Second management meeting minutes for the Tempus project entitled: (Building capacity of personnel in Jordanian olive industry) (543820 TEMPUS-1-2013-1JO-TEMPUS-JPHES (2013/001-001))
Date: October, 21- 22/ 2015
Place: University of Jordan/Jordan
Agenda:
1- Reviewing of the project achieved activities
2-Verona meeting decisions
3- Observations of the 1st monitoring visit
4- The mid report observations
5-The olive congress in 2016
6- Reviewing the 20 deliverables of the 6. work packages and their distribution.
7- The necessity to extend the project duration
8- The difficulties facing the project and proposing the suitable solutions i.e student and staff exchange
9- Planned activities for the coming 6 months (external editor, project quality aspects and sustainability).
Wednesday, 21st October 2015
Opening of the second management meeting
The opening ceremony started at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Jordan on Wednesday 21/10/2015. Registration started at 10:00 am and the opening ceremony at 10:30 am. The coordinator (Prof. Al-Saed) gave a presentation about the project regarding its aims, activities and accomplishments. Prof. Favati gave a short speech as a representative of EU partners about their institutes and their activities. Dr. Reem Khader (Erasmus plus office in Jordan) also gave a short speech about Tempus and Erasmus plus projects in Jordan. The opening ceremony ended by a speech given by Prof. Sweis (Vice President of Investment & Development at the University of Jordan).
Afterwards the attendance visited the main training center and opened it.
The 1st session:(reviewing of the project achieved activities, Verona meeting decisions, observations of the 1stmonitoring visit, the mid report observations and the olive congress in 2016)
The 1st session started at 11:50 am in the Faculty of Agriculture on Wednesday 21/10/2015 with the attendance of all Jordanian partners i.e Prof.Alsaed from the University of Jordan (JU), Prof. Rababa from Jordan University of Science&Technology (JUST), Prof. Al-Absi from Muta University (MU), Dr. Ajo from Balqua Applied University/Alhuson University Colleage (BAU), Miss Daghmash from the Jordanian Organization for Olive Products Exporting (JOPEA), Eng. Almomani from The Jordanian Society for Sensory Evaluation of Food (JSSEF), Prof. Favati from the University of Verona (UNIVR, Italy), Prof. Chartzoulakis from Institute for Olive Tree and Subtropical Plants (ELGO, Greece) and Dr. Maria del Mar CONTRERAS GAMEZ from Granada University (UGR, Spain) while Prof. Carretero (UGR, Spain) and Prof. Tsimidou from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (AUTH) participated through Skype.
Prof. Al-Saed (project coordinator) gave a presentation about the progress achieved in the project activities during the past 22 months of the project’s duration. Afterwards, discussions dealing with the following matters took place:
1. An assessing study for the olive sector in Jordan was proposed by the EU partners during the disseminating meeting. The study was carried out during October-November 2014, where samples were collected from the olive producing areas. The obtained results were written as a scientific paper. Publishing of the scientific paper was assigned to Prof. Carretero who informed the meeting through Skype that the publishing of the scientific paper in a distinguished international journal is under-process.
2. Construction of the building of the main training center: Prof. Al-Saed informed the meeting that the building of the main training center is completed and the process of purchasing the laboratory equipment will start after the olive mill and the pickling plant are purchased in order to correctly estimate the remaining budget for those equipments. The EU partners advised to have a list of the needed laboratory equipment and their specifications in the meantime.
3. Sensory evaluation laboratory in JUST: Prof. Rababa informed the meeting that the sensory evaluation laboratory in JUST is almost finished and the only missing element is sinks in the booths. Prof. Favati, Prof. Al-Saed and Prof. Chartzoulakis inquired about the accreditation of the laboratory without the sinks, to which Prof. Rababa answered that he will check the IOC standards in order to have the accreditation.
4. Sensory evaluation laboratory in MU: Prof. Al-Absi informed the meeting that the laboratory in MU will be completed in 1-2 months when the sinks are installed in booths.
5. Chemical laboratory in BAU: Dr. Ajo informed the meetingthat the chemical laboratory in BAU/ Al-Husn Faculty is being delayed due to management difficulties. He also informed the meeting that establishing the lab will take 1 month. The meeting also inquired about the needed elementary equipment for the laboratory and asked Dr. Ajo to make a clear list of such equipment.
6. Prof. Tsimidou suggested through Skype that discussions about the justification of purchase of the laboratory equipment be continued via email and the purchase must be done as soon as possible since there is already delay in this activity. Prof. Chartzoulakis, Prof. Carretero through Skype and Prof. Al-Saed also agreed with Prof. Tsimidou.
