Norad’s Programme for Master Studies (NOMA) is a programme for educational cooperation based on equal partnerships between higher education institutions in Norway and in eligible countries in the South.

NOMA is funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the overall administration of the programme is the responsibility of the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Higher Education (SIU).

The programme is based on the interest and expertise that Norwegian academics and institutions have in collaborating with partners in the South and aims to contribute to capacity and competence building in eligible countries in the South.

The NOMA programme was launched in 2006 when Norad and SIU entered into an agreement regulating a four-year period of the programme, from 2006–2010. The programme period was extended to 31.12.2014 with an addendum to the agreement signed by the parties in November 2008. The NOMA programme replaced the former Norad Fellowship Programme (NFP), which existed from 1962 to 2008. Students from the eligible countries outside Norway who took part in the NFP programme came to Norway to take their Master’s degrees. Under the NOMA programme students take their Master’s degree at an institution outside Norway under Master’s programmes developed in close cooperation and partnership with Norwegian higher education institutions.

The individual projects in the programme are embedded in the collaborating institutions.

The aim of the NOMA programme is to contribute to the education of employees in the public and private sectors as well as at NGOs in the South through building capacity at Master’s level in higher education institutions in eligible countries in the South.

The objectives of the NOMA programme are:

• To support the development of Master’s programmes at HEIs in the South through close collaboration with HEIs in Norway in accordance with national needs
• To achieve, in a longer term perspective, sustainable capacity of institutions in the South to provide the national work force with adequate qualifications within selected academic fields of study
• To stimulate South-South-North cooperation through support for the development of regional Master’s programmes
• To enhance gender equality in all programme activities
• To strengthen and further develop the expertise of Norwegian HEIs on the integration of global as well as developmental perspectives in their professional work

Activities supported by the NOMA programme include fellowships for NOMA students, limited grants for travel and salary expenses for visiting teachers, institutional development, staff development as well as administrative support.

2.1. Education of Master’s students

Education is an important component of all NOMA supported projects. All projects allocate a substantial part of the total budget to scholarships for Master’s students.

The aim of all educational activities within the NOMA Programme should be to contribute to the education of employees in all sectors (public and private sectors as well as civil society) in eligible countries through building capacity at Master’s level in higher education institutions in the South.

Completing a Master’s degree that gives the students satisfactory qualifications will require two years of full-time commitment, equivalent to 120 credits according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

2.2. Gender equality

The NOMA programme aims to contribute to gender equality in education and to the empowerment of women. Since women are underrepresented in higher education, NOMA Master’s programmes should encourage the enrolment of female candidates in order to reach 50% female student participation in NOMA. This should be realised through active recruitment strategies, gender perspectives, “mainstreaming” and gender-relevant Master’s programmes.

In order to increase the number of women participating in NOMA, the requirement for professional experience for women who otherwise fulfil the academic requirements for NOMA scholarships can be waived. A financial reward system will also be introduced during the programme period and granted to projects that reach the stated NOMA objective of 50% gender balance in the recruitment and successful graduation of NOMA students.

The NOMA policies are aligned with the priorities of the Norwegian government in the fields of foreign policy and development cooperation. The NOMA Programme Document 2006–2010 describes the NOMA policies regarding eligible countries, institutions and academic fields for the programme period 2010–2014.

3.1. Eligible countries

The NOMA Programme Document sets out the NOMA policy regarding eligible countries, institutions and academic fields. The following geographical areas are eligible for support from NOMA:

1) Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Nicaragua, Bolivia

2) Other developing countries may also be included as decided by Norad. For the current programme period the following country categories are considered eligible:

a) Countries that can further Norwegian contribution to peace and conflict resolution and that are relevant to the rebuilding of society following conflict such as Afghanistan and Sudan.

b) Countries whose expertise and capacity within higher education institutions and research enable them to assist and cooperate with countries within the region, thus meeting the criteria of point 1 or 2 a).

3.2. Eligible institutions

The NOMA programme is aimed at institutions and higher education institutions from countries listed under the geographical criteria (Institutions outside Norway, IoN). The institutions should be recognised/accredited by the national authorities in the country in which they have their campus, they should have appropriate systems for accounting and auditing and they should be able to provide plans for monitoring and reporting according to the NOMA requirements.

Norwegian institutions (Institutions in Norway, IiN) which are members of the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions (UHR) in Norway and run accredited Master’s programmes through the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education (NOKUT), are eligible.

