Final Conference of the CoVE South Africa Project: Sustaining Partnerships and Measuring Impact
9. 10. 2025
The final conference of the CoVE South Africa (Centres of Vocational Excellence) project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, takes place at Stellenbosch University under the theme “Sustaining CoVE partnerships into long-term actions and next steps.”
A notable contribution came from the delegation of Mendel University in Brno, represented by Petra Fukalová, Michaela Menšíková, and Francois Lategan from the Faculty of AgriSciences. Their team was responsible for project quality assurance, impact monitoring, and the development of an original methodology to assess the evolution of skills, attitudes, and perceptions among students, teachers, and stakeholders. Their findings were presented during the Impact Analysis and Quality Assurance sessions.
"For the team from the Faculty of AgriSciences at Mendel University, this was an excellent opportunity to develop and apply a new, innovative approach to impact assessment of project activities—an approach with great potential for the future of educational project evaluation based on rigorous scientific methodology,” said Dr. Michaela Menšíková, MENDELU project lead for CoVE SA.
The conference featured best practice showcases, business plan presentations by TVET colleges, discussions on accreditation of 22 activity-based training courses, and strategic dialogues on future funding and collaboration.
The CoVE_SA project successfully connected European and South African vocational education institutions to build a sustainable framework for skills development in Climate Smart Agriculture. Mendel University played a pivotal role as an academic partner, contributing research and evaluation expertise.