Workshops on the ERASMUS project "Harmonization and Innovation in PhD Study Programmes for Plant Health in Sustainable Agriculture –HarISA" were held from Monday, 27 April to Wednesday, 30 April 2020 online for the first time.
The local project coordinator, Prof Ivan Ostojić, PhD, and his project team successfully participated in the project as one of 11 partners from 8 countries in Croatia, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina on behalf of the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Technology of the University of Mostar.
As its name implies, the project is focused on improving doctoral studies in the field of plant protection. This project has the ambition to harmonize and modernize doctoral education in the Western Balkans and to create a network of researchers capable of responding to the current challenges in plant health. The project seeks to support the modernization and internationalization of higher education in the field of plant health and to contribute to cooperation between the European Union and the Western Balkan countries in the implementation of the EU policy on plant health. It also wants to ensure the acquisition of scientific knowledge and the transfer of skills and competencies to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides and to apply the principle of integrated plant protection in agricultural production.
They defined learning outcomes according to the scientific field; the subjects for revision and the harmonization and new subjects for which new syllabi are planned. Each programme will involve multiple professors from different universities. At the meeting, they also defined all criteria for potential students enrolled in this joint degree doctoral programme in the field of plant health with the possibility of distance learning for certain courses. They also discussed further steps in creating a joint doctoral programme, necessary equipment and implementation of teacher and student mobility.
Regardless of the overall situation caused by COVID-19, work on the project continues.