3.3. Eligible academic fields

These are the eligible academic fields for NOMA for the programme period 2006–2014:

• Education
• Environment, economic development and trade
• Gender
• Good governance, democratic development, human rights and migration
• Health
• HIV/AIDS
• Oil and energy
• Peace and conflict resolution

The NOMA programme supports two types of cooperation projects, namely bilateral cooperation projects and multilateral cooperation projects. For bilateral and multilateral projects running over two years, the project sum should not exceed NOK 2.25 million and NOK 3 million respectively. For bilateral and multilateral projects running over four years the project sum should not exceed NOK 4.5 million and NOK 6 million respectively.

4.1. Bilateral Master's programmes

are based on cooperation between two partner institutions (nationally accredited higher education institutions), one outside Norway (IoN) and one in Norway (IoN). A permanently employed academic staff member at each main partner institution should act as programme coordinator and will be responsible for planning, implementing and reporting on the project.

Bilateral programmes may involve informal or formal cooperation with other institutions, without specific funding for such cooperation activities. The programme period may be either two years – one student cohort – or four years – two student cohorts.

4.2. Multilateral Master's programmes

have two main partner institutions, one outside Norway and one in Norway, as well as additional partners both outside Norway and/or in Norway. The programme period may be either two years – one student cohort – or four years – two student cohorts.

The NOMA programme is built on a decentralised mode of initiation, implementation, management, review and reporting. Even if projects and programmes are initiated by a group of academic staff, the cooperation is to be embedded in and committed to by the management of the participating institutions. The partnership programme is based on a common interest but with the needs of the participating institutions and countries in the South as a priority. The aim of the cooperation between the institutions and the supported projects is to strengthen capacity and expertise at the institutions, amongst their staff and amongst the workforce of the respective countries engaged in Norwegian development cooperation.

Initiation, implementation, management, review of progress and reporting to SIU’s NOMA Programme Board are to be carried out by the academic staff and their institutions.

A prerequisite for participation in the NOMA programme is that the institutions have the organisational structure and administrative functions necessary to handle the day-to-day running of project activities, including accounting and sound routines for auditing.

The first report the project coordinators have to jointly prepare and submit is the Initial Project Report (IPR). This report should be prepared within two months after the first student intake to the respective Master’s programme (for more information about the Initial Project Report, see section 12.4).

The project coordinators are also responsible for the annual reporting on their project. It is mandatory for all NOMA-supported projects to submit the Annual Master Programme Report to SIU each year. The deadline for submitting the report is in March each year (the date for submission varies from year to year). The project coordinators are jointly responsible for writing and submitting the report each year (for more information about the Annual Master Programme Report, see 12.4).

In order to secure institutional commitment to the NOMA partnership, the tasks and responsibilities of the project coordinators and of the institutional contact persons in the NOMA partnership differ significantly. While the project coordinator is in charge of the day-to-day running of a single NOMA-supported Master’s programme, the institutional contact person at the same institution is responsible for coordinating and evaluating all NOMA-supported projects on behalf of the institutional management at his/her institution. The distinction between the two roles should be taken into account when appointing the institutional contact person in order to avoid the mixing of roles.

7.1. The project coordinators’ role

In bilateral projects one academic staff member at each partner institution has the responsibility for planning, implementing and reporting on the project, and they are called project coordinators.

In multilateral cooperation projects, the cooperating academic staff members at the main partner institutions in Norway and in the South are project coordinators for the multilateral project and have the main responsibility for planning, implementation and reporting.

A change of project coordinator has to be agreed by the main partner institutions in Norway and outside Norway, and the change has to be communicated to SIU immediately.

7.2. The roles of the institution and the institutional contact person

In order to coordinate responsibilities at an institutional level, each main partner institution applying for support needs to appoint one administrative contact person at institutional level, a NOMA institutional contact person, to coordinate the institution’s handling of the application(s) and later, if supported, administrative work related to the project(s) (annual reporting, for example). This contact person also has to oversee the day-to-day institutional handling of the NOMA partnership as soon as an institution has received support for the establishment of a NOMA Master’s programme. This contact may be a person at the Office of International Relations or similar.

In short, the institutional contact person or the coordinating unit is the coordinating link between the NOMA projects at his/her institution and SIU. The contact person is also responsible for preparing an annual institutional report to SIU, which includes an assessment of the NOMA-supported partnership (for more information about the annual institutional report, see 12.4). The contact person may also be asked to prepare meetings etc. in relation to institutional visits from SIU.

If an institutional contact person has to be replaced, SIU should be notified in writing by the institutional management as soon as possible.

Institutions with several NOMA projects may additionally establish a “NOMA coordinating unit” in order to coordinate the day-to-day handling of the NOMA partnership, reporting procedures and the following up of financial issues and accounting.

