The Western Balkans Tracer Study was developed in 2020 in cooperation with the Research Team of the Western Balkans Alumni Association (WBAA), which is committed to improve study conditions in its countries and initiated this project. The survey addresses students who have spent parts of their studies outside of the six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia), mainly with EU funding (primarily Erasmus).
The aim of the study is to identify effective approaches for improvements in the higher education system of the Western Balkans. Therefore, the students evaluate aspects of the different higher education systems on the basis of their international study experience. In this way, necessary changes in the higher education system become evident, which will finally be presented to regional decision-makers and higher education institutions in the respective countries.
The IHS research group Higher Education Research (HER) is responsible for the conception of the questionnaire, data analysis and supports the processing of the results with its expertise. This project is part of a framework contract (Erasmus Mundus Students and Alumni Association, EMA) which is funded by the EU and also contains the Graduate Impact Survey (GIS) and the ASAF Impact Study 2021.