The World Bank Higher Education Research for Innovation and Competitiveness Project (P122785) Regional Vice President: Cyril E Muller Country Director: Linda Van Gelder Senior Global Practice Director: Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi Practice Manager/Manager: Harry Anthony Patrinos Task Team Leader: Roberta Malee Bassett REPORT NO.: RES34063 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH FOR INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS PROJECT APPROVED ON JANUARY 24, 2012 TO MONTENEGRO EDUCATION EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized
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The World BankHigher Education Research for Innovation and Competitiveness Project (P122785)
Regional Vice President: Cyril E Muller Country Director: Linda Van Gelder
Senior Global Practice Director: Jaime Saavedra ChanduviPractice Manager/Manager: Harry Anthony Patrinos
Task Team Leader: Roberta Malee Bassett
REPORT NO.: RES34063
DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK
RESTRUCTURING PAPER
ON A
PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING
OF
HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH FOR INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS PROJECT
APPROVED ON JANUARY 24, 2012
TO
MONTENEGRO
EDUCATION
EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA
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The World BankHigher Education Research for Innovation and Competitiveness Project (P122785)
I. BASIC DATA
Product Information
Project ID Financing Instrument
P122785 Investment Project Financing
Original EA Category Current EA Category
Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B)
Approval Date Current Closing Date
24-Jan-2012 31-Dec-2018
Organizations
Borrower Responsible Agency
Montenegro
Project Development Objective (PDO)
Original PDO
The Project development objective is to strengthen the quality and relevance of higher education and research in Montenegro throughreforming the higher education finance and quality assurance systems and by strengthening research and development capabilities.
Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)?No
II. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES
The World BankHigher Education Research for Innovation and Competitiveness Project (P122785)
A. Project Status1. This restructuring proposes extension of the Closing Date of the project from December 31, 2018 to June 30, 2019 to: I) allow for completion of key activities that would support the full achievement of the PDO and enhance project sustainability, namely: capacity building of the Agency for Control and Quality Assurance of Higher Education; evaluation of scholarship program for master, PhD and postdoctoral studies; full establishment of the Center of Excellence (CoE) and carrying out the final assessment of pilot CoE experience, and development of a framework for future CoE; and,ii) reallocate project funds between disbursement categories, to support the above listed activities, as well as ensure utilization of the project’s savings for additional, related activities—primarily the development of the design for Science Technology Park in Podgorica. At the moment, 469.000 EUR (541.000 USD equivalent) of non-contracted funds in Category 2 will be moved to Category 1.
2. This is the second restructuring of the project. The first restructuring took place in July 2016 and entailed an extension of the project closing date by twenty-one months, from March 30, 2017 to December 31, 2018.
3. Progress towards achievement of the Project Development Objective (PDO) and Implementation Progress (IP) are currently rated as Satisfactory. The PDO indicators are expected to be fully met, and the targets are / remain achievable by the revised project closing date. While the PDO indicators and targets remain achievable by the current closing date, the extension is needed to ensure the project’s full achievement of its development objective, including the intermediary indicator “Development of framework for future CoE,” and further reinforce the foundations for long-term sustainability of the project’s objectives.
4. While disbursement is at 100% it is important to note that the amount of EUR 1,842,836.23 (2,127,165.14 USD equivalent) has been advanced to the Designated Account and is yet to be documented. Around 1.3 million EUR (1.5 million USD equivalent) have been committed under existing ongoing contracts. Project savings, from lower spending and VAT refunds, in the amount of 490,000.00 EUR (565,482.00 USD equivalent) are proposed to be utilized for activities that further support achievement of the PDO and promote the sustainability of the reform and research initiatives created from HERIC. With the extension, it is expected that the project will fully utilize the loan proceeds.
5. There are no overdue audits and the audit opinion for 2017 is clean (there were no issues), and similarly the FM performance rating assessed by the Bank’s supervision is satisfactory.
B. Rationale for Restructuring:
6. Component 1: Higher Education (HE) Finance Reforms and Implementation of Quality Assurance Norms• Capacity building of the Agency for Control and Quality Assurance of Higher Education. The Agency is newly established and key staff members would benefit from being exposed to the best practices of similar agencies in other countries. The exchange of ideas and expertise, promoting communication and cooperation with other agencies and institutions would contribute to building effective QA mechanisms within the national system. The establishment of the Agency is of particular importance because it will deal with the quality of work of higher education institutions in Montenegro on a regular basis, with the goal to improve the work. It is important to note that the Agency has already set a firm objective of becoming a member of European Association for Quality Assurance (ENQA) and the European
The World BankHigher Education Research for Innovation and Competitiveness Project (P122785)
Quality Assurance Register (EQAR), with a view to becoming recognized as an internationally qualified accreditation agency. This objective is fully in line with the report on the quality assurance system prepared by an external expert through HERIC project which, among other things, outlines detailed recommendations/actions for meeting ENQA and EQAR membership criteria, as well as a multi-year comprehensive capacity building training plan for the national accreditation body. Having in mind the importance of the initial steps in the process, the role of H ERIC project would be crucial in pursuing the ultimate goal that has been set to establish effective QA Agency in Montenegro. The extension would enable the project to contribute to the staff’s capacity building by organizing to a number of identified study tours/trainings for them.
