The managers from partner universities assembled in Yekaterinburg on 4-5 June 2019 for the reports, prepared by Sergei Polbitsyn of Ural Federal university and Dina Williams of Manchester university on quality assurance results and further development.

All participants of the meeting approved that the progress of the project conforms the requirements of the grant agreement.

However, some issues to be improved were sounded. The first and the most important was the issue on reporting on activities. The information on few grant activities is lacking and it is needed to be presented on the grant website.

The external evaluator Dina Williams emphasized in her report that the partners are doing well with the delivering the expected outcomes, but partners lack attention to the information flows. She noted that it would be useful to adopt internal standards on what information must be posted on outcomes and activities.

The meeting was concluded with better understanding for further improvement of quality assessment of the grant.

Text by, Sergei Polbitsyn, UrFU

Project group hearing the external Quality evaluator Dr Dina Williams from Manchester University.

Reflecting the meeting.

On April 26, 2019, the II International Forum of Innovative Teachers “Modern Education: Challenges, Trends and Strategies” was completed their work at M.Auezov South Kazakhstan State University.

The Forum covered all the links of the educational institutions of the Republic of Kazakhstan: school-college-HEI, as the Forum proved to be recognized as a permanent discussion platform for discussing topical issues of education development and mutual transfer   of the best teaching experience in the education area.

The Chairman of the Committee for Control in the Field of Education and Science of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan T.I. Eshankulov and the foreign deputy director of the Nazarbayev Intellectual School (South Africa) Jennifer MacKenzie made  welcoming   addresses.

Within the Forum framework as part of the Erasmus + Program a webinar was held with the participation of teachers from Finland – University of Applied Sciences  of Tampere, Tampere city, Denmark ; University of Applied Knowledge, Odense city; Spain – Valladolid University, Valladolid; Russia – St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics; B.N. Yeltsin (the First President of Russia) Ural Federal University and Kazakhstan – Sh.Ualikhanov Kokshetau State University; Al-Farabi Kazakh National university, E.A. Buketov Karaganda State University, and Belgium – Modern Education and also Research Institute in Brussels, People’s Republic of China – Confucius Institute in Xinjiang.

The 3rd workshop on intensive teacher training and curriculum planning was held at the University of Valladolid, Spain, from 14 to 18 May 2019, according to WP 4.1.2, in which all the partner universities participated. During the workshop, modules 4, 5, 6 and 7 were reviewed, master classes on assessment for training and assessment methods, as well as the application of new pedagogical methodologies in the courses being developed were held.

In the period from 28th of January till 1st of February the International workshop within the framework of the international program Erasmus + on theme “Intensive Teacher Training and Curriculum Content Planning for e-learning” took place in the M. Auezov South-Kazakhstan State University, with participation of the leading International scientists from Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Finland, Lillebaelt Academy of Applied Sciences, Denmark, Valladolid University, Spain, Saint Petersburg National Research University of Information technologies, Mechanics and Optics, Tyumen State University, Russia, al-Farabi Kazakh National university, Sh. Ualikhanov Kokshetau State university by project «Enhancing Competence in Sustainable Waste Management in Universities of Russia and Kazakhstan /EduEnvi».

The seminar was also attended by representatives of other universities of Kazakhstan who are not members of the project consortium, as well as schools, representatives of enterprises, students, Master and Ph.D students who took an active part in teaching master classes. The aim of the seminar was intensive teacher training and curriculum planning, according to WP 4.1.1, in which modules 1, 2, 3, 8 were discussed in detail, and recommendations were made on courses, mainly on how to apply a student-centered approach in courses developed.

The participants and associated partners of ITMO University were invited to join the open webinar on April 4th, devoted to implementation of the EduEnvi project and development of cooperation with industry in the field of waste management.

See here the material of the Open Webinar organized on 4^th April, 2019. 

Have being already traditional the annual ECO-FORUM – 2019 «The Ecology of the Big City” was conducted on March 20-22 in St. Petersburg.  Dr. Olga Sergienko, representing the EduEnvi project partner, ITMO University, was invited to make a presentation devoted to the project. The presentation were given at the panel session “Sustainable urban development” and called an interest among the participants.

See the project presentation here from Eco Forum. In Russian by Olga Sergienko, ITMO.

Olga Sergienko and associated partners

Olga Sergienko and Evgenia Koroleva

27.02.2009 14.00 workshop with further webinar connection at 15.00 between partner universities on the project   585761-EPP 1-2017-1-FI-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP «Enhancing competition in Sustainable Waste Management in Universities of Russia and Kazakhstan» took place in M. Auezov South-Kazakhstan State university with participation of the Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B. N. Yeltsin, UrFU, Russia, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Sh.Ualikhanov Kokshetau State University, South-Kazakhstan State Pedagogical university, as well as representatives of enterprises. During discussion were noted that in Kazakhstan, as in the world, the problem of safe disposal of production and consumption waste has always been one of the most important environmental problems. Currently, an important task is set-waste disposal – the use of waste as secondary material or energy resources.  Kazakhstan has accumulated more than 45 billion tons of production and consumption waste, of which only 5 percent is recycled. With such huge amounts of garbage, waste processing plants do not have enough raw materials for processing, since there is no culture of separate waste collection in the country. According to the statistics Committee, about 500 specialized companies in the field of waste management are registered in Kazakhstan. The largest industry is the “Altyn – TET” complex, which operates in Astana and is engaged in sorting and processing of jointly collected municipal solid waste. Other companies, which works in Kazakhstan are called “KazakhstanWasteRecycling” (paper and cardboard), SAF (glass), Kazkauchuk (tires and rubber waste), WestDala (oily waste, integrated waste management), “Promtehresurs KZ” and “Recycling” (electronic waste).

