External study on Curriculum Development projects funded in the framework of the SOCRATES programme (2004)

Type of project/activity:

An external evaluation for the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the Curriculum Development projects funded by the SOCRATES programme

Objectives:

The main aim of this evaluation is to provide an ex-post analysis focusing on the Curriculum Development Projects funded between 1997/98 and 2001/02 in order to assess the extent to which the goals have been reached; to assess the major effects on institutions, students, staff and where appropriate, national higher education systems e.g. contributions to internationalisation and curricular innovation; to define and identify possible models of best practice and criteria to assist in identifying “high quality” and “highly innovative” projects and products with a view both to their dissemination and to identifying the criteria for transfer of practice and/or design; to identify the general and specific obstacles to development and implementation of CD projects and where possible solutions to overcome them; and to make recommendations on effective ways of using programme funding.

Background:

The study was commissioned as the external evaluation of this aspect of the SOCRATES programme and builds on the outcomes of the SOCRATES 2000 evaluation study.

Partners:

The team is led by Vera Dotter (Sweden). The members of the team are the Folkuniversitetet Lund (Sweden); ABCdialog (Denmark) and the European Institute of Education and Social Policy (France).

Main activities:

The evaluation will include qualitative and quantitative approaches with:

• An assessment of the applications
• An analysis of a sample of final reports
• A questionnaire to all project coordinators
• Consultation groups in different countries
• A transnational evaluation seminar.

Client:

The evaluation was commissioned by the Directorate General Education and Culture of the European Commission

Expected outcomes, reports/documents:

The outcomes of the evaluation will be presented to the Commission in a report in the autumn of 2004.


For more information, please contact Jean Gordon gordon@eiesp.org