The proposed project represents an innovative and multidisciplinary approach to introducing European Union Studies at Nazarbayev University (NU) in Kazakhstan. The project consists of one core activity (EU Module) and few auxiliary activities (guest lectures, research activities, blog, workshops, outreach sessions): The primary activity of the project is the European Union: Institutions and Policies (EUIP) course whose objective is to promote first teaching experience for young scholars and to nourish interests in the EU in a country where students have limited knowledge about the EU. The rationale of introduction of such course at our University is the identified need to teach our undergraduate students enrolled in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences about the most advanced example of regional integration. This subject is particularly relevant for students majoring in Political Science, International Relations and Economics who need to be familiar with the latest developments in complex interdependence that mitigates against the risks of anarchy at the international level. The project will enable the Module leader to introduce the EUIP course for first time and entrench the teaching of EU Studies within the NU’s curriculum. In doing so, we will ensure a continuity in that all our graduates would have a chance to take a course dedicated on the EU. The novelty of the project rests in the fact that: i) it will be the first such course offered to our NU students, ii) it will empower the project coordinator and module leader, Dr. Maja Savevska who is a recent PhD graduate, to tailor her teaching profile to her research interests in the EU and strengthen her expertise in this subject area, and iii) the academic content of the course aims not only to stimulate knowledge on the EU, but to encourage students to engage in comparative regionalism by requiring them, through various written assignments, to analyse how the analytical concepts and theories used to assess the EU’s experience can be used to investigate the Kazakh’s experience of regional integration within the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Besides the main teaching activity, the EUIP Module, the proposed project foresees three guest lectures delivered by experts from Europe. The objective of the guest lectures is to bring in a multidisciplinary dimension to the project by exposing our students to research on the EU done by two legal scholars, Dr. Cebulak and Mr. Karliuk (LL.M), and one EU Studies specialist, Dr. Crespy, who will focus on the monetary integration efforts. The rationale for the guest lectures is to familiarize our students with the importance of the legal dimension of regional integration. Given that NU does not have a law school it is paramount that we bring external exerts. In addition, the project envisages seminars each academic year delivered by local NU faculty members, Dr. Chacha and Dr. Collins, who will explore key EU issue areas in-depth. The main outputs of the project are: i) blog where our students will be able to publish and make widely available their research output on comparative regionalism with emphasis on the EAEU (F.2.2), and ii) Dr. Savevska's research output (F.2.3) that should result in publications in peer-reviewed journals. The results of the project will be disseminated by organizing workshops that will bring together the academic community and the Kazakh policy-making community in order to promote the transfer of knowledge and stimulate the generation of policy-relevant knowledge in academia and the development of evidence-based policy-making in the public sector (F.2.4). Finally, the project purports to practice inclusiveness by stimulating interest in the EU among a target group not immediately involved in the project. Namely, it plans to organize two outreach sessions at a local high school (F.2.4).

ProInCa consortium consists of European(4) and Kazakhstan(5) HEIs, and associated partners(13) representing variety of different stakeholders. The project is led by JAMK(FI), and supported by the Kazakhstan(KZ) Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health. ProInCa strives for solving the defined problems in KZ nursing HEI and nursing practice: lack of collaboration and knowledge sharing between the HEI’s, health service sector and international nursing research community; lack of capacity of HEI’s teaching staff teaching for evidence based nursing, nursing research and nursing management; absence of nursing research; undeveloped leadership in nursing. The wider objective of the project is to develop the sustainable innovation capacity of KZ Medical Universities for the modernization of nursing. Significant results and long-term benefits are expected within the 3-year project: • Sustainable mechanisms for collaboration and knowledge sharing between national and international academic nursing community and society• Increased relevance of HEI nursing education for the labor market through the implementation of EBN• Strengthened role of Medical Universities in building evidence based nursing research activities in health services• Improved capacity and relevance for the labor market on nursing leadership and management in health care transition• New sustainable system of nursing leadership and management in health care with collaboration of HEI's and Health care facilitiesFour development work packages generate several outcomes, which provide sustainable results as collaborative structures and persistent bodies to the HEIs and health care facilities (e.g. Center of Nursing Excellence, Nurse Leaders´ National Network); national capacity building materials for HEIs and HCF (e.g. nursing research, evidence based nursing, leadership), and reports with policy recommendations (e.g. nursing research infrastructure, nursing management system).

