DICAMP = Development and Implementation of an Accredited Cross-Universities Innovation Management Master Programme in Tunisia
TUM and Peter Pribilla-Foundation as Initiator of DICAMP Project
In April 2010, the Innovation Conference “Innovation Lab Tunis 2010” was hosted by the Technische Universität München (TUM) in the context of the university partnership with the University Tunis El Manar. The conference was sponsored by the Peter-Pribilla-Foundation from TUM with the objective of starting a sustainable innovation push at the partner university Tunis El Manar. This initiative was further supported by the Tunisian industry and several German institutions in Tunisia. As a result of this event, the partners from research and practice decided to apply for funds within the framework of the European funding program TEMPUS to establish a Master’s program in Innovation Management. The application for the TEMPUS call was successful, and the developed project DICAMP fits perfectly into the objectives of Tunisia, especially after the January revolution in 2011. For TUM and the Peter-Pribilla-Foundation, this project fulfilled one very important goal, the involvement of three Tunisian universities in a European partner network. In the DICAMP project the TUM participates in cooperation with the University of Applied Sciences of Weihenstephan-Triesdorf, Straubing Research Center for Renewable Resources of TUM. Prof. Dr. Ralf Reichwald, TUM-School of Management, is Senior Coordinator of the DICAMP project. He is responsible for the partnership of TU München with Tunisia and was appointed Professor honoris causa at the partner University Tunis El Manar in 2006. In the context of DICAMP project, he is one of the academic directors, and coordinates, among others, the accreditation of the master programme through a well-reputed European accreditation institute.
Project Description
With the project DICAMP the higher education system in Tunisia receives a master programme in innovation management. It conveys to the students the skills how to create innovations and how to lead them to success, while fostering entrepreneurial thinking. International investors as well as local industry will benefit from high quality education according to the European standards and students who are able to understand very well the culture and communicate in the local language.
Therefore DICAMP aims to introduce a master programme on innovation management, which responds to the requirements of the Tunisian economy and meets high quality standards of education. The project duration is three years; the first year focuses on the conception of the programme, whereas the second and third years on its implementation. The project partners are from Europe and Tunisia and will develop as well as teach the different modules of the master programme together. DICAMP is based on a new idea of a joint cross-universities programme; as three Tunisian universities are participating in the project. That is, every Tunisian University will be responsible for about one third of the modules in the curriculum. In October 2012 the first thirty students (ten from every Tunisian university) will start to study the innovation management master programme. DICAMP also prepares the students by offering an intensive business English course during six weeks before the programme starts.
Specials
During the first year events will be organized by the project partners where students and representatives from politics, industry, and academia are invited. These events are an opportunity to present the curriculum, the achievements as well as future activities to all stakeholders. The objective is to motivate students to apply for the programme in the next years, and to explain to industry the importance of recruiting graduates in innovation management.
There will be the opportunity for every student of the master programme to join a research team in Europe. 18 students do their project studies (1.5 months) in Europe, and 12 students in Tunisia. For the master theses (3 months), the group of students that was abroad during the project study stays in Tunisia, and vice versa.
To increase the quality of teaching, a laboratory for innovation management is installed in every partner university. It integrates the equipment, already available at the universities and orders new technical equipment as well as a software platform that supports innovation contests. The EU and Tunisian staff will be trained how to the use of the platform for organizing innovation contest with the participation of students. The IT platform should foster future cooperation between EU and PC universities.
Project Objectives
- Developing a cross-university master programme in innovation management that is adapted to the cultural and economic requirements of Tunisia,
- Implementing the new master programme, while building the required capacities that enable the Tunisian universities to continue the program beyond the project lifetime,
- Applying to an international and reputable accreditation institute for the certification of the master programme.
Project Period
2011/10/15 – 2014/10/14
Funding
European Union
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency
Tempus & Bilateral Cooperation with Industrialised Countries
Project number: 517066-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-DE-TEMPUS-SMHES
Project Partners
- University of Leipzig (UL)
- Leipzig Graduate School of Management (HHL), Center of Leading Innovation and Cooperation (CLIC)
- Fraunhofer Center for Central and Eastern Europe (MOEZ)
- Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT)
- The University of Exeter (UNEXE)
- Mines ParisTech (MPT)
- École Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Tunis (ENIT)
- École Sup. des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales de Tunis (ESSEC)
- Institut des Hautes Etudes Commerciales Carthage (IHEC)
- Ministry of Educ.- Ag. Nat. de Promotion de la Recherche Sci. (ANPR)
- Centre Intern. des Technologies de l’environnement de Tunis (CITET)
Coordinator
University of Leipzig (UL)
