Universities in the Western Balkan (WB) region that offer study programs in telecommunication engineering are experiencing a reduced number of students despite the fact that telecommunications is a pillar in modern economy. The major reason is that the telecom industry is passing through significant changes and the labor market requires a new profile for the telecom engineer (TE): a professional that is trained in the broad ICT domain, that owns both technical and market oriented skills and, therefore, that can contribute to the techno-economic society challenges. To render the study program more attractive and to boost the TE profile, the project BENEFIT will work on three main pillars: 
A) the cooperation between HEIs and industry to modernize the study program in telecommunication engineering; 
B) the adoption of modern teaching methodologies and tools, the upgrade of the infrastructure, and the creation of joint university-industry labs; 
C) the implementation of training of both teachers and students. 
Furthermore, to increase the level of cooperation, visibility and sustained opportunities the project will develop an integrated e-platform giving access to class material for e-learning, training/internships in the region, listing of universities and companies, employment opportunities, and events of both technical nature and accessible to the general public. 
Therefore, BENEFIT will contribute to shape a modern profile of graduates in telecom/ICT engineering bridging the gap with the job market needs, which is a concrete action in response to the recently announced programmatic goals by WB countries.

UNIVERSITAET KLAGENFURT	UNIVERSITAETSSTRASSE 65-67 9020 KLAGENFURT https://www.aau.at/ email: project-benefit@aau.at
UNIVERZITET U BANJOJ LUCI	BULEVAR VOJVODE PETRA BOJOVICA BB 78000 BANJA LUKA Bosnia And Herzegovina
UNIVERZITET U SARAJEVU	OBALA KULINA BANA 7 71000 SARAJEVO Bosnia And Herzegovina
UNIVERZITET U NISU	UNIVERZITETSKI TRG 2 18000 NIS Serbia https://www.ni.ac.rs/en/
JAVNA USTANOVA UNIVERZITET U TUZLI UNIVERSITAS STUDIORUM TUZLAENSIS	DR TIHOMILA MARKOVICA 1 75000 TUZLA Bosnia And Herzegovina http://www.untz.ba
UNIVERZITET U BEOGRADU	STUDENTSKI TRG 1 122 11000 BEOGRAD Serbia http://www.bg.ac.rs/en/index.php
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology Osijek	KNEZA TRPIMIRA 2 B 31000 OSIJEK Osječko-baranjska županija https://www.ferit.unios.hr
UNIVERZA V LJUBLJANI	KONGRESNI TRG 12 1000 LJUBLJANA Extra-Regio NUTS 3 http://www.uni-lj.si
UNIVERZITET U NOVOM SADU	DR ZORANA DINDICA 1 21000 NOVI SAD Serbia http://www.uns.ac.rs