OBJECTIVES &
IMPACT

Objectives & Impact

The project „Development and implementation of system for performance evaluation for Serbian HEIs and system – PESHES“ has wider objective to Improvement of management and operation of higher education institutions and system in Serbia. In order to fulfil the general objective project has specific objectives to define and implement indicators and measures for performance based evaluation of higher education institutions and system as a basis for value based management in Serbian HEIs and system; Structuring and pilot implementation of the system for ranking of institutions and study programs and Introduction of performance measurement (quality indicators) in accreditation and re-accreditation of study programs and HEIs. The realization of wider and specific objectives need to provide the public value management, moving from bureaucracy to a market approach, providing the ways for higher education to better serve to society needs and providing the institutional means for the government to sear higher educational institutions and system in that direction.

The project will provide a transparency tool in ranking of study programs and institutions, as well as to make contributions to performance based funding or even performance agreements. Finally the project has another aim to support diversity and differentiation in order to serve a greater variety in needs of students, the labour market and society. The project is based on “Action Plan in Serbia by 2020” so implementation of the project will highly contribute in changing and improvement of Serbian educational system as well as fulfilling the Strategy and Action plan.

The situation will be changed because the project realization will enable establishment of infrastructure for the development of system for performance based evaluation in Serbia. In this step all necessary analysis will be provided as well as dialogue between all important stake holders. In the second step system for profiling and raking of institutions and study programs in Serbia will be developed. It means that key performance indicators will be selected and defined in order to provide ranking of institutions and study programs in Serbia. In the third step ICT for support of stakeholders needs and data presentation will be developed, this step also corresponds to national Action plan in order to provide platform for on line presentation of data and ranking results. Finally basis for value based management in Serbian HEIs and system will be developed, and the results of the project will be instuticionalized through changies of accreditation standards and other documents.

So it is clear that wider and specific as well as the aim of the project are connected and rooted in the National documents on the one side and on the other side the realization of the project and project results will provide defined changes and provide platform for changes in specified fields.

EXPECTED IMPACT

This project has number of outputs, product and results. The proposed project essentially involves all state universities in Serbia (Universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Novi Pazar and Nis) and the Singidunum University, Belgrade (privately owned), in addition it is planned participation of the Republic Institute for Statistics, National Employment Office, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the National Council for Higher Education, KONUS and KASS (Conference of Vocational Professional Studies). Direct or indirect beneficiaries of the project can be grouped into the following target groups:

1. Academic community, and the universities in Serbia. Developing a system for measuring performance and multi dimensional ranking of study programs and institutions should contribute to a better, higher quality, more efficient, market-oriented and socially responsible management of study programs and universities. Ranking of study programs and institutions will, through key performance indicators enable focus on key processes, process benchmarking, comparison and thus improving key processes at universities in Serbia which should contribute to higher levels of education, research, development and innovation processes, higher terms of the internationalization as well as cooperation with industry
locally and in the region. On the other hand all this affects the definition and redefine institutional strategies.

2. Students. According to the ranking of study programs and institutions, students will have opportunities to make choices that suit them best, bearing in mind the set of performance which would indicate, for them, essential parameters (for example, the number of unemployed graduates is a study program).

3. Industry and business. Business entities would have an overview of different orientations and parameters defined study programs, their market orientation and quality. In this way, it is possible to achieve a kind of feedback between higher education institutions and industry.

4. National Employment Service and the Republic Institute for Statistics of focus group would benefit from the access to real data, their organized monitoring and better connections with higher education institutions and businesses (today for example is not possible to generate information on the number of unemployed graduates originated from certain institutions,

5. Government and state institutions (policy makers) can use the defined set of performance to create the legal framework and recommendations for funding or financial models that should be incorporated indicators measuring quality educational process.

6. Finally all other institutions and organizations from western Balkan countries as EU as well could access to developed model and software and use it in order to establish their own systems or to mprove an existing ones.