Insufficient qualifications of nursing teachers, lack of experience in nursing research, undeveloped leadership and involvement in the management process of nursing, insufficient state support for Master and PhD level students in nursing may result in shortage of highly qualified scientific personnel in nursing in Kazakhstan, if no structural reform is done in higher education. The State Health Development Program of the Republic of Kazakhstan has emphasized the necessity of strengthening the status and role of nurses, nursing research and education on postgraduate level to increase the quality of healthcare services, however the support is weak due to the lack of expertise in nursing education and research development.AccelEd gathers international experts in postgraduate nursing education with the overall aim to strengthen nursing education on Master level and establish and launch PhD nursing science in Kazakhstan through changes in policy and institutional structures, involving ministries, universities, healthcare institutions, associations (both in healthcare and education), and international nursing communities. Best international practices and expert knowledge will be employed to build the capacity of academic staff, healthcare institutions, research centres and national policy makers by developing expertise in nursing science, qualitative nursing research methodologies, Master and PhD theses assessment, collaborative structures and network creation, leadership, policy reforms in education and healthcare. Potential PhD students will be engaged to ensure sustainable development of nursing science and research. Study courses, benchmarking reports, workshops, seminars, masterclasses, conferences, pedagogical/research internships, workshops, publishing, webinars, mentorship sessions and policy discussions with concrete recommendations will be delivered by AccelEd international team to initiate transformation and modernisation of postgraduate nursing education.

The overall project goal of ACeSYRI (Advanced Centre for PhD students and young researchers in informatics) is to improve research conditions of young researchers and PhD students in informatics (computer science) from Kazakhstan universities based on development of international cooperation with EU universities. Therefore we plan to develop a virtual portal and center in Kazakhstan in order to promote the collaboration between the target groups: PhD students, young researchers, academic teachers. In general, ACeSYRI allows participants to form research groups, collaborate with international research partners and to share information and project results. Using ACeSYRI to collaborate is free of charge and is available to students and young researchers from PC universities and enterprises. The project is scheduled for 3 years and is conducted by 4 EU and 9 Kazakh institutes, including 7 universities (private and public) . The implementation of ACeSYRI provides a valuable contribution towards the modernization of higher education in Kazakhstan. Both, promoting the research conditions of young researchers and involving them into actual research problems are expected to raise the level of higher education PC.ACeSYRI has a long-lasting impact on the higher education of PC. First pilot collaborations between PhD students/young researchers and professors from Kazakhstan and teaching staff from EU universities are conducted during the project and are expected to spill over to other young researchers .

In Central Asian (CA) countries, large groups of graduates don’t find a job according to their degree, nor can they develop their talent within their work. The countries lack HRM experts that can e.g. introduce transparent selection and promotion procedures in enterprises, or assist the government in modernising its labour market policy.In this project, 3 Kazakh, 2 Uzbek and 2 Kyrgyz universities will each develop a two-year HRM master programme (TALENT) that has similar core courses in the 7 universities. Each of the programmes has to obtain accreditation, by the middle of Y2. In Y3, the first year of the 7 TALENT programmes must take start. Some of the 7 universities have an excellent reputation; they will help the less prestigious universities to develop and maintain their TALENT programme.The course development will be coached by the EU partners, with the teachers of each course meeting each other and further co-operating via a knowledge sharing platform. The teachers will develop separate, but highly comparable course syllabi and introductory texts. In 6 workshops, the EU and CA teachers will present HRM topics, adapted to the CA context and illustrated with CA examples.The project website will start as an introduction to the project, and then develop into a website introducing HRM and its applicability to the CA context. It will include a selection of the introductory texts, together with video recorded material of the workshops and case studies. Most material will be available in 3 languages (EN, RU + (KZ or UZ or KG)).The 7 CA universities already have good contacts with regional and national stakeholders. In this project, the focus will be on entrepreneurs, trade unions and governmental bodies on labour markets and work conditions. With each of the 6 HRM workshops, the stakeholders of the respective university will be engaged, i.c. in the role of disputant. A selection of stakeholders will be incorporated in each university’s TALENT advisory board.