montenegro Radovan Stojanovic gave an overview of the activities of the University of Montenegro. Reports for work packages 1 and 2 are complete. Space for the new programme has been provided by the Berane Municipality. The new curriculum is nearly finished and accreditation has been started. The plan is to start the programmes in October 2014 and some state scholarships may be provided. The equipment list is completed and vendor selection is ongoing. Dissemination is very active and several MSc theses have been completed connected to BioEMIS. Bosnia and Herzegovina University of Banja Luka Zlatko Bundalo gave an overview of the activities of the partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the University of Banja Luka. The University of Banja Luka and the University of East Sarajevo are developing a joint PhD programme in Bioengineering and Medical Informatics. The University of Bihac is developing an MSc in Bioengineering, while the University of Mostar is developing an MSc in Medical Informatics. All first year activities have gone well. Licensing is in progress and accreditation will follow. An academic at the University of Bihac has been appointed as an internal quality monitor. Dissemination is going well. Defining the PhD modules is ongoing. Purchasing teaching equipment is in progress and a VAT exemption certificate has been obtained. University of Mostar Zeljko Stojkic gave an overview of the activities of the University of Mostar. Work package 1 is completed and in work package 2 they are currently defining the curriculum. Training is going well with EU partners. They are preparing a moodle system for teaching. 4

5 The curriculum for the MSc in Medical Informatics is planned, with a combination of compulsory and elective courses, plus a Masters thesis. The MSc is planned to start in October University of East Sarajevo Stevan Trbojevic gave an overview of the activities of the University of East Sarajevo. PhD curriculum being developed with the University of Banja Luka. Two books are in preparation. Dissemination is going well and a project web page has been developed. Total spend so far is EURO 17, University of Bihac Project is going well. A web page has been developed. Procurement should be completed by January A presentation to student will be made in January General discussion Equipment Partners should review the situation at the beginning of February If progress is still slow contact will be made with EU to discuss. Next meeting The next meeting will take place on in April 2014 at University Pierre and Maria Curie (France). The plan is to have some students present at the meeting. Duncan Shepherd will contact Veronique Perdereau to make arrangements. Please add in any photos of the meeting Action: Duncan Shepherd 5