91839 - EUROPROGETTAZIONE

Learning outcomes

The course 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 course 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

Attending students: 

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.

Studenti non frequentanti: 

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

Guida alle opportunità di finanziamento dell’Unione europea 2014-2020, Formez, Roma, Aggiornamento 2017, Parte 1 (Fondi strutturali e di investimento) and Parte 2 (i Finanziamenti diretti, programmi tematici) (available online)

Teaching methods

If it will be possible to hold the course face-to-face, this will take place using 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.

If instead the pandemic crisis from COVID-19 persists, the course will be organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in a specific detailed program that will be provided before the start of the course. Lectures (16 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (12 hours) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in two groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one group will do the seminar in classroom (12 hours) and another group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours), for a total of 28 hours for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

Assessment methods

Students will be considered attending if they will attend regularly, if they will take the required tests and if they will actively participate in classroom exercises.

At the end of the course, attending students will have to:

1. Present a project simulation on a real application form of a funding program and on a topic that will be established with professors.
2. Take a written test, with semi-open and/or cross questions on mandatory texts and notes.
3. take a final oral exam which will be based on the notes, the mandatory texts and all the activities carried out during the course.
   

The final vote will be the average of the three votes.

NON ATTENDING STUDENTS:

Non-attending students will have to take a written and an oral exam on the same day. The written test will last 1 hour and a half and includes 10 semi-open or cross questions on the volume: Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Dipartimento della Funzione pubblica, Project Cycle Management. Manuale per la formazione, Roma, Formez, 2002; as well as a long essay on a practical case in which the candidate has to illustrate how to apply for a European project.

Only if the written test has been passed students will access the oral exam, which will be based on the texts indicated in the Readings/Bibliography section.

Students will also be asked to present the basic elements of application to a call for proposal.

Teaching tools

- Power Point

- website "http://europa.eu"

- Online databases on European funding programs

Office hours

See the website of Giuliana Laschi

See the website of Fabio Casini