7. Prof. Al-Saed informed the meeting that the tender for the purchase of the olive mill and olive pickling line was settled after long negotiations and it will take 2-4 months to install the equipment. When Prof. Favati mentioned that the project is 6 months late and the laboratory equipment have not been purchased yet, Prof. Al-Saed replied that laboratory equipment is much easier and faster (few weeks) to purchase since they are available in Jordan. Prof. Tsimidou commented that the equipment must be European-made.
8. Prof. Chartzoulakis asked the Jordanian partners from HEIs about the study year for higher education students and details of courses in order to arrange the staff exchange activity for ElGO, to which Prof. Favati added that while arranging for the staff exchange activity, Prof. Al-Ismael (Head of Nutrition & Food Processing Department in UJ) informed the staff in UJ that some lecturers may not allow other lecturers to take from their course time. Prof. Al-Saed replied that all arrangements will be made in all partner HEIs to ensure successful accomplishment of the activity.
9. The meeting logged into the project website, and a technical error regarding photos featured was found and Prof. Al-Saed ensured that the error will be fixed by the web services-providing company. EU partners also suggested adding a question and answer (Q&A) section and the meeting agreed on such suggestion. When reviewing the scientific papers section in the website dedicated to olive and olive oil studies, EU partners commented that permission to offer the service of reading theses papers from their publishing houses and until obtaining such permission the website should only display the abstracts of the scientific papers, to which the meeting agreed. The responsibility for the management and quality control of the project website relies on Prof. Al-Saed and Prof. Favati.
10. The meeting agreed to hold a workshop instead of a congress in late 2016, during which proper dissemination of the project activities is carried out and emphasis on the best agricultural practices could be done. The meeting proposed to have the title of the workshop as "Final International Dissemination Workshop". This proposal should be approved by EACEA.
11. Prof. Tsimidou opposed on the fact that none of the partners visited AUTH for the staff exchange activity in 2015 and all the visits where to UGR, to which Ms. Daghmish (JOPEA) clarified that she visited ELGO not UGR and Prof. Al-Saed replied that AUTH will be visited in 2016.Prof. Favati also asked why the visit report of Prof. Al-Saed is the only report available, to which Prof. Rababa replied that their reports are under-process and Ms. Daghmish added that her visit report is only missing the results of the tests conducted in ELGO.
12. Prof. Tsimidou asked for the reason why MSc. or Ph.d students were not sent to AUTH for training on table olives pickling when it was offered, to which Prof. Al-Saed replied that the opportunity was announced but no students applied for it.
13. EU partners wondered why there has not been any student exchange visits to any EU partner, to which Prof. Al-Saed answered that there was not postgraduate students with thesis subjects related to olive or olive oil in late 2014 and early 2015 and postgraduate students with thesis subjects related to olive or olive oil from UJ, JUST and MU will visit EU partners in 2016 when they finish their current courses.
14. Prof. Favati referred to the decisions made in the 1st management meeting in Verona regarding participation of EU partners in the training courses of 2015, specifically that each EU partner participate in 12 working hours, however they only gave 6 hours of lecturing. Prof. Tsimidou also added that Dr. Blekas and Dr. Nenadis to cover this activity as well as for the staff exchange activity. Prof. Al-Saed informed the meeting that each training course had 6 hours/day for 5 days for theoretical and practical experience. Prof. Favati also commented that each training course could have a summary written in English to which Prof. Al-Saed replied that for each training course there will be a summary and scientific material uploaded on the project website.
15. Prof. Al-Saed informed the meeting that additional workshops will take place and the same training courses done in 2015 will be repeated in 2016 and all partners should interact and participate more in this activity. Prof. Chartzoulakis asked about the topics of the training courses and Prof. Al-Saed answered as:
a. Sensory evaluation of olive oil and table olives: which took place in 4-8/10/2015
b.Training trainers of personnel in the olive milling sector: which is taking place during this week It takes place in 18-22/10/2015
c.Training trainers of personnel in the table olives sector: which will take place in 25-29/10/2015
d. Training trainers of olive farmers: which will take place in UJ by
1-5/11/2015, in MU by 8-12/11/2015 and in JUST by 15-19/11/2015.
Prof. Favati proposed that meetings and training courses in 2016 could not take place in the same time, in order to be fully available and concentrated for each activity. EU partners asked about the evaluation and selection method of distinguished trainees to be granted a visit to UGR/Spain, to which Prof. Al-Saed replied that all trainees are given a short exam from the trainers at the end of each training course, checked for attendance and evaluated by the trainers.
