The economic crisis and pandemic in South Mediterranean and sub-Saharan countries have put the HEIs in a challenge to accommodate for the new requirements of online teaching. The RL4Eng project aims to improve the quality of higher education in third countries and make it more relevant into the today’s digital transformation world through establishing Remote and Virtual Laboratories for Teaching and Training Engineering Students to modernize the current teaching approaches and improve the digital and entrepreneurial capacities of both students and teachers in South Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan HEIs. The project’s contribution to the priorities of the call includes the digital transformation under which digital education is the focus of the project. Online teaching for laboratories has been implemented in EU countries with successful outcomes. The involvement of different European Universities will help integrate good practices and minimise potential risks in implementing the RL4Eng project. South Mediterranean HEIs have identified the necessity of training with numerous initiatives available in the European system. Few Research is available on the effective delivery of remote labs and take-home labs. The project involves several workpackages in efforts made to elevate the knowledge of remote labs and take-home labs in the partners institutions via capacity building for students, staff and faculty and share of experiences. A remote lab will be established in each country of the partners institutions and a take-home lab will be established in each HEI of the partner countries. The very nature of remote labs, and take-home labs makes them sustainable and easily scalable as they becomes part of the university structure and receives part of its budget. Moreover, the nature of the remote labs makes them sustainable as they are accessible from everywhere and could be used for both teaching and for research.

The situation for female academics in Mediterranean region is characterized by very low percentages of representation of women at mid and senior levels at HEIs in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Female academics can contribute to building and creating crucial impact in their HEIs. FREE aims to establish strategic focus in HEIs for CBHE and improving performance of female academics & building female role models in HE. FREE also aims to develop HEIs capacity and culture and supporting mechanisms for establishment of equality and sustainability centers to support female academics and students. FREE also aims to develop research centers in the scope gender equality, sustainability and female empowermentFREE should develop the following outcomes: 1. Female academics are characterized by capacity and equipped with knowledge and experience as executive managers and institution leaders. 2. Female academics and students are characterized with institutional power, prepared with resources and knowledge of seeking professional support to deal different forms of inequality and discrimination3. Development of scientific research in the scope of gender equality, sustainability and female empowerment The project should develops the following impact:1. A generation of female academics characterized by human capacity, technical competencies, and managerial and leadership experience which would enable them to pursue career advancement. Higher percentages of female academics in workforce and achieving better representation at the entry, middle and senior levels. A generation of female academics characterized by power, higher levels of self-confidence, self-esteem and self-actualization. 2. Establishment of ffective HEIs which emphasizes on gender equality and sustainable institutions which have egalitarian organizational cultures3. Establishment of research centers in the scope of Sustainability and gender Equality at higher education institutions in LB, JR&SY.

The ENEPLAN project was conceived to address the lack of interdisciplinary approaches in higher education on energy planning and RES development in Mediterranean areas, by increasing the capacities of future professionals through innovative ICT-based educational approaches, able to integrate different disciplines (spatial planning, environment, engineering, landscape) and foster collaboration with research and business activities in the RES sector, thus keeping up with its rapid technological innovation. Addressing this issue is crucial to ensure sustainability in energy planning, and form more qualified, up to date, employable professionals, able to deal with innovative RES-based solutions and with the complexity of their socio-economic and environmental context.To attain this goal, ENEPLAN proposes an alternation of desk activities and workshops aimed at the collective production, development, testing and practical application of Open Educational Resources on energy planning, based on the tool of collaborative Concept maps.A Concept map is an ICT tool to represent relationships among concepts, and, as OER, it can be “customized” according to users’ needs, resulting in a versatile instrument for educational purposes and professional upgrade, as well as in a stimulus for developing applied research. Through this tool, ENEPLAN aims to:- improve the quality and modernisation of HE curricula and teaching and research activities in the field of integrated energy planning; - increase the labour market relevance of learning provisions and qualifications, and the employability of graduates;- strengthen the relations between HEI and the wider socio-economic environment, by involving academics, students, planners and enterprises in the creation of common tools and networks.OERs, uploaded on the ENEPLAN e-learning platform, will be available in English and Arabic, to be exploitable by a wide number of users in Europe and in the Arabic-speaking Mediterranean countries.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is currently more affected by wars and gross human rights violations than any other region in the world. To address this critical reality, innovative and promising approaches to the promotion of peace must be developed and integrated into the higher educational system within the region. Both Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation Studies are state-of-the-art approaches to transforming violent conflicts and triggering a social and cultural change. The development of Peace, Reconciliation, and Conflict Transformation Studies in the MENA region would transform the discipline, as well as the communities positively affected by their incorporation.The importance of this integration was acknowledged after the inauguration of the AAR where 45 Professors from 30 different Arab universities in the MENA region became members of the AARMENA. Today, we are working together to build capacity in the field of Higher Education (HEI) in Peace, Reconciliation and Conflict Transformation Studies in the MENA region. The program countries are Austria and Germany, in collaboration with the University of Innsbruck and Freidrich Schiller University. The partner countries are Jordan (University of Jorda, Petra University), Palestine Authority (Al-Istiklal University,Al-Azhar University), and Algeria (University of El Oued, Lamine Debaghine -Setif2). Our aim and focus are on the following :-The reinforcement of the existing network of cooperating partners through further regional, as well as international, cooperation to develop a program in Peace, Conflict Transformation, and Reconciliation Studies in HEI-Cooperation of UIBK UNESCO Chair for Peace Studies with Jena Centre for Reconciliation Studies JCRS in developing interactive reconciliation workshops and sessions for a teaching program in the hosting HEI's. -To advance curriculum development in Peace, Conflict Transformation, and Reconciliation Studies as academic degree in HEI.

According to scientific research, refugees have a higher risk of suffering physical and mental illnesses compared to the general population (Bogic, Njoku & Priebe, 2015). The consequences of such situations are even more severe for children (Fazel et al, 2012; Reed et al, 2012), and they include neurodevelopmental problems (Turley & Obrzut, 2012; Zaydeh et al, 2016). The effects and consequences of neurodevelopmental problems caused by the exposure to traumatic events, violence or malnourishment (Fasfous et al, 2013; Thabet et al, 2004) develop during childhood and adolescence and spread throughout life affecting academic performance, professional status and mental health during adulthood (Shonkoff, 2011, 2012). The largest number of refugees living in regions around Europe are located in the Middle East, specifically in Palestine and Jordan (Gonzalez-Ubeda, 2017). There are more than 2 million people living in refugee camps in Palestine. Moreover, 700,000 Syrians and 2 million Palestinian refugees are living in Jordan (almost 40% of the total population) (González-Úbeda, 2017). Nevertheless, professionals who provide care to refugee children (principally psychologists, social workers, and teachers) have limited or lacking training on neurodevelopment and its related problems. For these reasons, the main objective of this Project is to design and implement a higher diploma about neurodevelopment focused on refugee children for professionals who are involved in their care. This higher diploma will include units about brain and neuropsychological development, detection of neuropsychological problems, instruments for detection, etc. Objectives and sustainability will be achieved by means of qualifying academic staff on neurodevelopment as well as instructing them on becoming the future teachers of the diploma. Training will be supported by both online learning tools and personal training.