ERASMUS+ Project ECAP [2015-2018]

Project duration: November 2015 - October 2018

The project “Enhancing Competencies of Central Asian Universities in Agricultural Policy focused on Environmental Protection and Land Management (ECAP) was an ERASMUS+ project (key action programme 2 – Capacity Building in the field of higher Education). Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (SUA) is the coordinator of ECAP. In total, three European universities, besides SUA the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CULS) and BOKU, as well as four Central-Asian universities, Kazakh National Agricultural University and Kostanay State University (both from Kazakhstan) as well as Karakalpak State University and Samarkand State University (both from Uzbekistan) are cooperating in this project.

The main objective of the project was to enhance the level of competencies and skills of the Higher Education Institutions in Central Asia (Uzbek and Kazakh universities).

Within the project period the following aims were achieved by

• the development of innovative course programmes in the field of “Environmental protection” and “Land Management”,

• the increase of the awareness of students from Central Asia on legal tools supporting environmental friendly agricultural practices;

• the creation of a partnership between European and Central Asian higher education institutions.

All project partners were benefiting from the preparation of educational materials for environmental protection and land management, from the exchange of knowledge and skills concerning environmental friendly agricultural practices, and from legal tools development in the field of environmental protection and land management.

The contributions of BOKU staff members to the ECAP Project were manifold: The Austrians elaborated the quality assurance plan of the project and wrote essential parts of the Methodological Manual for Curricula Development. BOKU researchers prepared trainings for teaching staff of Central-Asian universities in Prague (July 2016), Vienna (February 2017) and Nitra (September 2017).

BOKU supervised the development of three courses in cooperation with Kazakh National Agricultural State University (“Monitoring and Cadastre of Land Resources”, with Samarkand State University (“Application of GIS/RS Environmental Monitoring”, and with Karakalpak State University (“Climate Changes and Land Use Management”). All courses were designed for the provision via an e-Learning platform.

BOKU hosted two project meetings (2017 & 2018).

BOKU-Staff involved: Reinfried MANSBERGER (Geomatics), Gerald LINDNER (Geomatics), Walter SEHER (IRUB), Georg Neugebauer (IRUB)

Further information: http://www.ecap.uniag.sk/