The 1st session ended at 7:20 pm on Wednesday 21/10/2015.
Thursday, 22nd October 2015
This day´s activities started with a meeting with Prof. Sweiss
Meeting with Prof. Sweiss, Vice Presedent of Investment & Development at UJ.
Prof. Sweiss welcomed the attendance in UJ at 9:10 am and assured them that the delay in the achievement of the project activities is due to UJ systems and mismanagement and that there is an intention to build a new management system in UJ for Tempus projects to avoid such problems. Prof. Chartzoulakis raised the subjects of equipment purchase and the proposal to extend the duration of the project and Prof. Al-Saed added a summary about the delay faced in this activity. Ms. Daghmish also agreed about the restricted procedures. Prof. Sweiss proposed that he would be informed of any equipment purchase in UJ beforehand in order to properly estimate the time required for each purchase and he also asked to prepare the specifications of the laboratory equipment within a few weeks. Prof. Al-Saed commented about the poor cooperation of MU and JUST to complete the laboratories in their branches, to which Prof. Sweiss replied that they cannot interfere in MU and JUST management of the project but if they continue in such attitude formal letters could be sent to their administration to notify them that if they do not cooperate with the signed agreements, funds could be drawn from MU and the meeting ended at 10:35 am.
The 2nd session :(reviewing the 20 deliverables of the 6th work packages, their distribution and the necessity to extend the project duration)
The 2nd session started at 10:43 am in the Faculty of Agriculture on Thursday 22/10/2015. The meeting discussed the following subjects:
16. The intermediate report and its reply from EACEA: the meeting reviewed the reply sent from EACEA officer where they accepted the report with some notes such as:
a- Section 9 of the intermediate report (regarding quality of the project) was unfilled, and the meeting agreed it will be filled by Prof. Al-Saed and sent to EACEA.
b- Inquiry about staff cost of UJ by Mr. Casali (EACEA officer), which was clarified by Prof. Al-Saed on July 2015.
17.The necessity to extend the duration of the project: there was two sayings on this subject, one from Prof. Favati who proposed to wait until February 2016 and after the 2nd monitoring visit to Jordan and the purchasing process for the mill and the pickling line and then decide about this point. The other saying was from Prof. Tsimidou who proposed to wait until we reach to the time where we have 70% expenditure of the received project funds, to which Prof. Chartzoulakis agreed.
18. Student exchange: Prof. Tsimidou informed the meeting that the reason that there has not been any EU postgraduate student exchange to Jordanian partners is due to fears of the security situation in the area. EU partners also commented that the Jordanian postgraduate students who will participate in the activity could be distributed between the EU partner's institutes. Prof. Tsimidou proposed that postgraduate students that could visit AUTH to be trained on table olives pickling could be those who already have knowledge about pickling as well as olive oil quality. It was proposed from EU partners that olive oil samples for scientific research purposes not to be frozen and best to be kept at 14oC ± 1oC. Prof. Rababah added that Jordanian postgraduate students can visit EU institutes in the summer time since they are committed to courses and EU universities are closed in the summer time. EU partners asked if there are any difficulties attaining visas for students, to which Prof. Al-Saed answered that attaining visa for Spain took more than one month.
The meeting agreed on the following points:
a- the student exchange is for training purposes as well as for performing the practical works of graduation thesis.
b- Jordanian partners will put a table detailing the postgraduate students visits to EU institutes.
c- EU partners will put a table detailing the postgraduate students visits to Jordanian institutes.
d- Since BAU/ Al-Huson Faculty does not have MSc. And PhD. Programs, their share of this activity will be done by UJ.
19. External auditor: the meeting agreed to consult Prof. Sweiss regarding this activity to start collecting offers and choosing one.
20. Financial aspects of the project: the meeting reviewed the tables distributing the project funds and a few technical errors were found and Prof. Al-Saed informed the meeting that these errors will be fixed and tables will be sent to the partners within few weeks.
21. Planned activities for the next six months:
a. Absorbing the 70% of the received funds, especially purchasing the pilot and analytical equipment.
b. Providing plans for student and staff exchange from EU and Jordanian partners.
c. Working with Prof. Sweiss to write letters to beneficiaries outside the project such as the ministry of agriculture to sign agreements and protocols of cooperation.
d. Write to EACEA officer to inform them of the effect of the political situation surrounding Jordan on student exchange from EU partners.
The meeting ended at 6:00 pm.