SIC International Educational Center

Preradoviceva 33/I

HR 10000

Zagreb

21, 2004.

To: potential partners for TEMPUS SCM

To Whom It May Concern,

SIC International Educational Center is preparing a project we wish to apply with to TEMPUS (type 'Structural and Complementary Measures' - SCM) for which the application deadline is February 15, 2004. We are writing to you in order to offer you partnership on this project, currently entitled Scholarships.info.

SIC is an information and advising center on higher education, legally registered as an independent, nongovernmental and non-profit organization. By providing information, counselling, training and international exchange opportunities, the Center empowers individuals to realize their educational goals and advances positive changes in the field of higher education in our community. SIC is the official US information and advising center for Croatia, affiliated to the State Department, as well as the national administration center for Open Society Institute’s scholarship programs. SIC is also official Central European University Representative in Croatia. Over the years SIC has been recognized as a center of excellence in its field both by national and international organizations - in 2001 SIC received the international ‘2001-2002 ETS Excellence Award’, an annual award given to U.S. government affiliated overseas educational information centers in recognition of excellence and innovation in educational advising services and the implementing of its programs.

It is our belief that working on enabling public and open access to information is one of the most important democratic processes. In the case of education, access to relevant information is a prerequisite for mobility of students and scholars, and it is well known that academic mobility is one of the priorities of the Bologna Process. Also, we believe access to information about scholarship opportunities promotes equal opportunities policy, an important democratic principle that fights social exclusion in education. Access to integrated information and resources about scholarships will surely optimise the work of educational institutions, and most specifically that of university administration. For these reasons we see a need for the type of project we are proposing.

Scholarships.info would be an online information service with the mission to unify all available information resources about scholarship opportunities available to Croatian citizens for study both at home and abroad. The web-portal would enable users to find all relevant information regarding educational opportunities in one place and would this way, we believe, significantly help the work of university administration offices at Croatian universities. The portal would also contribute to achieving more efficient communication between Croatian educational institutions and the corporate and civil society sector, since all of the above-mentioned sectors offer scholarships for different academic fields. It would foster cooperation between these sectors as well as enhance the possibilities for international cooperation.

In order to carry out this project, we need the expertise of EU partner institutions regarding database development and inter-institutional cooperation. We propose that you partner with us on this project as EU partner institution. We have secured partnership with Technische Universität Dresden as the Grant Applicant. We are also discussing partnership with the University of Utrecht, Politecnico di Milano and the University of Graz.

Regarding partner institutions in our country, we have contacted J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek, proposing that they organize and host a workshop where the Scholarships.info portal would be presented, and where EU partners would hold trainings on the use of databases and other uses of new technologies. We see the necessity for this type of trainings in order to be able to organize an efficient information dissemination system in Croatia and to strengthen the capacity of university administration offices for inter-institutional cooperation. If your office has other suggestions about possible project partners, kindly inform us.

We understand the realisation of Scholarships.info as a first step in our intention to create Career advisory services at Croatian universities. With this project proposal we plan to apply to TEMPUS-Joint European Project in December 2004. Scholarships.info represents a pilot project of creating the information infrastructure necessary to make university services more efficient, which is a prerequisite for the development of career counselling services at universities.

If you decide to accept partnership on this project, the next step is to discuss details regarding the application for TEMPUS SCM. For the project itself, as the EU Partner University your university would have the obligation to offer a certain type of knowledge transfer, more specifically to be willing to deliver training in the application of new technologies in university administration offices. Apart from this, we would need an Endorsement letter from you as a formal statement of partnership. SIC will take on project writing, and will, with your approval, apply to TEMPUS SCM as Project Coordinator. In terms of implementation, if the project is approved, SIC would take on the responsibility of managing the project, with J.J. Strossmayer University of Osijek as partner in the implementation of the second stage of the project, the organising and hosting of the workshop

In summation, we would be very pleased to have you as our partner for the TEMPUS SCM project Scholarships.info. We would be grateful if you could inform us as soon as possible about your willingness to participate in this project.

Yours sincerely,

Ninoslav Scukanec

Executive Director

SIC International Educational Center