The main aim of the project is to modernize, improve accessibility and internationalize the higher education in Physical sciences and Environmental protection in Kazakhstan and in Russia. To achieve this aim the capacity of the academic staff will be built in partner universities in Sustainable Waste Management, the latest European eLearning pedagogical approaches and English language skills. Further, eight online learning modules reflecting the local needs will be built on the topic to benefit the secondary target group, students and staff members of private companies and local/regional authorities in partner countries. The focus of the pedagogical approaches used will be on student-centered learning, integration of industry-university cooperation and innovation activities into the learning modules and eLearning. The modules will be available online first on the platforms of ITMO in Russia and KazNU in Kazakhstan for the partner university students. After accreditation the aim is to transfer the piloted courses on the national online platforms opened.ru (Russia) and moocs.kz (Kazakhstan). The theoretical parts of the courses will be available for the wide audience free of charge. After the project, a reasonable fee will be charged for intensive studies linked to the previously developed basic parts and certifying them increasing the sustainability of the project’s results. The modules will be available on Russian and Kazakh languages. The project will support resolving of the acute problems of Sustainable Waste Management in both partner countries by providing relevant and modern educational materials on the topic for under-graduate students and for continuous training. The online learning modules will offer flexibility and inclusion for the personal learning paths of the students. The increased capacity of the academic staff is expected to have spill-over effects on designing learning materials for other disciplines.

Since 2015 Kazakhstan has been developing a Road map for the development of dual education mainly driven by the Atameken National Chamber of Entrepreneurs. However, despite the attractiveness of the dual system in Kazakhstan, there are barriers that need to be encountered when transferring one system from one country to another. Vocational training is considered to be a gateway to the labor market. Approximately two thirds of all people recruited by companies in dual system programs are directly hired by the company, once the training is completed. Once hired, students will become employees with a specific qualification, getting a good salary and having the advantage of already knowing the company, the procedures, some of the peers, the organizational culture and values. Conversely, in Kazakhstan barely 10% of recruited students are offered a job position. The period of practice is short and does not allow to provide all the necessary professional skills. Furthermore, supervisors want to get paid for the extra job of training a person and students are not motivated since are not getting paid. At most, employees will cover their accommodation and travel costs. Only in very exceptionally cases, bright students may get some extra money as incentive or for performing specific tasks that provide added value to the employer. Moreover, there is a gap between vocational education and HE (levels 5 and 6).Seizing the opportunity of new Law , within the new autonomy given to HEIs, KAZDUAL will elaborate a model for internships, co-tutoring of students, conducting ongoing monitoring of student performance based on practice-based education and introducing modern forms of professional training based on best practices from EU partners. One of the main goals is that there is a continuation of learning skills (technical and knowledge-based) between the programs offered at vocational education level and HE level in 3 selected fields.

The main aim of the project is to support the modernisation of the leather and leather products industry in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, through the establishment of four Leather Products Centres (two in Uzbekistan and two in Kazakhstan) in order to address the identified need for strengthening and enhancement of modernisation, innovation and competitiveness of the Leather Sector in the two countries. Through the creation of these centres and their operation, the leather sector in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan will be offered access to business services, such as quality testing, product certification, specialised training, fashion trends, modern design, production organization, and funding opportunities. The professionals, with a special focus on women, and students of the subject will improve their qualifications and skills, which will in turn upgrade the capabilities of the leather and leather manufacturing companies.

C3QA (Promoting internationalization of research through establishment and operationalization of Cycle 3 Quality Assurance System in line with the European Integration Agenda) is a three-year cross-regional and multi-partner structural project under EAC/A04/2015 call and Key Action 2 - Capacity Building in the Field of Higher Education. Its wider objective is to contribute to the establishment of a knowledge-based society in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Mongolia through the launch and operationalization of a robust quality assurance system for internationalization of Cycle 3 programs. The specific objectives are: - To develop/update national policy frameworks for cycle 3 programs in line with the European integration agenda;- To build on the capacity of the systems to efficiently operationalize the internal and external quality assurance systems for Cycle 3 programs; - To establish an external and internal quality assurance systems to promote quality of Cycle 3 programs; - To promote internationalization of Cycle 3 programs with joint efforts of the key stakeholders and cross-regional cooperation.The principle outcomes and outputs are: - National policy frameworks on EQA of Cycle 3 programs adopted in the partner countries; - External and internal quality assurance systems for Cycle 3 programs implemented in line with European integration agenda; - Cycle 3 programs accredited by respective EQA bodies; - Cycle 3 programs contribute to the development of knowledge-based society;- The results of Cycle 3 programs are aligned with international best practice and contribute to research internationalization; - Cross-regional cooperation leads to convergence in line with European developments. The cross-regional nature of the project ensures learning from existing practices, successful experience exchange, long-standing cooperation between the 4 partner country and EU partners – with a major aim of promoting voluntary convergence with EU developments.

Soil and land degradation refers to all process(es) by which soil declines in quality and is thus made less fit for a specific purpose, such the crop production. Education will play a crucial role in the land degradation protection. This involves an opportunity and implies rethinking and reorganizing higher education institutions (HEIs) to become effective change agents in terms of learning outcomes for students. Coherently with the regional and international effort at political level, IUCLAND proposes to improve the effectiveness of development and land protection strategies by increasing cooperation capacity and best practices productivity, though educational patterns involving HEIs and all potential stakeholders, e.g. farmers’ association. The main objective is to create an international network in Land Degradation topics among universities and other organizations of the society at large aimed at:- establishing structured cooperation for scientific research and knowledge transfer;- starting summer school and workshop that will train the actual and future generation of academics able to do research and produce innovation in the framework of land degradation. - exchanging experiences and good practices related to educational programs.These objectives will be realized also through short-term mobility of teachers, administrative and technician, students for putting in common educational programs, quality assurance procedures, teaching materials, and to improve them with input from society in terms of required skills and jobs in environmental topics. All the branches of Environmental and Agriculture Science, and Remote Sensing are involved. As a result, the promotion of homogenization dynamics affecting educational patterns will improve international cooperation ability and effectiveness supporting the efforts played at national and regional levels.