The total project sum applied for should not exceed NOK 2.25 million for one student cohort and NOK 4.5 million for two student cohorts for bilateral projects and NOK 3 million for one student cohort and NOK 6 million for two student cohorts for multilateral projects. The following activities are supported by NOMA:

8.1. Student-related costs

NOMA Scholarships

NOMA scholarships are by far the most significant cost on the budget. Scholarships are to be given only to students from eligible countries outside Norway and should cover the following expenses: tuition fees, living cost and accommodation, travel expenses from home country to the admitting institution, resettling grant , excess luggage, medical insurance, field work and visa. It is advisable to enter into written agreements with the students who are to receive NOMA scholarships outlining the time period and the total sum of the scholarship, currency, how it will be paid (e.g. monthly or per semester), what costs the scholarship will cover, when it comes into force etc.) Most institutions already have existing scholarship agreements for students which can be tailored to suit the NOMA collaboration. Please note that for Master’s programmes in which students spend part of their studies in Norway the scholarships must be harmonised with the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund (Lånekassen) for the period that the NOMA students are studying in Norway. It is the responsibility of the institution to ensure that all NOMA students at the same institution receive the same allowance.

8.2. Staff-related costs for teaching and supervision

Travel expenses

Visits to Norway will be covered according to the standards of Norwegian national regulations. Travel expenses to and from Norway or third countries should be calculated according to the cheapest mode of international air travel. Travel expenses exceeding this limit will not be covered. Regulations established by the individual IiN concerning visiting academic staff should be used. For Norwegian travellers, stays abroad are calculated according to the official Norwegian regulations (Statens Reiseregulativ). For visits to countries other than Norway, funding is based on the regulations of the home country or home institution. Travel in the home country should be calculated in accordance with the national regulations or regulations established by the home institution provided they do not exceed Norwegian allowance limits.

Salary expenses

Some salary costs for visiting teachers are eligible under the NOMA programme. Total salary costs should not

exceed more than 25% of SUM scholarships/fellowships + SUM teaching and supervision +SUM Institutional development

8.3. Institutional development

Limited funds are also available for library equipment, staff development and administrative support but their combined cost should not exceed 5% of SUM scholarships/fellowships + SUM teaching and supervision + SUM institutional development.

Other collaborative activities
This item covers costs related to various types of project activities such as seminars/workshops.

8.4. Project administration

Project administration costs (IoN and IiN) are intended to contribute towards administrative expenses at department/institute/centre/faculty level associated with the time and resources invested in the administration of educational activities, accounting and reporting which represent an additional burden as a direct result of these activities.

Combined project administration costs should not exceed 7.5% of SUM scholarships/fellowships + SUM teaching and supervision + SUM institutional development.

8.5. External funding

SIU encourages the partner institutions to report on activities which are funded by external financial contributors – this applies to the application as well as to the annual report to NOMA.

Although the NOMA-funded activities are a priority in the NOMA programme, NOMA emphasises the positive effects of co-funding with other programmes and/or agencies. It should be noted, however, that the same type of activities cannot be funded by more than one programme (no double funding).

8.6. Costs not covered by the NOMA programme

The NOMA programme does not cover basic salary expenses for permanent staff at the institutions who participate in NOMA-supported activities. The same applies to infrastructure such as buildings, water and electricity required to run the Master’s programme – such expenses are to be met by the institution where the programme takes place.

First initiatives
There is no clear “recipe” for how to find a cooperation institution and a partner for a collaborative project. Past cooperation, meetings at international conferences and
identification through international higher education and research journals are possible ways of finding partners. The same applies to the identification of additional partner(s) / network partner(s).

Once the partner(s) has been identified:

Decide on the objectives together
Planning must be based on a genuine commitment from academic staff both at institutions in Norway and outside Norway to the development of the Master’s programme. A project will often commit institutions for several years, and it is important that the planned partnership is solid and institutionally embedded in order to survive changes in personnel, for instance.

The aim and objectives of the Master’s programme project that is to be developed should be decided upon jointly and the project developed in close collaboration between all the partners. The following checklist may serve as a reference for securing this aspect:

• Are the aim and objectives of the project precisely formulated and do the partners involved agree on them?
• Does the project take the interests of all participants into consideration?
• Does the proposed project give due consideration to the social, cultural and technical circumstances and needs of the partners?
• Does it serve the mutual interest of the partner institutions?
• Does the project address institutional/organisational and national priorities?

Build mutual trust
Without mutual trust, cooperative work is impossible. The creation of trust between partners who may be very different requires time and patience as well as a considerable ability to put oneself in someone else’s place.

A framework that stimulates an honest and open collaboration must be created. It is important that the partners know each other well enough and trust each other.

Share information and develop networks
A well functioning communication system is key to a satisfactory collaboration between partners who are far apart geographically. It is vital to be able to exchange information regularly and comprehensively. Ideally, all participants should have a comparable level of information and knowledge about the joint project activities and the environment in which they are being carried out. This means, especially for the partners in the South, being linked to regional and international information networks. It is important that provision is made at both organisational and technical levels for the partners to have sufficient regular contact with each other.

