Academic literacy is a prerequisite for and an outcome of all learning processes in higher education. The project is directed towards gaining a better understanding and finding new ways of fostering literacy development at universities. It is grounded on the results of contemporary writing research and writing pedagogy, as represented in the cognitive writing approaches and in the “Writing in the Disciplines”/ “Writing across the Curriculum” movement. LIDHUM is in line with the philosophy of the Bologna process as it places special emphasis on student-centered and competence-oriented learning which writing pedagogy is able to provide.

The cooperation initiated in this project has to be seen as a shared effort to support transformational processes in higher education of the involved countries by supporting literacy and writing development. Project partners are the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje (Republic of Macedonia), Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine), West University of Timisoara (Romania) and Zurich University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland). All project partners are already engaged in the teaching of writing and can offer their special expertise.

Aims of this project are: (a) Building a shared knowledge base in writing and literacy development; (b) assessing and analysing the situation in the four member universities regarding the writing practices, genres and developmental needs; (c) introducing didactic means such as writing courses, writing-intensive seminars, tutorial systems or writing centers which will individually be designed for each university; (d) including faculty members and university leaders in writing/ teaching development to secure institutional support; (e) evaluating and documenting all processes to preserve them for future use and (f) including and integrating young researchers to secure sustainable development. The project contributes to the modernization of university teaching but is nonetheless aware of the tremendous developments of the past twenty years in each of the three countries. A thorough analysis of the status quo, therefore, is essential for all actions.

The project has to be seen as a joint qualification, exchange and research program to build local capacities and connect the participating members with the European communities of writing/literacy research and practice. The project connects with the COST Action IS0703 “The European Research Network on Learning to Write Effectively” and on the Swiss research Project (funded by COST Switzerland) “Writing Cultures and Academic Mobility” both focusing on the commonalities and differences in national writing cultures. Synergies through shared conferences and an exchange of experts with these projects are expected.