A group of 25 staff from universities and government departments in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia visited Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) this week to attend week long workshops focused on developing English for research applications and Intellectual Property.

The COMPERE initiative is part of the EU’s Tempus programme which promotes institutional cooperation between the EU and partner countries and focuses on the reform and modernisation of higher education systems in the partner countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Western Balkans and the Mediterranean region.

The project which is managed and hosted by WIT’s International Office and led by the University of Montpellier, France, is the third such collaborative EU project between WIT and a consortium of ten of Europe’s leading universities and 20 universities in North Africa.

The two previous projects focused on staff and student exchange between WIT and North African universities under the EU Erasmus Mundus programme.

According to Sinead Day, International Manager at WIT, “These programmes have brought an even greater and most welcome diversity to the student body at WIT through the presence of students from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia”.

Project manager for the COMPERE initiative, Don O’Neill of WIT’s International Office, added that “bringing academic staff from the leading universities in North Africa along with senior government officials from the Maghreb was a most welcome step in enhancing WIT’s cooperation with an ever growing number of global partners. The long term strategic importance of such projects for the Institute, the city and greater region is of inestimable value”.

Further information on the COMPERE project can be found on http://www.compere-averroes.eu/fr/