Share responsibilities
Academic and administrative management responsibility for the project must be shared as far as possible by the partners, taking into consideration the competence and resources of each.

Create transparency
To satisfy the need for transparency, the source and extent of all resources, especially budget allocations, and the way they are used must be declared openly to the partners. Financial decisions should insofar as it is possible be taken jointly by the partners. The amount of material support given should not provide a basis for allowing some partners a stronger voice in decision-making than others. The value of contributions made in forms other than finance should be appropriately acknowledged.

Regular balancing of the accounts, audits and periodic checking of inventories are measures which help create transparency. The requirements of SIU for reporting and financial statements for the projects also contribute to transparency.

During the application and selection process an application to NOMA is subject to scrutiny by the submitting partner institutions, external evaluators, SIU and the NOMA Programme Board. This section describes the different stages of the application and selection process in the NOMA programme:

10.1. Stage 1. The project coordinator and the department/centre

Writing and submitting the application
After a call for applications is issued by SIU the coordinators and other staff at the institutions involved in the development of the project will decide which activities and components should be included in the application in order to meet the aim and objectives of the planned Master’s programme. The application must be produced jointly by the project coordinators of the main partner institutions involved in accordance with the requirements stated in the NOMA Programme Document and Guidelines to the call.

Even at the preparatory stage of the application process it is important that the project coordinators inform their respective heads of department of their plan to apply for NOMA support. This is to ensure that the application will be supported by their respective institution at the highest level at a later stage, as institutional support for applications to the NOMA programme is an absolute requirement (see the paragraphs below).

Once the aims and objectives of the proposed Master’s programme have been formulated and the relevant application form has been filled in with due consideration to the respective Guidelines, the proposing coordinators present the application to the department/centre of the institution. The signatures of the respective heads of department/centre ensure the relevance and quality of the proposed project. Approval implies that the department incorporates the collaboration as part of its activities, including allocating the necessary time for the staff involved as well as administrative resources to the project.

The writing and submission of NOMA applications to SIU take place online via Espresso, SIU’s administrative system for application and reporting for programmes managed by SIU.

Further information about the procedures for the submission of applications to SIU are available on SIU’s website www.siu.no.

When submitting the application separate Cover Pages will be available in Espressso for printing by the project coordinators at the institution outside Norway (IoN) and the institution in Norway (IiN). This document should be printed and duly signed by the respective project coordinators and their heads of departments and the Vice Chancellor/Rector/University Director of the respective institutions. The signed Cover Page should then be forwarded to the NOMA institutional contact person at the institution. Subsequently, the institutional contact person should submit the signed Cover Page (one Cover Page for each application) together with a signed prioritised list of applications to SIU by the given deadline. Please note that the institutional contact person should keep the Cover Page(s) until the deadline for the submission of the prioritised list of application(s) from the institution.

10.2. Stage 2. SIU’s administrative assessment and handling of the application

Upon receipt of submitted applications from the project coordinators, SIU conducts an administrative assessment of the application in order to establish whether the application fulfils the necessary formal requirements and eligibility criteria advertised in the NOMA Call for Applications and Guidelines to the application. If the application does not fulfil the eligibility criteria, SIU will inform the applying institutions to this effect. As a consequence the application is not eligible for further processing such as external evaluation and institutional assessment and ranking.

External evaluation of the application
If the application fulfils the eligibility criteria, it is forwarded to impartial external evaluators, one in the North and one in the South, who will assess the academic quality of the application. SIU contacts the external evaluators prior to the application deadline and has a pool of potential evaluators who have accepted the assignment of assessing applications within their respective academic fields. The evaluators should have a strong academic background in the discipline of the application, and it is an advantage if the evaluators have experience in North-South collaboration. The assessments are carried out online in the Espresso administrative system.

10.3. Stage 3. The institution

In order to secure institutional commitment to the application, it is a requirement that the management at each of the proposing main partner institutions assesses and rank the applications submitted by the respective project coordinators.

In order to guide them in this task, a system of external evaluations of applications (please refer to chapter above) was introduced by NOMA in 2008. The assessment and comments from the evaluators are intended to support the assessment and ranking of the application(s) being made by the institutions. In order to facilitate this process there is a certain time period between the deadline for submission of applications and confirmation and ranking of the applications. This is to provide sufficient time both for the evaluators and for the applying institutions to review the applications submitted.

The appointed NOMA institutional contact person is in charge of the institutional assessment and ranking process and is given reading access to the external evaluations and writing access to the institutional assessment and ranking forms. This process also takes place online in Espresso.

