Cooperation and Communication

The SWOT analysis that was conducted prior developed the partnership management structure and the project development group has been running on these lines throughout the application process backed up by visits of TU Dresden and The Pyramid Group (now Paul Francis East) to Vietnam and Laos. The management structure is as demonstrated below and is underlined by stringent Quality Assurance Guidelines that are developed, agreed and trained to EU & PC partners at the Start off meeting. A fully fledged Quality Control Plan is thus developed at the Start Off Meeting with an additional Contingency Plan aimed at mitigating identified and perceived risks. Conflict will hopefully be avoided but procedures will be integrated into the Project Agreement document and will necessarily involve attempts to solve potential conflicts at institution and country Steering Group level based on previous project experience. If this is unsuccessful, representation can be brought to the Steering Group Leader Board and Project Co-ordinator.

Strong Quality Assurance measures and planning and sound management strongly limit conflict potential. Day-to-day coordination of the project activities are managed by the Lead Partner and all partners through Steering Groups in EU and PC countries. Steering Group management meetings are set to take place  monthly domestically and also monthly with EU and PC Steering Group leaders and the Project Coordinator to review objectives, monitor progress and ensure QA compliance. Management reports are developed and at yearly project planning and co-ordination reports are compiled encompassing administration and academic aspects. Additionally, there are two Interim meetings to review management and QA issues plus a final project end management meeting at the Final Conference.

CATALYST management top-down and down-up structure:

European Commission

UPB Project Coordinator

  • Overall scientific, legal, financial, administrative and QA Management

Steering Group Leaders and Project Co-ordinator Board

  •  Project Quality Control

Represented by Heads of EU and PC Steering Groups and Project Co-ordinator and responsible for key planning, conflict resolution, and supporting both Project Co-ordinator and Steering Group membership regarding any issues.

EU Steering Group (one member of each EU partner), Vietnam Steering Group (representing one member of each partner), Laotian Steering Group (representing one member of each partner)

  •  Responsible for general monitoring of progress, project implementation and project management

Institutional ‘lead’ from each Partner

  •  1 academic and 1 admin representative from each PC university

The resulting project plan reflects both the needs of each consortium partner and the technical expertise of the EU and PC institutions in Project Management.  In this way, university selection for this project reflects a deliberate choice to create a quality partnership that builds upon shared expertise between the EU consortium and Partner consortium.