The basic educational need of the consortium, which can be met as part of a project that fits perfectly into the priorities indicated by the European Commission, is the need to improve the digital competences of the partnership's academic staff. Competencies absolutely necessary for everyday educational work at the partnership's universities, which currently must be conducted remotely, online. The planned development of modern, multimedia and digital teaching materials for classes will not only make lectures and workshops conducted "remotely" more attractive, but will also enable smooth operation of partner institutions, including the creation and implementation in partner institutions of elements of the planned new educational module in the "Expert" specialty. for security policy and cooperation in the Mediterranean basin.
The indicated priorities in the field of higher education and the leading horizontal priority regarding improving the digital competences of academic staff, matching competences and practical skills to the current educational needs caused by the pandemic and civilization changes will be implemented in the form of preparing and conducting internal training of the consortium staff and during the practical use and implementation of the acquired knowledge during competences, to create digital teaching materials for the courses developed for students. The planned training will have an international dimension and, in addition to teaching participants how to use educational platforms and existing digital resources, they will show how teaching materials previously used in standard form can be adapted to digital form. The project will help develop new innovative materials for selected courses in the study module and will implement the proficient use of digital tools and platforms for distance education.
The horizontal priority in the field of supporting creativity and cultural awareness is implemented based on the thematic scope of the project and the study program being developed; where the leading topic is the security and cooperation of the European Union in the Mediterranean area, which includes both EU and non-EU countries. Such a setting of the issues allows, on the one hand, to strengthen European identity, notice common European values, and on the other hand, to learn and understand non-European cultures and become aware of both similarities and differences, what may unite and differ in the cultural areas discussed. Security in the contemporary EU reality is a key issue that ensures the stability of integration and building the Community's potential. A creative approach to the issue involves a cross-sectional and interdisciplinary look at international cooperation in the Mediterranean area and the creation of innovative, not yet existing teaching content and educational materials that will be used in the partnership institutions to implement the new study program. The marked thematic areas are closely related to both the forms and substantive scope of the academic education content developed in the project. They will include: online/distance learning, preparation of part-time (but virtual) courses on the practical application of digital competences acquired so far, as well as improving these competences through the participation of consortium staff in courses developed specifically during project activities; preparation of new academic courses - for staff in the field of digitalization of education and for students - a new offer of courses as part of an innovative training module in the specialty "Expert in security policy and cooperation in the Mediterranean basin". The thematic area of cooperation and international relations will be implemented thanks to the international composition and cooperation within the consortium, the use of contacts and cooperation of partnership institutions with non-EU countries of the Mediterranean Basin (e.g. the Spanish partner cooperates with a university from Morocco), the content of the planned studies is cooperation and international relations, security policy, intercultural negotiations.
To sum up, it can be said that the implementation of the selected priorities will take place both through project activities and actions; through the substantive content of the project and will be visible in the project results.
