In contrast with other neighbours, Belarus is still a planned economy, whose macroeconomic data arereasonable. The fact that the country is still a planned economy has on the one hand avoided the hardships of a transition to a market economy, but at the same time has left the nation ill-equipped for the future.

High Education plays an important role in the life of Belarus, where it has always been considered a priority. Any input or improvement on any of its aspect has a multiplying effect on the whole society. The project is timely in a moment in which reform of the University legislation is being considered, the new Bologna concepts are being apprehended and introduced but paradoxically university management modernisation itself has been left out, at least in the official reports.

One of the most important elements of Belarus´s economy is the cooperative sector. Precisely in this sector our beneficiary institution, BTEU, is incardinated.

Having a look to the administrative structure of BTEU it seems clear that reform is needed. Theproject aims at restructuring this managerial structure, improving and modernising its working, defining new administrative units and/or upgrading others, including new concepts like the vicemanagers in order to decentralise it a little bit, and adding best practises and EU experience in dealing with its administrative processes.

The project will start with an accurate assessment of the needs of the beneficiary institution, and once that operation has been realised, it will move to the training of the managerial staff, and at the same time to assist senior staff at BTEU to draft a comprenhensive Management Strategic Plan, that will shape the mechanics of the institution, and will define its structure.It also includes the upgrading of the current Web page, to turn it into a real tool for the use of staff and speeding up of the processes and formation of managerial staff. Training of junior and senior managerial staff will proceed in two phases: first we will start with some key workers that will be incardinated in a new training center, which in turn will be the new trainers of the remaining staff. Training in foreing language is also foreseen.Much on the same line, the project foresees exchanges between BTEU and UdS and SAA, as it is believed that an exposure to a different cultural setting could benefit not only the partner country's managerial staff, but also the staff of both EU universities. A limited practical placement is also foreseen.

Quality Control procedures play an important role in the proposal. There is one outcome devoted to it, but QC is present horizontally in every corner of the proposal. The introduction of the standards of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) is paramount. And although it is not guaranteed as a result of the project, UdS senior management will illustrate BTEU staff on their own experience in some of its units obtaining ISO 9001 recognition, the European Quality (+200) and other mentions.

Although it is believed that the above basic mentioned considerations concerning the country´s background are realistic, and the description of needs is accurate, Belarus's own's path is still an important issue when assessing risks of any project being held in this country.