Once the institution has completed its review process and decided on a list of priorities, a printout of the list should be signed by the Vice Chancellor/Rector/University Director and forwarded to SIU (as a scanned pdf document or by fax) together with the signed Cover Page for each of the projects by the given deadline.

Guidelines for the institutions’ assessment and ranking of applications have been developed by SIU and can be found under the link (link til Guidelines for institutional assessment of applications to NOMA).

10.4. Stage 4. SIU’s preparations for the NOMA Programme Board

Once the institutional assessment and ranking have been received, SIU produces a working document for each application for the Programme Board. This working document contains a summary of the application and an evaluation of how well it complies with the NOMA programme’s aims, guidelines and selection criteria developed by the NOMA Programme Board.

10.5. Stage 5. The NOMA Programme Board

The members of the NOMA Programme Board are appointed by the SIU Board of Directors. The NOMA Programme Board is a joint body of 10 members. The members are appointed for a period of three years with the exception of the one member from the student organisation (term of service is one year). The Programme Board members shall have experience from work in the field of higher education and research and cooperation with developing countries. This requirement does not apply to the student representatives or to the representatives from the employer and employee organisations.

The NOMA Programme Board consists of:

• four representatives proposed by the member institutions of the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions
• one member appointed by Norad
• one member from the Norwegian Students’ Union or Students’ National Association (alternating)
• two members from the South
• one member representing the employer organisation Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO)
• one member representing the employee association the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO)

SIU has developed its own provision concerning legal competence in programme administration to ensure that SIU’s programmes are managed in a manner that complies with legislation and that is perceived externally to be competent and trustworthy. These provisions have been formulated on the basis of the Norwegian Public Administration Act (Forvaltningsloven) and were adopted by SIU's Board of Directors on 21 February 2008.

The primary task of the NOMA Programme Board is to assess, select and allocate funds to institutions and cooperation projects. The Programme Board monitors cooperation under the programme based on reports prepared by the institutions. The Programme Board also oversees the quality and further development of the NOMA programme.

The number of applications normally outnumbers the number of projects that can be funded by the programme funds available. Therefore, the Programme Board establishes a set of priorities to sort the applications and build the programme portfolio.

10.6. Stage 6. Letter of reply

Once the Programme Board has made its decisions on the allocation of funds, SIU informs the applying institutions accordingly through a letter of reply.

The approval letter states the amount of the allocation and requests the parties’ project coordinators to complete the project application in the form of a Project Document (please see section 11.1 for more information about the Project Document).

In the event that an application has been completely or partly rejected by the Board the applying institution has a right to file a complaint to SIU, please see below.

10.7. Complaints

Any applying institution whose application has been completely or partly rejected has a right to file a complaint with SIU should the applicant feel that the rejection is based on a procedural mistake, abuse of authority, or obvious misinterpretation of the contents of the application. Procedural matters may not in themselves be the subject of a complaint unless the actual decision is contested. The academic assessment or discretion applied may not form the basis for a complaint.
Only institutions, not individuals, may file a complaint with SIU.

What constitutes a legitimate basis for a complaint?
SIU may determine whether a rejection appears to have been affected by non-compliance with the procedural rules laid down in chapters 2 and 3 of the Norwegian Public Administration Act, non-compliance with SIU’s internal procedural rule, or whether the rejection is invalid due to a breach of public administration rules relating to the abuse of authority.

• Procedural mistakes: non-compliance with the general rules laid down in chapters 2 and 3 of the Norwegian Public Administration Act or with SIU’s internal procedures for handling applications for funds. With respect to the latter, reference is made to SIU’s regulations of 13 June 2001, revised 7 May 2003, regarding the administration’s assessment and submission of applications and grounds for complete or partial rejection of applications for individual support or project funding.
• Abuse of authority: non-compliance with normal requirements concerning objectivity or unreasonably differential treatment.

What cannot form the basis for a complaint?
The academic assessment or discretion on which the Programme Committee based its decision cannot form the basis for a complaint.

For more information, see SIU’s Complaint Regulations.

Before SIU can disburse any of the funds allocated by the Programme Board, the conditions for the support have to be finalised in the following documents:

11.1. The Project Document

SIU develops a Project Document in Espresso for the approved applications. The Project Document is based on the application that has been approved and describes the project, its aims and objectives, its activities, outputs, time frame and performance indicators as well as budget. The budget is to be split between IoN and IiN. The document should be adjusted by the main partner institutions in accordance with the allocation and the conditions set by the Programme Board. Plans and budget will normally have to be revised and described in further detail.

The completion of the Project Document takes place in Espresso and is a joint effort by the two main partner project coordinators. Once completed, the SIU administration approves the Project Document before it is forwarded to the main partner institution for signing as an integrated part of the Tripartite Contract (please see section 11.2. for more information about the Tripartite Contract).

