Transformational Leadership Program - Scholarships and Partnerships
Advisory Committee
Scholarships
Partnerships
Indiana University Transforms Research at the University of Prishtina
Indiana University, a longtime partner of the University of Prishtina, continues to support Kosovo’s largest public university with seminars, training, and mentoring on research and academic writing. The work is part of USAID’s Transformational Leadership Program – Scholarships and Partnerships.
This December, consultants from IU worked with professors from UP’s Faculty of Education on improving research quality and output through the development of writing groups. This is an approach that is widely used by faculty at IU and many American universities as a means to improve professors’ and graduate students’ academic writing and improve publication and grant success rates.
A writing group is typically made up of approximately 10 scholars within a faculty who meet on a weekly or bi-weekly basis for a defined number of hours to do just as the name says: write. Writing groups at Indiana University consist of one moderator, who helps each member set their goals for the day, and faculty members who gather to write their research papers. At the end of the session, the moderator asks everyone to present their progress to the group – creating accountability and output. Indiana University is developing this approach at UP to create group momentum for research and collaborative working.
Indiana University and USAID’s TLP-SP program are committed to transforming research at the University of Prishtina. As part of this initiative, the two institutions also released the first Albanian translation of Ranjit Kumar’s Research Methodology book, which was reviewed by UP Faculty of Education staff. Copies of the book will be distributed through the University of Prishtina, enabling any academic staff member to access the book for step by step guidelines on conducting ethical and well-designed academic research.
In the past, Indiana University’s team of consultants has helped UP launch and organize the annual Scientific Summer Symposium, where academic staff present progress on their research papers and collect feedback from peers.
