Evaluation of proposals submitted under the First, Second and Third Call for proposals within the EDULINK Programme

Detailed description of project Back

The EDULINK programme, rooted on the European Commission communication on “Strengthening Co-operation with Third Countries in the Field of Higher Education” adopted in July 2001, represents a harmonised approach for the implementation of Commission funded programmes in ACP countries with a view to improve the effectiveness, management, visibility and hence the impact of ACP-EU co-operation in the field of higher education.

The global objective of the EDULINK Programme is to foster capacity building and regional integration in the field of higher education through institutional networking, and to support a higher education system of quality, which is efficient and relevant to the needs of the labour market, and consistent with ACP socio-economic development priorities. The programme purpose is to strengthen the capacity of ACP higher education institutions at institutional/administrative, academic and research and technology levels.

Projects selected for funding under the EDULINK Programme are identified through open Calls for Proposals. The evaluation of proposals is performed by an Evaluation Committee, assisted in its work by a number of assessors coordinated by a team leader. The global objective of the assessors’ assignment is to assist in the assessment, evaluation and final selection of the received proposals in accordance with the standards and procedures described in detail in the Guidelines for applicants responding to the open Call for Proposals.In the context of the Call for Proposals prospective beneficiaries will submit proposals for funding. These proposals will consist of a Concept Note, the Full Application and Annexes.

The evaluation process consists of the following steps:

• Receipt of applications;
• Administrative check;
• Evaluation of Concept Note;
• Technical and financial evaluation of selected Full Applications;
• Administrative and eligibility compliance check;
• Recommendation of projects for funding;
• Final selection of projects for funding.

Assessors will be involved in the steps 3 and 4: evaluation of the Concept Note and technical and financial evaluation of selected Full Applications.

Type of services provided

The expert team for the First Call of Proposals consists of one team leader and six assessors, while for the second and third Call the Team consists of one Team Leader and eight assessors. Theirtasks are as follows:

• To submit to the Evaluation Committee a full evaluation of each Concept Note of the proposals that have been considered administratively compliant by the Evaluation Committee;
• To submit to the Evaluation Committee a full evaluation of each pre-selected proposal;
• To answer to any requests for clarification on the evaluation as requested by the Evaluation Committee;
• To set up an effective quality control (QC) system to check that the grids produced are fully coherent and the scoring is clearly justified with a qualitative and quantitative judgement.

PROMAN provides the services of the team leader and five (First Call) and seven (second and third Call) assessors and ensures overall technical backstopping and organisation of the mission.

PROMAN Experts develop the evaluation grid and scoring system.