This project seeks to make an important contribution to the waste management education in Sri Lanka. This is an area that requires urgent attention and where new courses at bachelor and master level are needed. By developing new interdisciplinary programmes and redesigning existing programmes, the Sri Lankan HEIs will offer up-to-date, student-centred programmes with increased focus on employability. In total,2 new programmes will be developed a the master’s level. In addition 3 programmes will be redesigned, at bachelor's level.In order to achieve the biggest impact possible action will be taken on several fronts: by establishing and revamping courses, training workshops for teachers, digital learning, close attention to increased recruitment of female students, cooperation with industry, inclusion of local municipalities as associated partners and intensive dissemination and exploitation activities. These combined activities will build the capacity at the HEIs in waste management, providing advisory services to municipalities and companies, raise the international profile of the institutions and develop the capacity of staff involved in the project for conducting high-quality teaching and research.Future graduates will be equipped to tackle the waste management challenges Sri Lanka faces and to improve living conditions for the average citizen and create new jobs.This is in line with institutional and national needs, European priorities and UN Development Goals.The project team has been assembled based on their expertise and interest for these topics. Experts from the field of Business Management and Engineering have been brought together in order to achieve a more comprehensive approach to the issue of waste management.

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) are one of the world’s leading medical and societal challenges, and there are now expected to be 50 million people worldwide suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Sri Lanka is considered as a multi-ethnic country with one of the fastest ageing populations in South Asia, and the prevalence of NDD is also rapidly increasing. At the same time, there are no universities or any other educational institution that conduct training programmes in such areas. NDD has far-reaching and often underestimated consequences for informal caregivers (family members, friends and neighbours providing unpaid care), in terms of quality of life, health and loss of income. Therefore, creating of trained professionals for treating the elderly with NDD and support the informal caregivers is a great need for the country. A consortium of five European and four Sri Lankan partners that are covering the area of the highest population density will work together to deliver concrete tangible results:-Eight courses that will represent a total of 30 credits (1500 hours) per the Sri Lanka qualifications framework (SLQF) system.-The courses will generate a program that will be accreditated as either a postgraduate certificate, postgraduate diploma and Masters by coursework at the four Sri Lankan universities. - Eight to sixteen continuous professional development training modules are developed. - Twenty Sri Lankan staff will be trained in delivering the courses. The impact after the project has ended is that Sri Lanka will have modernised and increased the capacity to train healthcare students and healthcare professionals about NDD without any need for further support at this level, which makes the project notably sustainable. The fundamental impact, though, will be the enhancement of the provision of care for patients and their families with NDD.

Wider objective of the BECK project – to upgrade the curricula with 16 new harmonized multidisciplinary adaptive MOOC modules on environmental protection technology in the Russian, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh universities in order to increase their capacity to continually modernise, enhance the quality and relevance of education of students to the global market needs and to ensure international cooperation. Project aims to:1. Upgrade curricula of BSc/specialists, MSc and PhD programmes in Russian, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh universities by adding 16 new multidisciplinary adaptive, recognised and certificated MOOC modules on consumer behavior related to energy efficiency and climate change;2. Transfer European practices in education (learning and teaching tools, methodologies and pedagogical approaches including learning outcomes and ICT-based practices) from participating EU universities to PC universities;3. Assist competence development of teachers within PC universities;4. Develop the Simulated Big Data Interuniversity Networked Affective Educational Centre to encourage use of ICT-based methodologies in education and research;5. Strengthen educational and scientific networking among EU and PC universities in the BECK field. The PC and EU students will profit from high quality international and multidisciplinary modules with real world positioning indicating how to employ theory in the real world. BECK project will offer adaptive certified MOOCs aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Centre in response to the lack of knowledge in climate change and energy savings across PC countries.Seminars, round tables and national and international conferences will reach PC learners and stakeholders to notify them about the accessibility of BECK modules and the Centre. Associations will participate in this project by transferring their contemporary labor market experiences and assisting with applicable BECK case studies.

Several studies have found that university education has minimal research and innovation outcomes, limited industry and community influence, and unripe University-Industry Collaborations. Expectations of partnership outcomes vary between universities and industries, and organizational cultural differences are the most difficult challenges to overcome when establishing partnerships, leaving both partners frustrated and unmotivated to continue their collaborations. Also, universities' inflexibility, hierarchical communication style, bureaucracy, and lack of emphasis on an outcome-oriented culture have hampered successful collaboration. FOUNTAIN will address the lack of strategic university-industry partnerships in Asian universities in terms of student employability, blended learning, invention and innovation, techno-entrepreneurial skills, curriculum development, multidisciplinary joint research, and other initiatives. The project will also use the triple helix concept to form innovative partnerships in HEIs at partner universities. Besides, FOUNTAIN will define, delineate, and record the gaps in UIC identified through the need assessments carried with partners in Thailand and Sri Lanka. It aims to boost the alignment of industrial interests with national public interests, mainly in agro-industries, enhance the University curricula with robust industrial training programs, strengthen the University business links , establish a community of practice in the field of agro-industries involving university and industry actors, support the transition of ideas into practice, and establish business start-ups while leveraging existing knowledge resources at universities to foster invention, innovation and entrepreneurship. Further, the proposed centre of excellence in invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship will strengthen university, industry, and research bonds to meet the needs of, graduates, academics, farmers, SMEs, and other industries in the country and the region.

Among many communities in the EU and beyond, disasters pose significant concerns and challenges, and are an issue that requires international cooperation and solutions. In the last three decades, records of natural disasters show that Asia experiences the most disasters. A major contributory factor to disaster risk is capacity. Capacity development is a widely recognised priority in the disaster resilience field, and research cooperation can provide significant opportunities for realising its benefits. Strengthening the capacity of countries in Asia to do and use research is widely viewed as vital for meeting long term innovation in creating disaster resilience societies. ASCENT (Advancing Skill Creation to ENhance Transformation) aims to ensure that the targeted HEIs in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Thailand have the research and innovative capacities to tackle the challenges associated with developing societal resilience to disasters. ASCENT will: 1) identify research and innovative capacity needs across partner country HEIs to tackle the development of societal resilience to disasters; 2) develop research infrastructure to support implementation of the project and provide sustainable capacity development within the partner HEIs ; 3) prepare researchers in the identified Asian countries to undertake advanced, world-class and innovative, multi- and inter-disciplinary research that will contribute to increased societal resilience to disasters; 4) Increase international cooperation by partner HEIs on research programmes that tackle ways to increase societal resilience to disasters; 5) explore, promote and initiate opportunities for fruitful university / industry partnerships to increase societal resilience to disasters; and 6) publicise the project progress, successes and outcomes as far as possible, and raise awareness across the field of HE about capacity building for disaster resilience research.