WHO WE ARE ?
The Czech Association of Professional Higher Education (CASPHE) is an independent organization of colleges and institutes of professional higher education in the Czech Republic. It was founded in 1991. CASPHE represents interests of the particular type schools and education, contributes to their development. It plays a role in policy discussions as regards formulation of problems relevant to the development of professionally oriented higher (tertiary) education sector faces and proposals of their solution. CASPHE facilitates mutual cooperation of member schools and exchange their experiences, facilitates contact individual for members seeking to create conditions for qualitative growth, creates a sense of belonging and mutual interest.
CASPHE activities include:
- conceptual and policy work on the development and structuring of professionally oriented tertiary education,
- development of professional tertiary education institutions including information on challenges, trends and developments at international level and promotion of experience from abroad;
- promotion of the idea of professional higher (tertiary) education including communication with professional bodies and representation of employers;
- preparation and coordination of international and Czech-based projects, seminars and conferences;
- activities in the field of quality management and improvement, innovations.
WHY WE ARE PARTICIPATING IN THE PROJECT ?
CASPHE’s involvement aligns with its mission to promote professional higher education, enhance teaching methodologies, and foster international collaboration.
OUR ROLE IN THE PROJECT
- Project Management: CASPHE oversees the management of the project, ensuring smooth implementation and coordination among partners.
- Stakeholder Mapping and Expert Interviews: CASPHE leads this task in WorkPackage 2, leveraging its strong connections within the higher education sector to gatherinsights from key stakeholders.
- Development of Micro-credentials Standard: CASPHE leads the creation of a formal framework forrecognizing transdisciplinary competencies, ensuring alignment with European qualification frameworks.
- Dissemination Activities: CASPHE contributes to dissemination efforts, including organizing the DisCo conference, which will show case project achievements and foster collaboration.
- Quality Assurance: CASPHE supports VIKO in quality management of the project.
- Contribution to Other Work Packages: CASPHE actively participates in content development, validation, and feedback collection across various workpackages.
- Overall, CASPHE plays a central role in coordinating, managing, and ensuring the quality and success of the TransInnovate project.
OUR TEAM
Dr. Jan Beseda is a seasoned researcher and expert in education, specializing in skills analysis and development within the Czech Republic. He currently serves as the Director of the Czech Association of Professional Higher Education His work and research focus on critical areas, including, Competence Development Frameworks, Professional Tertiary Education and Vocational Education and Training, Education Technology (EdTech), Quality Assurance in Education and Regional Impact of Education.
Dr. Beseda has extensive experience as a national expert on numerous international projects. He has been a co-leader of a working group for the PROFFORMANCE project, which focuses on developing assessment tools and incentive systems for higher education teachers’ competences development. As an expert, he led national reports for the “Capacity Building for the European Graduate Tracking Initiative,” a project by ECORYS for the European Commission and participated in EUROGRADUATE project. In addition, he was the project leader for a Visegrad Fund initiative to strengthen the entrepreneurial capacities of Ukrainian women in V4 countries. His expertise includes developing tools for mapping regional engagement of European universities and analysing the digitalization of universities through SWOT analysis. He is also a co-leader of the EURASHE QA Community of Practice and has been involved in several projects related to quality assurance and capacity building in higher education. He has participated in EDEH working groups focused on AI, Futuring Education, Future Classroom and Digital Citizenship Education and Task Force on Personalisation of Education EADTU.
Lenka Vašková is a Market Research&Insights Professional with over twenty years of experience in marketing and social research. She specializes in both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, focusing on concept and product testing, customer experience mapping, and UX research. She has led research projects across a widerange of sectors including FMCG, healthcare, retail, telecommunications, and finance.
Her work combines analytical precision with a deep understanding of human behavior and decision-making, ensuring that insights are translated into action able strategies that support innovation and business growth.
Lenka holds a degree in Social and Mass Communication and continuous lyex pands her expertise in behavioral and human-centered approaches. Her multidisciplinary perspective enables her to connect data-driven findings with broader social contexts, contributing to sustainable development and excellence in applied research.
Lukáš Macenauer is an educator and innovation specialist with a truly transdisciplinary approach. His expertise spans digital learning & simulations design former co-founder of behavioural assessment startup Behavera.com), knowledge transfer in humanities (ex-Knowledge Transfer Manager at Charles University Prague). With project experience including Horizon Europe and Erasmus projects Lukáš currently focuses at KA1 teacher training in VR, AI and innovative teaching methods.
Mr Ondrej Chrast is an expert and the Secretary General of CASPHE. He has extensive experience in project management across various programmes, including European structural funds, Erasmus+ and national calls for education and culture. At CASPHE, Ondrej works as a project manager and researcher on Erasmus+ projects, and has been involved in projects related to VET and PHE, such as PROCSEE, SAPS and ApprenticeTrack (SAT). He was also the project manager and researcher for a new project from the Technological Agency of the Czech Republic: ‘Innovation of study programmes in mechanical engineering, education and healthcare within the 4.0 phenomenon – change of role of higher education institutions’. His experience and skills include administrative project management, planning, organising and coordinating work, engaging with different stakeholders and organising and implementing various events and promotional activities within projects (conferences, workshops and training). From 2022 to 2024, he served as Deputy Minister of Culture, overseeing strategic planning and foreign affairs for the Czech Republic in the cultural sector.