An important part of the foRMAtion project is not only to evaluate the piloting of the project activities, but also to review and assess their implementation. Therefore, following the teaching of the first semester of the foRMAtion module, in order to measure the impact of the foRMAtion curriculum (IO2) and of the teaching material (IO3), two activities were performed: the assessment of the preliminary and follow-up surveys completed by students and the analysis of the interviews carried out with teachers.
The preliminary results not only underlined the relevance of the module with regards to the development and awareness on the RMA profession but also provided useful insights to shape and adjust course materials and teaching methods.
Accordingly, short-term impacts have been detected at various audience levels:
- students, who:
– were made aware of the RMA profession and inspired to consider it as a career choice,
– had the unique opportunity to work on projects in teams,
– extended their knowledge and developed their skills through innovative tools;
- teachers and researchers, who:
– were offered the chance to enhance their understanding of the R&I funding system and of the professional roles of RMAs,
– improved their skills and competence on the topic;
- university administrators and leaders, who:
– started to acknowledge the need for skilled RMAs and well-organized research support offices,
– benefited from an enlarged education portfolio.
The next step for the foRMAtion project is twofold:
1 – adjust the educational module based on the experiences collected and lessons learnt up to now;
2 – guide and support the successful take-up of the educational module by other higher education institutes and universities throughout Europe and, as such, contribute to improve awareness on the profession and boost quality training for potential RMA candidates.