It is important to note that the Project Document is an integrated part of the Tripartite Contract. This means that the activities described in the Project Document are the NOMA Programme Board’s parameters when it comes to assessing the progress and results of the NOMA projects. Deviations from the activities described in the Project Document will have to be explained and may be considered a breach of the contract. A breach of contract may result in budget reductions.

11.2. TheTripartite Contract

The Tripartite Contract is entered into by SIU and the main partner institutions when the Project Document has been finalised and approved by SIU.

The Tripartite Contract lays down the conditions for SIU’s support for the joint project between the main partner institutions. The Tripartite Contract is usually valid for a period of two to four years depending on the length of the project in question (one or two student cohorts).

The Tripartite Contract format is used in order to emphasise the equality and commitment between the main partner institutions in the project and provides tools for monitoring, follow-up and evaluation. Hence it is an authoritative document by which the parties have to abide during the project period.

Once the Tripartite Contract format has been completed, it is forwarded, in three hardcopies, from SIU to the Norwegian partner institution for signature by the Vice Chancellor/Rector/University Director. Once signed, the Norwegian partner institution forwards the three signed hardcopies to its partner outside Norway for signature. Once signed by the latter institution, this institution returns the three hardcopies to SIU. The Tripartite Contract comes into force when it has been signed by SIU’s director (as the last party to sign).

Once the Tripartite Contract has been signed by all three parties, SIU forwards one hardcopy to each of the main partner institutions for archiving purposes and will disburse an initial payment of sixty percent of the budget allocation for the first year of the project to the Norwegian main partner institution. The remaining forty percent will be transferred to the Norwegian partner institution in the second half of the first year.

11.3. The Declaration of Accession – for projects with network partners

SIU has developed a model document named Declaration of Accession which the main partner institutions may wish to use in relation to network partners. The aim of this document is to secure a written statement which declares the additional/network partner’s familiarity with the content of the Tripartite Contract and their rights and obligations according to same. It should be signed by the Vice Chancellor / Rector or Director of the additional partner institution(s). The partner institutions may freely make use of the document if they so wish. The Declaration of Accession is to be kept by the partners only and should not to be forwarded to SIU. The Declaration of Accession can be downloaded from SIU’s website.

It is important for NOMA projects that the project coordinators discuss and settle a number of issues concerning the implementation of the project during the first months of the project period. Some of the institutions taking part in the NOMA programme may have developed guidelines and routines with regard to the projects in their portfolio. For those who have not, the following may serve as a guide to institutions and staff taking part in the programme:

12.1. Sharing of responsibilities

The project coordinators decide, based on the Milestone table (in which important activities in the project are described) in the NOMA Project Document, the coordination of the project and sharing of responsibilies for the planned activities.

12.2. Project organisation

It is recommended that annual meetings are held between the implementing partners. The purpose of the meetings is to review implementation and progress of activities, assess progress of Master's students and make plans for the following year. The following models for project organisation may be considered:

a) Annual meeting held between the coordinators and contact person(s) network partner if applicable. Review of activities, accounts, budgets and work plans.

b) Steering committee meeting. In cases where the partners have chosen to establish a steering committee comprising staff closely involved in a NOMA Master's programme and in which they meet to discuss, inter alia, review of education, accounts, budgets and work plans.

If the institutions concerned run more than one NOMA project, it is also recommended that the respective project coordinators meet in order to share experiences. The same applies if the institutions run NUFU projects, whereby those involved can share experiences and identify synergies in the projects.

12.3. Student issues

Enrolment of students and plans for starting up Master's programmes and studies should be discussed and agreements entered into with regard to the teaching/supervision of the students. In projects where the “sandwich” model (part of the course at the home institution and part of the course at another institution) is used, supervision may be split according to activity.

The students must be recruited and start their studies in the first year of the project period and should complete their studies within a two-year period. A Master’s degree programme eligible for support under the NOMA programme is defined as full-time study over two academic years, equivalent to 120 credits according to the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

12.4. Monitoring and reporting procedures

Institutions receiving financial support from NOMA are obliged to report back to SIU on the progress of the project and the use of funds. The reporting system within NOMA is important for SIU and the Programme Board as regards monitoring of the projects and serves as an important tool for gathering experience and creating a basis for adjustments to the programme.

With reference to the partnership agreement between Norad and SIU concerning the NOMA Programme, SIU is obliged to submit an annual report to Norad on the progress and results of the NOMA programme. The report from SIU to Norad must be submitted by 31 May each year. Data on the progress of the projects is collected through the project coordinators’ Annual Master Programme Report and the Annual Institutional Report. These reports are SIU’s main tools for monitoring the projects. SIU and the NOMA Programme Board’s assessments of the project’s progress in the annual report to Norad is based on the data from these reports. Hence it is important that the NOMA partners make an effort to include correct and relevant data in the reports that they submit to SIU, especially with regard to the production of Master’s candidates funded by NOMA.

