FAITH is the acronym of Increasing the Financial Autonomy and accountabIlity at public Higher education institutions in Kosova. The project concept was conceived with sufficient scope to target real needs gaps identified, without being un-attainable. It is quite obvious that public HEIs in Kosovo are seeking to become more flexible, autonomous and transparent with regards the Financial Management (FM) of their institutions. And also the rest of the stakeholders, mainly the Ministry of Education, and the Kosova Accreditation Agency, agree on the need improving this current situation with specific actions.
Thus, the following project concept is based on this basis: the General Objective is to sustainably strengthen financial autonomy and accountability of public HEIs in Kosova via modernisation of financial management practices and legal framework.
In summary we have identified 3 main needs:

• General need; Increase autonomy for flexibility and efficiency;
• Specific needs where the FAITH Consortium intends to intervene:
  1. Need to align practices between public HEIs and between public HEIs and relevant Ministries;
  2. Need of modernisation of human, technical and organization capacities in the field of FM

Target Groups & Stakeholders:
The project foresees the inclusion of a range of stakeholders from all levels.
High-level Stakeholders: MEST, KAA and top-level from the 3 PC HEI management (Presidents, Deans). Their contribution will create potential for wider impact and generate change in the Kosovo Public HE system is very high.
Middle & Grassroots: At HEI level, there are various stakeholders to consider including financial administrators or managers and faculty level administration. Their involvement will be crucial for the modernisation & strengthening of human and organisational capacities.
Final Beneficiaries: Students will benefit from the increased efficiency of their institutions, and their feedback shall be sought during pilot action phase.
External Beneficiaries: Other public HEIs to be created in the near future for the Kosovo government will greatly benefit from this action, having a set of documentation and experiences to base their own upgrades on, a platform to interact and guide for financial management.