Objectives of the M & E of the HEEP Project

The objective of the M&E of the HEEP project is to

• Assist in monitoring and evaluating the progress of the HEEP project;
• Manage the implementation of the impact evaluation for the HEEP project;
• Strengthen the results-based monitoring and evaluation of the HEEP project.
• Strengthen the capabilities of the Egyptian universities to evaluate their own projects.

Monitoring the Quality of Implementation

In order to acquire the trust of educational institutions, those concerned with the quality of higher education outputs, and the whole society at large in higher education enhancement projects, a constant and periodical monitoring is conducted for the implementation of these projects while their performance is evaluated at different stages and levels

External Evaluation: Projects performance is bi-annually evaluated by the WB supervision missions and agreement is reached over what is to be achieved in the following six months. This continues on a regular basis until the end of the projects.

 

Evaluation through cooperating with Egyptian scientists abroad: Projects are evaluated by a group of Egyptian experts from the U.S., Canada, and European Union countries.

- Monitoring and Evaluation at the level of individual HEEP sub-projects: This takes place with all beneficiary entities during the various implementation phases. Higher education national committees formed by SCU and composed of 6 university presidents monitor the implementation of the projects.

- Monitoring and Evaluation at the level of PMU: The PMU’s activities include: (i) Coordinating HEEP projects; (ii) Setting indicators to measure project performance at the PMU, Sub-projects, and university projects levels; (iii) monitoring performance of the overall HEEP Project and preparing collective progress reports; and (iv) conducting tracer studies and impact assessment studies for evaluating the effect of the implementation of HEEP project on the development of the academic community. To strengthen the monitoring and evaluation activities, a template for the quarterly reports was designed and endorsed by the World Bank supervision teams. Each project component provided the PMU with regular (quarterly) progress reports summarizing the current status of Project implementation, including financial records, explanations for deviations from agreed-upon implementation plans, constraints and corrective measures to be taken using the pre-designed template for progress report. These quarterly reports were used to develop the consolidated collective report prepared by the Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant in coordination with the PMU Executive Director. The PMU also established an Impact Evaluation System that was applied in a pilot study at Zagazig University in order to test the study tools and design before it is implemented on a wide scale. The Supreme Council of Universities SCU has approved this system in 5/5/2008 to adopt it by all the seventeen public universities to measure the impact of the HEEP projects on their respective institutions focusing on academic performance. The PMU also prepared this Implementation Completion Report (ICR) in accordance with World Bank regulations and guidelines. In addition, the PMU conducted an impact evaluation study in order to validate the achievements of the HEEP project.

- Measuring return Academic Community: This is conducted by the PMU through comprehensive studies to measure and determine the benefit from implementing the HEEP project.

- Measuring return on universities: Each university has also prepared a study to evaluate the impact of project implementation on academic performance within universities.