Objective

In order to apply for more EU funding, researchers at Hochschule Bremen requested better support. This included more comprehensible and thorough advice on applications and administration. Our EU-Strategie-FH project thus includes quality management for consulting, administration and controlling. Among several other instruments, HSB members from the involved departments initiated this task force which was later on appointed by the president. The task force is now the key measure for quality management in all administrative issues and has been positively evaluated by all members.

Activities

The EU task force was initiated by research service and finance department members in charge of administration of third party funding.
Meetings are held once a month and last for about 90 minutes. The primary goal is to work on sustainable solutions for issues that arise in the administration of EU funded projects. The task force provides quality management and feedback resources to all its members and their respective teams. This is enabled by responsible, cooperative and transparent team work and communication on equal footing.

This includes:

• The task force was initiated bottom-up. The work program for the first year and the modus operandi were mutually agreed upon in the initiation process. Members informed the rectorate and presented the conceptual design of the task force, which was approved and thus formally integrated into the institutional organization.
• The task force updates its work program once a year.
• Research service is responsible for preparing and organizing the meetings and for all follow-ups. Invitations to meetings and minutes are sent out by email, ensuring transparency and mutual understanding.
• Participants value te high commitment to meeting and outcomes.
• All results (process definitions, responsibilities, forms, general agreements, solved issues, e.g. the types of personnel cost in Horizon 2020 projects) are used by research service and administrative teams for advising applicants, coordinators and project personnel. Additionally, results are communicated to the university public through suitable measures (digital and material leaflets, email, online manual for HSB project management).

Partner

Research service, department of finance, department of human resources, and other involved members of HSB staff depending on the topic.

Success

The EU task force was considered such a big success when evaluated after two years of runtime that all members and the HSB rectorate have agreed to continue the task force as an ongoing format. Its scope has been extended to all kinds of third party funding and is no longer limited to EU projects, hence the name was changed to “task force for third party funding”.

Contact the Research Service of the Bremen University of Applied Sciences