96585 - EUROPROGETTAZIONE

Learning outcomes

The laboratory is technical in nature and aims to introduce to students the techniques and methodology of euro-project management. At the end of the course students will know how EU funding programs work and how they can apply to a call for proposals by the EU or other bodies or organizations.

In particular, the course will analyse some project design techniques and students will know how to edit and write a project. The competences acquired by the students can be applied to all kinds of European and non-EU projects.

A consistent part of the course will be carried out through practical exercises and teamwork sessions, which surely are essential to properly understand the project-design methodology and instruments.

Course contents

The laboratory will introduce students to euro-project management techniques, explaining how EU funding programs work and how they can answer to EU calls for proposals. Funding programs are nothing more than the instrument through which the EU implements its policies through decentralized actions.

Design techniques will be studied in depth and will be analysed how they can be applied to any funding program.

The main topics addressed will be:

- Introduction to European Project management: European funding as tools for implementing European policies;

- Introduction to the main European funding programs and where to find information;

- What is a project;

- the Project Cycle Management;

- The Logical Framework applied to the Euro-Project Management;

- The techniques and tools to carry out a good project: the phases of analysis and programming, the success indicators of a project and the other tools for a good project design (SWOT analysis, Work Breakdown Structure, Gantt chart);

- How to fill in an Application Form to present a project: analysis of the project proposal with respect to the call; the basic principles for a good project proposal: sustainability, impact, dissemination; write a project;

- How to draw up a good project budget: eligible costs, direct costs, indirect costs; the different types of budget (flat rate, lump sum, reimbursement of actual costs); reporting; audit.

During some lessons experts and EU officials will be invited to deepen some topics and, in particular, some funding programs.

Readings/Bibliography

Recommended reading for all students, compulsory for MES students taking the exam:

Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Dipartimento della Funzione pubblica, Project Cycle Management. Manuale per la formazione, Roma, Formez, 2002 (available online);

Specific Handouts provided by professors (not compulsory for attending students):

Guida ai finanziamenti europei 2023, a cura di Eleonora Marton, Alberto Concina, Roberta Lazzari, Filippo Mazzariol, (available online).

Teaching methods

The laboratory will use a highly interactive methodology and will be carried on with: lectures by professors, presentations of some of the main European funding programs by experts and officials of the European Commission, workshops and practical exercises by students.

Students will be working in teams and will have to edit and draft a project based on real application forms of some of the main European financing programmes (Erasmus +, Europe for Citizens, Creative Europe, Life, etc.). In the second part of the course, students will present their project to the class.

Assessment methods

Students will be considered attending if they will attend regularly to at least 70% of lectures, if they will take the required tests and if they will actively participate in classroom exercises.

For SID students:

At the end of the course, in order to pass, students will have to present, at the end of a group work, a project simulation on a real application form for a programme and on a topic agreed with the lecturer.

They will also have to take a multiple-choice test, which will be passed if they answer exactly 60% of the questions.

For MES students:

At the end of the course, students will be required to

1. Present a project simulation on a real programme application form and on a topic to be agreed with the lecturer (together with SID colleagues).
2. Take a written test with semi-open and/or cross-checked questions on the compulsory texts and notes.
3. A final oral examination based on the notes, the compulsory texts and all the activities carried out during the course.

The final mark will be the average of the 3 marks.

Teaching tools

- Power Point

- website "http://europa.eu"

- Online databases on European funding programs

Office hours

See the website of Fabio Casini