7. Component 2: Human Capital Development through Internationalization• The assessment of the National Excellence Scholarship Program. The assessment will be carried out once the program is finished. All scholarship agreements are to be completed by the end of the year, and, therefore, the optimal time to start activities on the assessment will be towards the end of the year, hence additional time is needed for full completion of this activity. The result of the evaluation will be a report with key information on how effective the scholarships were in achieving the Program objectives and recommendations for improving future program and its sustainability. Within the extended timeframe, the assessment would be finalized by the end of March 2019.
8. Component 3: Research and Innovation for Competitiveness• Ensuring sustainability of the Center of Excellence (CoE). The CoE project is contracted until the end of October 2018, and additional time is needed to fully establish new management structure at this newly designed entity (established June 2018). The proposed additional time for the CoE to be fully operational is by the end of March 2019. The financial and technical support throughout this extended period of time would also allow the CoE to position themselves better to be able to apply for the budget resources planned to be available in by mid-2019. As stated above, the complexities of establishing the CoE as an independent legal entity within the University of Montenegro have led to delays in completing this target of the HERIC project. Additional time and support from the World Bank technical team would be beneficial in achieving it. Finally, related to the Center of Excellence, the counterpart would like to perform an Assessment of the pilot Center of Excellence implementation experience and development of framework for the future Centers of Excellence, which has to be done after the implementation and reporting from the CoE project. The assessment would be completed by June 2019, and it would be a valuable input to the Government of Montenegro to further improve the framework for any future CoE. • Support the CoE and the University of Montenegro in creating a sustainable, competitive research environment, (including the continued development of intellectual property policies), where technology transfer and commercialization will be stimulated. At this final stage of the project, those steps are the most important and fully compliant with the purpose of Component 3, which is the creation of a sustainable, competitive research environment. The ultimate goal in this area is establishment of a functional National Innovation System that will ensure innovation development and successful technology transfer and commercialization. The project would provide expertise to assist with establishing a technology transfer office (TTO) that would facilitate: (i) development of innovations; (ii) commercialization of result of research for the public good; (iii) retention of existing researchers and attraction of new ones; (iv) better linkages with the private sector and industry; (v) ensuring additional resources for financing of advanced research and education; (vi) promotion of economic growth of Montenegro; (vii) social responsibility of the University of Montenegro.• Impact assessment of Collaborative R&D funded grants. Currently, 7 out of 8 grants have been completed, and the last one should be closed by the end of the year. So, the extension period would be used to analyze the impact of the implementation of these 8 projects, especially on research environment, education, business academia cooperation as well as jobs creation.
The World BankHigher Education Research for Innovation and Competitiveness Project (P122785)
9. In addition to the above project activities, the Government would like to utilize the project savings to also undertake the following activities: • Project design for the Science and Technology Park. In addition to the above, the Government of Montenegro would like to use the saved funding for the preparation of the project documentation for a future Science Technology Park in Podgorica—an activity which could not start earlier due to recent changes to relevant laws. The Ministry is currently in the final stage of preparation of Terms of Reference and supporting documents and is working closely with the Ministry of Sustainable Development and University experts, to prepare a good basis for the tender procedure for the main designs of the STP. The location of STP has been selected, within the University campus in Podgorica. It will have around 14,000 m2 of space. This proposed extension would therefore allow the project enough time to complete this task and prepare documentation by May 2019. It is important to note that the Government is ready to allocate national budget funds for 2019, to continue this important project and start with the construction works. In case that this activity is not completed by the closing date in June 2019, the Government/MoS will resume thefinancing and responsibility to complete this task from other budget resources. • Upgrade of IT system “Science network” - There is a need to upgrade the information system in order to provide the Ministry of Science and the Government of Montenegro with comprehensive data about research in the country, which would enable the production of international and national indicators for monitoring research activity. The system would encompass data on researchers, research teams, projects financed from different sources (including HERIC), research and innovation results, research expenditure, research infrastructure (an assignment already completed through HERIC project), with details about location and rules for sharing, with many sub-classifications which offer a comprehensive and comparable picture of the research system in Montenegro. By improving this system, the Ministry of Science will become the administrative data source on research and development for the Statistical Office of Montenegro (collecting and providing R&D indicators), for redesign of interface and for upgrade with new modules. The upgrade of the system, some hardware improvements (servers and other IT equipment) would be completed by May 2019.