Therefore, the use of scientific and technological progress for the introduction of environmentally friendly technologies is of paramount importance for the sustainable development of the economy.

In Kazakhstan, manufacturers of environmentally friendly products are planning to issue special certificates within the framework of the Concept for the transition to a “green” economy.

One of the innovations of the document is the concept of “green” purchases, which will stimulate those processing enterprises that produce products, for example, in the construction of roads and bridges. Now a lot of different thermal insulation materials, there are a lot of materials that are used in finishing works.

Many initiatives are needed to implement an effective waste management system:

– training of qualified specialists in waste management system;

– conduct a thorough audit and environmental monitoring of all large landfills and identify measures for their remediation;

– updating of standards of work, processing and storage of solid domestic wastes;

– waste processing should be carried out by enterprises-producers of waste;

– reduction of taxes of enterprises engaged in waste processing.

27.02.2019 y. the seminar on the theme: “Development and modernization of the curriculum, quality assurance of the educational process” took place in the Sh. Ualikhanov Kokshetau State University.  

During the workshop were noted that establishment of an effective regional and local waste management system is not possible without qualified and trained personnel in this area. Since 2018, the international project: «Enhancing Competences of Sustainable Waste Management in Russian and Kazakh HEIs / EduEnvi. The project coordinator is Tampere University of Applied Sciences, Finland (Tampere University of Applied Sciences – TAMK). The project is implemented under the Erasmus + programme funded by the European Commission.

Within the seminar, associate professor of Sh. Ualikhanov Kokshetau State University Kurmanbayeva Aigul and manager of LLP “LS Kokshetau” Sergey Beznosikov gave reports. The main environmental problems of the region in the field of waste management were considered. As a result of the discussion, the following resolution was adopted.

RESOLUTION for the webinar between universities

1. Development and implementation of new electronic educational programs in the field of waste processing in the higher education system will improve the skills of specialists and improve waste management.
2. Prepared modules are practice-oriented and increase the competence of future specialists in the field of waste management.
3. The training program should include practical training in office management in the field of waste management. Development of project documentation, protocols, acts and other documents.
4. The Union of workers in the waste management industry with production workers, environmentalists and University teachers is necessary to solve the urgent problems of the region related to waste.
5. Teach students to work with the population. To carry out propaganda and explanatory work among the population and activities for environmental education and upbringing. To involve the collection and disposal of garbage for all residents, through the preparation of propaganda leaflets, promotional videos, banners, etc to use for this social network.
6. Write an appeal to the local executive bodies on the need to support processors of recyclable materials and assist in the rapid solution of production problems:

– allocation of land for reception points;

– permission of installation of garbage containers for separate collection of secondary raw materials on garbage sites of the city;

– issuing low-interest loans, grants, compensations and subsidies to waste processors for the purchase of modern equipment or modernization of existing technologies.

Sustainable waste management is an extremely important task of the state environmental policy. Currently, the industry of collection and processing of secondary raw materials in our country is only being formed and requires support from both, the state and the population.

One year of active working in EduEnvi is behind now and in the end of January EduEnvi project group met in the Mid-Project Meeting in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

Curriculum Content Planning Workshop

Auezov South Kazakhstan University hosted a meeting including sessions related to Curriculum Content Planning. The modules that the group concentrated this time relate to comprehensive risk assessment in waste management, biotechnologies for waste utilization, Non-energy technologies to waste utilization and life cycle assessment and life cycle costing. The courses were jointly developed as used to in EduEnvi project: the teachers responsible of the courses presented the course plans and workshop participants were able to comment and give feedback from the content and the pedagogical point of view. Also practical classes were carried out as demonstration. This way the teachers are able to test how the chosen pedagogical methods work in real life.

Midterm of the project

As the midterm of the project is coming closer, it was also valuable to have a week devoted for group work and checking the status of the project: “Where are we now”. In the workshop sessions themes such as Sustainblity of the project and Dissemination were discussed very practically.

To help the project implementation the National Erasmus officers from Kazakhstan and Russia have conducted advisory monitorings in the last few months. After these advisory monitorings the Erasmus officers gave practical recommendations for the project implementation. The EduEnvi project group found these recommendations very productive and helpful for the continuation of the project. During the meeting in Shymkent the project managers representing all the partner organizations gathered into a circle and deeply discussed these recommendations and made concrete plans on how to improve the project implementation.

All in all, the week in Shymkent was efficient and productive for EduEnvi. Though the project team has been working hard past few months developing the 8 online modules, everyone sees that the coming period is crucial on how the project succeeds. Sprint in the module development is needed. Refining all the online courses and preparing the piloting stage challenges all the project partners. However, the atmosphere is good and common goal is clear for all: Improving the education on Sustainable Waste Management for making better future.

Text by Pedro García (UVa), Ella Kallio (TAMK)

Photos from the meeting:

Opening of the meeting at M. Auezov South Kazakhstan State University

Project group visiting the university museum.

Project partners from Spain, Finland and Kazakhstan.

Excursion to wastewater plants in Togus.

Workshop on project dissemination.

Read here the report of a survey that was carried out in the spring of 2018 before the project participants had started planning online courses.

The aim of this survey was twofold: 1) to gather information about the participants’ online teaching experience and their expectations of the upcoming two-week pedagogical workshop in Tampere, Finland, and 2) to investigate participants perceptions of online teaching and learning.

The latter aim sought answers to two questions :
How do the participants perceive a successful online course?
What are roles of teacher and student in their imagined course?

Author: Sisko Mällinen, TAMK Principal Lecturer, Professional Teacher Education