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.

Major changes are needed to develop sustainable agricultural and food systems in Vietnam, Philippines and Sri Lanka as large proportion of these countries agricultural growth has stemmed from expanded or more intensive use of land and other natural resources, and relatively heavy use of fertilizer and other agro-chemicals increasing the risk of residues in food. Agroecology could be an important approach to meet this general objective - sustainable agricultural and food systems, - as it designs, develops, and promotes the transition towards biodiversity and low external input-based, socially sound farming and food systems. Thus, the CDAE project will create a new MSc programme in a specialized academic area and key regulatory/policy issue, namely “Agroecology” that is as much absent from Partner HEI graduate and postgraduate programmes as it is needed, address this absence and the needs of the region and incorporate ecological principles and knowledge into the study of cropping and farming systems so that professionals are well prepared for the future design and management of a sustainable agriculture and organic farming techniques. In addition, the “Agroecology Labs” that will be established in the participating universities will promote sustainable agriculture and will act as foci of research innovation and cooperation in the area. Moreover, the Agroecology Knowledge Hubs will be a powerful tool for the initial and continued training of the students and academics and will be used in combination with the Labs to ensure continued research cooperation among European and Asian HEIs as well as updating the staff’s knowledge and skills.

Currently, a number of programmes are in place in Sri Lankan universities to improve quality in the higher education sector. Due to limited resources and financial austerity, however, very few of them pay attention to improving the qualifications and skills of non-academic staff. This capacity-building project addresses this issue. It is a joint initiative of 6 Sri Lankan universities, 4 EU universities and one non-academic partner. The University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Higher Education have joined as associated partners. The project’s overall objective is to enhance the governance, management and operation of universities in Sri Lanka by building the knowledge and skills of non-academic staff, in view of enhancing organizational performance and supporting current and future modernization efforts and reforms in higher education. The specific objectives are:1.To enhance Sri Lankan Universities’ knowledge and good practices base in key areas of governance and management2.To improve through training and international exposure the knowledge, skills and attitudes of non-academic staff in the partner universities 3.To put in place institutional strategies and support structures in the partner universities, enabling a long-term commitment to the training and professional development of non-academic staff.4.To provide recommendations for actions applicable to the national higher education system and to inspire other universities to develop adequate plans for the professional development of their non-academic staff.Planned activities include:-development of training curriculum focused on university administration, internationalization in higher education, financial management and auditing, soft skills, Equality and Diversity-training of trainers in transnational format-local multiplication trainings (for around 180 non-academic staff)-creation of Non-Academic Staff Development Cells-development of university strategies-dissemination activities

Every year, moreEvery year, more than one hundred million people suffering from accidents or life-threatening diseases save their life thanks to blood components transfusions obtained from generous donations and the continued evolution of a yet “old” scientific discipline: Transfusion Medicine. Transfusion Medicine (TM) is a globally spread medical science seeking for the universal access of patients to enough and safe blood and blood components. This goal is practically achieved on many countries, with a high degree of quality harmonisation in Europe and North America. Contrarily, it does not happen yet in other parts of the world such as Central and South America and AsiaTo achieve the WHO objectives competency among staff in transfusion medicine needs to be improved to achieve the goal “universal access to safe blood and blood products for transfusion”. Staff should develop their competency in many aspects. Most health professionals in Asia are only trained initially before recruiting to the blood transfusion services and occasionally trained through workshops and in-service training. The consortium wishes to undertake this this capacity building in order to achieve two major goals: i) To Improve competences on professionals working in the field of transfusion medicine in order to make a blood transfusion safer and to save precious human lives and, ii) to improve the harmonization of transfusion medicine practice within Asian countries.The project will integrate knowledge from Asia and Europe in the development of education programs in TM and will provide Asian partners with sophisticated equipment that will facilitate education tasks ant the long-term implementation of the model.The joint common knowledge and the building of flexible and updated facilities make the described objectives achievable and realistic. The consortium does believe that the current situation in Sri Lanka and Asia Pacific concerning the management of haematological health diseases.

The CCWater project addresses 'knowledge building' to address water scarcity and water management in 3 partner countries in Asia. It will strengthen the local capacities to cope with Climate Change adaptation through 3 universities from Sri Lanka, 3 from China, and 2 from Mongolia. 3 program countries, Norway, Germany and Poland, with 3 universities with broad and diverse experience in climate-resilient water management will build a knowledge-sharing partnership with the 8 universities in 3 partner countries. The universities, as the key stakeholders preparing tomorrow's leaders, engineers, and scientists, have a key role to play when educating the graduates in the water sector. The participating units of the universities have teaching responsibilities related to water resources, water supply and wastewater management, which are the focus of the CCWater project. The CC Water project aims to strengthen the water-related higher education in 3 partner countries to increase the resilience against climate change impacts. This is achieved by developing HEI’s competences and skills with modern technology and teaching resources. The international collaboration, which is a unified strategic priority of all participating HEIs, will be strengthened together with improved gender and ethnic diversity and inclusion. The main objectives is designed to achieve with five focus areas with five concrete results: (1) enhancing climate resilience and sustainability of water resources and infrastructures in the Partner Countries (2) modernising water-related higher education with climate change issues and internationalise HEIs from the Partner Countries (3) improving the level of competences and skills in HEIs from the Partner Countries (4) strengthening relations of HEIs in the Partner Countries with the wider economic and social environment, and enhance their innovation capacity and (5) improving diversity and inclusion of higher education in the Partner Countries.