Furthermore, the timely submission and approval of the reports are preconditions for continued financial support.

The reporting formats for the NOMA programme are based on the recommendation in the study “Effect measurement - Norad’s Programme for Master Studies (NOMA)” by the Centre for Research in Economics and Business Administration (SNF), commissioned by SIU on behalf of the NOMA Programme Board and financed by Norad in 2007. The aim of the study was to identify and select indicators in NOMA in order to know when or whether we are making progress towards desired results.

The following reports are required:

• Initial Project Report
• Annual Project Report
• Final Project Report

NOMA Initial Project Report (IPR)

The project coordinators have to jointly prepare and submit an Initial Project Report (IPR) within two months after the first student intake to the respective Master’s programme. The report includes information on the student intake process. As NOMA projects operate with different dates for student intakes, each project, represented by its project coordinator, is responsible for submitting the report on time to SIU within two months after the first student intake.

The format for the coordinator’s IPR is available on SIU’s website www.siu/noma

Annual Project Report

The Annual Project Report comprises two reports: The Annual Master Programme Report and the Institutional Report and is to be submitted to SIU once a year.

Annual Master Programme Report

The coordinators must jointly prepare an Annual Master Programme Report. The report includes a summary of project accomplishments during the year in relation to the objectives stated in the in the annual work plans. The partner institution in Norway has the overall responsibility for collecting and compiling all necessary data from the project in order to comply with the requirements set by the NOMA programme for annual reporting.

The report is divided into a narrative content section and a financial section.

The narrative report includes the following information:

• Objectives of the project
• Progress
• Milestones
• Deviations and changes
• Project results
• Financial report

As previously mentioned, the Annual Master Programme Report has to be completed and submitted online to SIU. For more information about how to complete and submit the report, log into Espresso.

The report is normally available online from January and should be completed during the month of March each year, allowing the Annual Institutional Report, which is largely based on the Annual Master Programme Report, to be submitted to SIU by the beginning of April each year (see below).

Financial reporting

While the Norwegian main partner institution has the main responsibility for the reporting of the total annual project finances to SIU, the expenditure of the IoN/IiN denominated in Norwegian kroner (NOK) should also be reported using the online reporting format. In addition to the project’s online registration of expenditure, the IoN(s) that have received funds transferred from the Norwegian partner institution should fill in the form IoN - Financial Report. The information in the online reporting format should correspond to the information given in the signed statement of the IoN - Financial Report as well as to the accounts at the IiN. The IoN - Financial Report is available from SIU’s website well in advance of the reporting deadline and must be filled in and signed by the IoN and forwarded to the IiN, which is responsible for keeping the combined project accounts. The signed IoN - Financial Report should be kept and archived at the IiN. The document should not be submitted to SIU.

After submission of the NOMA Annual Master Programme Report, the IiN should print and sign the overall Full Financial Report of the project. The project coordinators have access to the Full Financial Report in Espresso also after submission of the Annual Master Programme Report. After submission of the Annual Master Programme Report, the Full Financial Report should be printed by the Norwegian project coordinator and signed by the designated responsible financial person at institute/department level. The signed Full Financial Report should be forwarded to the NOMA institutional contact person at his/her respective institution. The institutional contact person is responsible for collecting the signed Financial Reports and forwarding them to SIU in hardcopy together with the signed Annual Institutional Report.

Financial ”Rule of the Thumb” in NOMA – as regards financial reporting

• NOMA funds may only be spent on the respective budget posts described in the Project Document. No other extraordinary costs that may occur in the project may be covered by the NOMA allocation.
• Unspent funds within a budget year may be transferred to the budget for the following years of the project, but it should be noted that SIU will deduct any unspent funds in one year in the disbursement of funds for the following year.
• If a project has unspent funds at the termination of the project period, these funds must be transferred back to SIU/Norad.

The NOMA Annual Institutional Report

All main partner institutions receiving support from the NOMA Programme are requested to prepare an annual institutional report and carry out an assessment of the NOMA-supported partnership. While the Annual Master Programme Report is filled in jointly by the IoN and IiN coordinators, the institutional report is filled in separately by each main partner institution. The Annual Master Programme Report is the major source of information and input for the review and the assessment. The review and assessment aim to establish how and to what extent the projects have to adjust their activities and give an assessment of impact at institutional level. The report includes recommendations to be evaluated by the programme’s respective Programme Board.

Furthermore, timely submission of the reports and approval of the Institutional Report, including approved (signed) financial statements of project expenses, are preconditions for continued financial support for the projects and the respective partner institutions.

