The annual meeting of the Management Board of AL4LIFE project was held

The annual meeting of the Management Board of the international project AL4LIFE ("Western Balkan entrepreneurial university alliances - keeping in touch for lifelong relationships"), which consist of representatives of all institutions participating in the project, was held at the University in Kosovska Mitrovica on 26^th and 27^th of March. The University of Montenegro is the project coordinator and besides the host of the meeting the other project partners are the International Business College in Mitrovica, the University of Donja Gorica, the University of Bologna, the Autonomous University of Madrid and the University of Ljubljana. The realization of the project started on 1^st of March 2023, under the programme Erasmus+ CBHE (“Capacity building program in higher education”), and the duration of the project is 3 years.

The general goal of the project is the establishment and institutionalization of alumni structures at partner institutions from the Western Balkans, the inclusion of alumni in teaching, mentoring and research process, as well as in strengthening the links of these higher education institutions with the economic sector. By involvement of alumni, study programs and teaching methods will be improved, primarily through strengthening the segment of practical training and entrepreneurship, while in cooperation with Offices for carer development and life-long learning, and with Career centers, certain activities will be carried out with the purpose of strengthening the professional and personal skills of students, all with the aim of better matching with the needs of the labour market, i.e. better employability of graduates. The project also envisages the improvement of research capacities of the UoM, of their funding, commercialization and connections with the innovative potential of the economic sector, which will be supported by the establishment of the Alumni Research Chair and of the system for awarding scholarships to students of doctoral studies.

At the meeting, all partner institutions presented the activities performed and results achieved since the beginning of the project, reviewed the current state of the project and agreed on future activities and obligations.

On behalf of the University of Montenegro the participants at the meeting were prof. dr Sanja Peković, vice-rector for internationalization, and dr Srna Sudar, head of project office. They presented the project activities implemented at the University of Montenegro, with a special focus on the Alumni Strategy with the Action Plan for the period 2024-2029, which is the starting point for connecting the university and alumni and for achieving the project goals, then on the interactive web platform of the UoM Alumni Association, whose integral part is the alumni database and system for their registration and whose purpose is to enable and foster communication, connections and cooperation with alumni, as well as on the Action Plan for cooperation between the Office for Career Development and Life-long Learning and the Alumni Association, which will contribute to better connections among the alumni community, the university and the economic sector, and to strengthening of professional and personal skills of students. It was also pointed out that the legal framework was adapted for the purpose of formal inclusion of alumni community in educational, research and developmental segment of the UoM, that the principles for establishment of alumni structures were defined and the process was going on in accordance with the plan, and that each faculty appointed a person in charge of cooperation with alumni community.

The meeting participants attended also a celebration event in which the Faculty of Arts of the University of Mitrovica organized an exhibition by alumni artists, where the opportunity was used to promote the Alumni Strategies of four partner institutions from the Western Balkans, as well as the project in general.

AL4LIFE project website: www.al4life.ucg.ac.me

Web platform of the UoM Alumni Association: www.alumni.ucg.ac.me