COMMO is a consortium of national partners and it consists of UNIMED, which is the coordinator, and 21 Italian Universities. Several Universities from partner countries have benefitted and benefit from the activities of this consortium, namely Albania, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Montenegro, Morocco, Palestine, Syria and Tunisia. During the first edition of COMMO, two Universities from Partner Countries are involved in the exchanges with the Italian Universities of the consortium: the Mediterranean University of Podgorica (Montenegro) and the European University of Tirana (Albania).
All the above mentioned Universities are current members of UNIMED network. During the two years of the project, started in 2015, COMMO has achieved 23 mobility to and from the Universities of Montenegro and Albania. All these activities are financed by the program Erasmus + KA107, except for one mobility outgoing with “zero grant”, financed by University of Calabria.
Among these exchanges, 3 mobility have involved both incoming and outgoing students from the European University of Tirana (1 outgoing) and University of Teramo (2 incoming), while the other 20 mobility have involved the staff from the partners of Montenegro and Albania and, among the Italians, University of Bari, University of Foggia, University of Messina, University of Catania, Pegaso on-line University, University of Calabria, University of Teramo, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and IULM.
The mobility of students (both 1st and 2nd cycle) were carried out with the aim of research for thesis, thus not leading to the achievement of any European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). Among the objectives accomplished by the project we may mention the following:
- Contributing to the improvement of the international dimension of education and training, in particular through cooperation among higher education institutions in Italy and the Balkans;
- Supporting students in acquiring skills (as learning new languages) in order to develop their academic profile and ensure new job opportunities;
- Aiming to a deeper understanding of the Balkan culture, providing the opportunity to actively participate in the country’s social life;
- Facilitating and simplifying administrative, bureaucratic and organizational management of mobility activities both in the preparatory and exploitation phases of mobility.