The institutional contact person should make an assessment of NOMA-supported cooperation from an institutional perspective. This is largely based on the Annual Master Programme Report, which is submitted by their institution. This is also the reason why the institutional contact person is granted reading access to the reporting during the coordinator’s preparation of the Annual Master Programme Report.

The format is subject to revision and limited modifications annually.

The NOMA institutional contact person at the main partner institutions will have access to the reporting format in SIU’s online reporting system Espresso. After the online submission of the report, the institutional contact person is responsible for producing a printout of it, to be signed by the institutional contact person and forwarded to SIU.

With regard to the full financial report, the Norwegian main partner institution should forward a signed full financial report for each project to SIU in April (the date will vary from year to year). The full financial reports are printed by the Norwegian project coordinators and should be collected and forwarded to SIU by the institutional contact person at the Norwegian main partner institution.

The project coordinators and the institutional contact persons are informed by letter of the call for the submission of the Annual Institutional Report in due time prior to the submission of the report. Information about the reporting is also available on SIU’s webpage in due time before the submission of the report.

12.5. Notification of results

The partner institutions are required to publish the full texts of Master’s theses by NOMA students achieving a grade C or better. They are also required to submit electronically an executive summary of the Master’s theses produced by NOMA graduates in the reporting period. The summaries will be published by SIU in a yearly internet-based NOMA bibliography available on SIU’s web pages.

Norad and SIU have agreed a Communication Plan for the collaboration between Norad and SIU concerning research and research-based higher education in the development sector, including the NOMA Programme. The Communication Plan is relevant to activities in the NOMA Programme and can be downloaded from SIU’s web pages.

12.6. The NOMA Calendar

To make it easier for project coordinators, institutional contact persons and others involved in NOMA-supported projects to plan for and remember NOMA-related events, this section provides an overview of important reporting deadlines, NOMA board meetings and consultative meetings between Norad and SIU taking place during a typical NOMA year. If new calls for applications are issued, another board meeting will be held in addition to the two meetings mentioned below shortly after the application deadline in order to decide on the allocation of funds.

12.7. Finances

Disbursement of project funds
The Norwegian main partner institution has the overall financial responsibility for the administration of a project. This responsibility includes the transfer of funds to the main partner institution in the South and the submission of the financial statement of the year’s project expenses.

However, the institution in Norway and the institution in the South have no collective financial responsibility towards SIU but are responsible for funds allocated to and the accounting of project activities at their own institutions in the South and in Norway respectively.

The provisional allocation from the NOMA Programme Board to the project covers the whole project period. The grant for the project, based on the Tripartite Contract, is provided by SIU on an annual basis to the Norwegian institution. The disbursement of project funds from SIU to the Norwegian institution takes place twice a year. As per 2010 SIU transfers project funds automatically to the Norwegian institutions – without receiving an invoice from the institutions.

In the first year of the project an initial payment of 60% of the budget allocation for the first year will be made by SIU to the Norwegian institution after the tripartite contract has been signed by the parties. The remaining 40% will be transferred to the Norwegian institution in the second half of the first year.

For the second, third and fourth year of the project, disbursement of project funds from SIU to Norwegian partner institutions takes place twice a year (60%/40% of the yearly allocation). The first transfer of 60% takes place by May each year, while the remaining 40% will be transferred to the Norwegian institution after the approval of accounts and Annual Project Report for the previous year by the NOMA Programme Board. Unused funds will be deducted from the last 40%. The Southern partner institution’s share of the budget should be transferred to the institution without delay.

Accounting and audit

Institutions in Norway and in the South that receives funds from NOMA are instructed to ensure that appropriate accounting systems are implemented and that accounting will be carried out according to generally accepted accounting principles. Audits should be carried out in accordance with international standards.

Each institution is accountable for funds received from the NOMA programme. The institution in Norway and the institution in the South have no collective financial responsibility towards SIU but are responsible for funds allocated to and the accounting of project activities at their own institutions in the South and in Norway respectively.

SIU has developed its own procedures for handling irregularities in contracts between SIU and institutions that are awarded funds under programmes administered by SIU, namely Guidelines for handling Irregularities.

Upon the termination of the project period NOMA requires the cooperating partners to submit a Final Report. The Final Report should include the same topics as the Annual Reports for the entire programme period and may additionally provide information concerning:

• Assessment of the results of the project, i.e. the extent to which the purpose has been achieved (outcome)
• Assessment of impact (if possible), i.e. the changes and effects, positive or negative, planned and unplanned, of the project seen in relation to target groups and others who are affected

• Assessment of sustainability of the project, i.e. an assessment of the extent to which the positive effects of the project will still continue after the external assistance has been discontinued
• A summary of the main “lessons learned”

Final Report formats will be developed in due course.