"The use of modern technologies in the robotization of the agricultural sector makes it possible to move to new cost-effective models in the production.The most important goal of agricultural sector in regions, as well as agro-industrial complex as a whole, is the energy saving insurance, the development of modern agricultural technologies and equipment, which allow the use of modern resource-saving technologies. Based on this analysis, industry needed complex specialists with expertise in agricultural machinery,mechatronics, biotechnology, information technology, environmental engineering.Until now, most Russian and Iranian universities failed to adapt their education to employer’s new needs and, consequently, there is a mismatch between the available training and professional competences. Our project will promote cooperation between EU, Russia and Iran in the field of agro engineering; will enhance the integration of RU and IR in global education market; will integrate the main EU expert knowledge in the RU&IR education and will create a sustainable network between universities in the field of agro engineering. Specific objectives are: 1. To develop new curriculum of the master program ""Agromechatronics"";2. To establish multinational cooperation network by development web-based educational network;3. To enhance innovation capacities by updating facility in PP universities for gaining practical skills;4. To establish virtual summer school ""Sustainable Agriculture"" among Partner Universities.It would impact rural area population by means of offered courses and virtual summer school. Our project is also intended to solve the problem of easily comparable academic degrees between EU, Russia and Iran, ensuring comparability programs of the higher education and the awarded diplomas/degrees."

The project addresses the demand of educating doctoral students on high quality and international standards to increase knowledge based solutions for sustainable agriculture and future farming systems – a topic of national, cross-regional and international relevance.Large agricultural areas characterize the landscapes and economies of Russia and Kazakhstan and both countries see the innovative development of this sector as a priority. Compared to this, skilled labour and innovation potential is lacking. As a reaction, a number of initiatives target to build up human resources on all levels (farm workers, specialists, managers) and as well to improve higher education institutions (HEIs). Despite the progress in joining and pursuing the Bologna process, brain drain of young talents and deficient and outdated educational offers for PhD studies impede the goals of HEIs to become international competitive. The consortium of 5 EU partners and 4 Russian and 4 Kazakh agricultural universities together with consultative and expert partners from accreditation, research and private business in Russia and Kazakhstan therefore specified the following objectives.(1) to develop and establish four post-graduate modules at 8 HEIs in different regions to qualify doctoral students on inter- and transdisciplinary contents and approaches relevant for agricultural research and innovation;(2) to increase the human capacity, literature base and equipment of partner institutions to provide doctoral education according to international standards and best-practices;(3) to strengthen international and interregional academic exchange and research cooperation among project partners;(4) to establish a network on doctoral research and education in the agricultural field targeted on the exchange of best practices with a wider audience.Overall the institutional capacity increases to tackle education and research demand in the area of sustainable agriculture and future farming systems.

Most agricultural rural areas in the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan are characterized by drastic changes in the agriculture and nutrition sector, due to privatization, modernization and increasing differences between large-scale agro-holdings and small holder farms. The importance of rural development and the need to develop perspectives for agricultural land use is both recognized by politics and education. With regard to this a lack of sustainable development strategies and integrated approaches for the regional or local level exists as well as for up-to-date methods and skilled people to assess and further develop agro-ecosystems services, which are not only agricultural products but also environmental and social services. Professionals need to be educated and trained to adopt theoretical development concepts for specific local conditions, access (international) experiences and apply up-to date methods for the assessment of agro-ecosystems and for natural resource and agriculture land use planning and management.Objective of the proposed project SARUD is therefore (1) to develop a professional master programme on sustainable agriculture and rural development tailored to the demand for professionals of public services, local and regional governments, private service providers and enterprises. Together with partners in local working groups three Russian universities representing different regions and three universities in Northern Kazakhstan develop and implement praxis oriented curricula. (2) Situation analysis and experiences on the local and regional level are enriched and exploited through the build-up of a knowledge platform on sustainable agriculture and integrative rural development by involving national network partners. (3) Through the project activities the training competences for the agricultural sector and further education faculties and their inter-regional network will be strengthened.