On February 23, 2026, the Kick-off Meeting of the international Erasmus+ project GreenCA – “Greening Water Resources Education for Sustainable Development in Central Asia” (Project No. 101235515) was held at University of Niš (Serbia).
The project is implemented within the Capacity Building in Higher Education (CBHE) strand of the Erasmus+ Programme and will run from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2028, with co-funding from the European Union.
The main objective of the project is to promote sustainable water resource management in Central Asian countries through the modernization of higher education systems, strengthening international cooperation, and integrating the principles of the green and circular economy into educational programs.
Within the framework of the project, the following activities are planned:
- development and implementation of three EU-certified educational modules on green and circular economy in six universities in Central Asia;
- modernization of curricula based on the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) with the integration of modern active learning methods;
- establishment of six digital laboratories and organization of a series of practical workshops;
- development of students’ entrepreneurial competencies and support for innovative projects;
- improvement of graduate employability through strengthened cooperation between universities, industry, and society.
The certification of the educational modules will be carried out in accordance with the standards of ASIIN, while the harmonization of educational systems will follow the principles of the Bologna Process.
The project coordinator is the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway).
The consortium includes leading universities and educational organizations from Europe and Central Asia:
- Univerzitet u Nišu (Serbia),
- Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie (Poland),
- M. Auezov South Kazakhstan University (Kazakhstan),
- Khoja Akhmet Yassawi International Kazakh-Turkish University (Kazakhstan),
- Mining-Metallurgical Institute of Tajikistan (Tajikistan),
- Tajik Technical University named after Academician M. Osimi (Tajikistan),
- Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn (Kyrgyzstan),
- Kyrgyz State Technical University named after I. Razzakov (Kyrgyzstan),
- Excellent Educational Centre (Kazakhstan).
A total of 22 representatives of the project consortium participated in the meeting. During the first session, the partners introduced their institutions and outlined their roles and contributions to the implementation of the project.
During the kick-off meeting, participants also discussed in detail the tasks of the five project work packages, including:
- project management, planning and reporting;
- development of action plans based on European best practices;
- modernization of curricula and implementation of active learning methods;
- promotion of innovation, entrepreneurship and graduate employability;
- dissemination of project results and quality assurance.
The GreenCA project brings together universities from Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan) and Europe (Norway, Poland, Serbia) with the aim of strengthening capacities in sustainable water and energy resource management and contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
From Kyrgyz National University named after Jusup Balasagyn, the kick-off meeting was attended by Roza Sarymzakova, Doctor of Chemical Sciences and Professor of the Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology.
(С) Diana Sultanbekova — Deputy Director Department of International Relations
