​  Minutes for the 1^st management meeting of the Tempus  project entitled (Building capacity of personnel in Jordanian  olive industry)

Date: February 25- 26, 2015

Place: University of Verona, Italy

Agenda :

1- achieved activities

2- Planning of the students exchange activities

3. Planning of the staff exchange activities

4. Visit to oleificio Turri press

5. Monitoring and review of the financial aspect of the  project

6. Overall review of the critical points of the project and proposed actions

7. Closing remarks

Wednesday,  25 February 2015

The 1^st session: 1^st management meeting (Main training center, Purchasing equipment, Laboratories)

The 1^st management meeting started at the University of Verona at 8.30 am on Wednesday 25/2/2015 by the attendance of all parteners of the project either European or Jordanians. During the meeting professor Giovanni vallini Dean of the Dept.of Biotechnology welcomed the attendance, then Prof. Fabio gave a short speech about the proposed agenda. The coordinator (prof. Ali Al-Saed) gave a power point presentation about the achieved activites during the past 16 monthes of the project duration.

During the presentation, discussions dealing with several deliverables took place:

•         The construction of the building of the main training center:

Dr Alsaed informed the steering committee that 90% of the work related to the construction of the building of the main training center has been done and it is expected to be completed by the 1^st of May 2015.

•         The construction of the buildings of the two branches of the training center:

Dr Alabsi and Dr Rababah informed the meeting that the two branches will be ready by the 1^st of May 2015.

•         Purchasing the needed equipment:

Dr Alsaed informed the meeting with the results of his visit in November 2014 with Dr Fabio to Florence/Italy and meeting with several managers of Italian companies manufacturing olive machinery as well as the quotations received.

He also provided the meeting with the results of his visit with dr Antonio to Seville/Spain and meeting with several managers of Spanish companies manufacturing olive machinery. The received quotations were also reviewed.

The results of the visit of Turkey by Dr Alsaed and the obtained quotation were also discussed.

After reviewing the achieved results of the three visits and the obtained quotations, Dr Alsaed refered that the Turkish quotation was better than the others since it fulfills all the specifications needed. Accordingly, the steering committee agreed to start the process of purchasing the needed equipment from Turkey by the the project coordinator who is the University of Jordan.

The steering committee wrote a letter to project disk officer, Mr Clivio, inquiring about the process of purchacing the needed equipment and an answer was received and will be considered in the purchacing process.

•         Establishing the sensory and chemical laboratories:

The Jordanian partners informed the steering committee that the needed labs

Will be ready by the 1st of July 2015.

As a result, Dr Maria from the University of Aristol of Thessaloniki threatened the Jordanian partners saying that Aristole University will withdraw from the project if the obove tasks were not achieved by 1^st July 2015, justifying such withdrawal with her dislike to have her university in the Black list by EACEA. The other three EU partners agreed Dr Maria to have the same action and the Jordanian parteners also agreed.

Wednesday, 25 February 2015

The 2nd session: 1^st management meeting (Seminars, Visit of distinguished trainers, Staff exchange, Graduate student exchange)

•         Conducting the seminars and workshops:

The steering committee agreed to train trainers for farmers, olive mills, table olive and sensory teams in 2015 and 2016 with the maximum possible number of trainees and as planned in the workplan of the project.

The steering committee studied in depth the EACEA comments after the field monitoring visit held in Jordan by June 2014 focusing on the training issue.  Accordingly, a letter was sent to the project disk officer, Mr Clivio to clarify

some points related to farmers training. An answer was received from Clivio with explanation and clarification for the asked questions.

In the meeting, a training plan and outline was proposed to be written by Jordanian partners to cover training of farmers trainers, olive mill trainers, table olive trainers and olive and olive oil sensory teams trainers. A duration of two weeks were given for such activity.

Regarding training on olive oil, an EU expert from Italy to participate in the training for 1 week in 2015 and another week in 2016.  Relating to training on table olive, a Greek expert to participate in the training for 1 week in 2015 and another week in 2016.

It was agreed in the meeting that trainers to be trained (farmer trainers, olive mill trainers, table olive trainers, olive and olive oil sensory teams trainers) should be selected by a transparent procedure including advertising in the media, writing to the related ministiers and organizations  …. etc.

It was also agreed that the duration of training to be one week (5 working days) for 30 hours (6 hours daily), the training to be divided into two parts

•         theoretical with a total time of 12 hours

•          practical with a total time of 18 hours

The theoretical part will be covered by EU experts while the practical will be covered by Jordanians

•         Visit of distinguished trainers for one week to Spain

It was greed to have trainees from different organizations besides the partner insituatins; but for the visit to Spain by distinguished trainees, members from the partners insituations should only be included.  In addition to that, the selected trainees should be :

•         Age of less less than 40 years

•         Relevance for education and English or Spanish profeciancy

•         Relevance of job experience

•         The ratio of female in the selected group should be not less than 50%

•            Staff exchange and course development

The steering committee discussed this aspect and decided the following:

•         The coordinator should provide each partner with a copy of the olive master programme plan.

•         A copy of the outline of  the under graduate and gradated courses to be taught and develepped.

 Providing each partner with the above matters should be during 10 days starting from the 3^rd of March 2015.

After that, each partner should send to dr.alsaed what he can participate to have the matching and the plan about his staff exchange.

•         Graduate student exchange:

The steering committee agreed to distribute Jordanian students between EU partners in the following manner:

•         2 students are welcomed by Dr. Maria from april to june 2015

•         2 students are welcomed by Dr. Kostas to be trained on olive oil analysis and sensory evaluation

•         1 student is welcomed by Dr. Fabio starting from next October 2015 for 60 days to be trained on HPLC and GC

•         Any number of students are welcomed by Dr. Antonio at any time

  a letter was sent to the project disk officer, Mr Clivio asking about the possibility of shortening the stay duration of students from 3 months maximum to 1 or 2 months time. An answer was received from Clivio with explanation and clarification for the asked questions.

Thursday,  26 February 2015

The 3rd session: (Visit to olive mill)

On Thuresday 8:30 morning the steering committee visited the oleificio turri mill near Verona city. The committee was welcomed by the vice president of the olio del Garda PDO association who accompanied the committee for the olive farm and then to the mill. A presentation about the company was given followed by practicing a sensory evaluation for olive oil samples the visit ended by 12:30

Thursday, 26 February 2015

The 4th session: (Web site, international olive product congress, Tasks distribution, Closing remarks)

•         Creating and updating of the project web site

It was agreed to update the project website by adding more photos focusing on the main training center and its two branches as well as photos taken during meeting. Information and scientific papers related to olives in both Arabic and English to be also included.

•         Hosting the international olive product congress in octobor 2016

It was agreed by the steering committee that Dr. Kostas will start working for this activity by the end of May 2015 and to provide the partners with an outline. It was also decided to unify the title of the congress as in the excel table (international olive product congress) and to be held in October 2016.

•         The distribution of the project tasks between partners

It was agreed to distribute the responsibilities for the activities as follows:

Due to the modifications conducted on the distributed tasks and to the delay occurred in the passed 15 months, the table of the work pachages and deliverables were adjusted and as in the attachment.

In the end of meeting, the steering committee made  the conclusions of the meeting and made overall review of the critical points of the projects and proposed actions.

The steering committee agreed to have an optional Skyp talk on the 1^st Wednesday of every month.

It was agreed to have any correspondence on Monday and to leave 3 day for answering, after that it will be considered acceptance by silence.