PoSIG is the result of a collaboration started by the Political Science Department at the University of Salzburg, with support from the Austrian Development Agency and the Erasmus Mundus SIMA and SIGMA agile programmes. Since 2008, more and more student and staff grants have been helping academics from the Western Balkans to study and research at the University of Salzburg. Working together on teaching and research has led to a shared ambition for more intense cooperation between universities in the region. The fact that this cooperation is generic has created a solid base for it.
The joint Erasmus+ Project: “Curriculum Development joint European Political Science MA (EuroPS)” led by the University of Salzburg – Department of Political Science and Sociology, developed a joint/multiple MA in Political Science to be accredited at all project partner and the development of a multilateral management of this MA. The project (No. 561485-EPP-1-2015—1-AT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP) set up a joint/multiple MA in Political Science (120 ECTS) with a diploma supplement from all partners, based on European accreditation and European Standards and Guidelines. It’s a modernisation and Europeanisation project, and it supports, reflects and develops standards at EU and Western Balkan partners, encouraging regular academic exchange of good practice and sustainable networking between EU-WB partners, especially between WB.The project was implemented successfully between October 2015 and September 2017.
The consortium kicked off the first intake of students on the joint MA programme in Political Science – Integration & Governance in February 2017, and has been taking in new students ever since.
The PoSIG’s plan to work on an integrated approach for integration and governance capacity development fits really well with the needs of the Western Balkan region as a region of political transformation. The same thing was true for the Eastern Neighbourhood region, where the programme attracted students from this area. Thanks to Erasmus+ KA 107 and KA 171 grant resources, students and staff from these universities have also taken part in PoSIG activities. Since 2019, students from the Eastern Neighbourhood and Lebanon have successfully applied for PoSIG placements, and the annual PoSIG Teacher Academies, first set up in the EuroPS project in 2016, have seen an increasing number of professors from these universities.
Then, with the Erasmus+ CBHE JoPScip project, partner universities from Armenia and Georgia joined the PoSIG consortium in 2024, which should lead to an extended European Accreditation by AQ Austria from the academic year 2025/26. The continued cooperation in student and staff exchange has created a strong generic basis for institutional cooperation.
The PoSIG consortium is also including universities from Central Asia and the South Mediterranean cooperation as associated partners to joint activities.
The following timeline details the key developments in the history of the PoSIG programme.
As the first joint MA program PoSIG received a positive European Accreditation approval from AQ Austria (Agency for Quality Assurance and Accreditation) on the 22nd of March 2017! Based on the Yerevan Declaration 2015 of the Bologna Minister Conference this new approach in the quality assurance of joint degree programs will be an encouraging new…Read More
The consortium of EuroPS will open up the first admission applications for Joint Master in Political Science, Integration and Governance. The Joint Master in Political Science – Integration and Governance is a result of the Erasmus+ KA2 Capacity Building Project 561485 – 2015-2017 “Curriculum Development Joint European Political Science MA (EuroPS)” which…Read More
EUROPS Consortium is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for our final project conference. This conference is organised together with the annual meeting of our partners in European projects on academic exchange and collaboration in different projects in Political Science, Public Administration and International Studies. It is addressed to…Read More
While the call for applications for the joint Master in Political Science – Integration and Governance is about to be launched for the 2017-2018 intake, the euroPS partners are working on the Seminars of Excellence that will be held in May 2017 in Tirana, Skopje, Prishtina and Sarajevo. The Seminars…Read More
The first Coordinators’ Board meeting for 2017 was held in Salzburg between 31 January and 03 February 2017 in Salzburg, whereby all project coordinators from partner universities participated. The aim of the meeting was: first, to discuss the progress of the accreditation process at the European level and at the…Read More
The Coordinators’ Board meeting in Salzburg set the activity agenda for 2017, with the aim at improving and accelerating joint work towards better results, with main activities as follows: Preparation for the launch of the application of PoSIG – March and April 2017 Quality Meetings at Western Balkans at the…Read More
The Coordinators’ Board held a meeting in November 2016, in Salzburg working on the Joint Master Degree in Political Science – Integration and Governance (PoSIG). During the meeting the Board discussed further development of the project and the courses. The consortium members also worked on detailed admission information and…Read More
The National Erasmus+ Office in Albania in accordance with the plan of the EACEA conducted the monitoring visit of our EuroPS project on Monday, 13 th March 2017 at the premises of the European University of Tirana. The aim of the visit was to monitor the progress of the…Read More
The Euro-PS staff held its following activity during 28 th of September until 2 nd of October at the premises of the Institute for Sociological, Political and Juridical Research of the University of “Ss Cyril and Methodius”, in Skopje. The meeting focused on quality management and establishing ways to develop a quality…Read More
EuroPS is developing and progressing smoothly. Therefore, in the framework of preparations, on 28th September the summary workshop at was organized the premises of the European University of Tirana. Dr. Franz Kok, the Project Leader of our EuroPS Joint Master in Political reported on the project progress up to autumn 2016,…Read More
