National Tempus Office in Kazakhstan

Information Bulletin №5 - 2013

The selection results of the Tempus IV Sixth Call for Proposals were published in October 2013. 171 proposals were recommended for funding from the Tempus budget. These proposals were evaluated by independent experts against the selection and award criteria published in the 6th Call. The short-list of projects, based on the experts' quality assessment, was sent to the EU Delegations, National Tempus Offices and relevant National Authorities in the Tempus Partner Countries for consultation, to ensure that they were in line with national higher education policies in the Partner Countries. The responses from the consultation process were analyzed and taken into consideration, along with the results of the experts' evaluation, as well as other considerations to which a priority was given in the Call, namely, to encourage Structural Measures and multi-country projects. Lastly, the selection committee had to ensure a geographic balance across the Tempus Partner Countries. As a result of Call VI 9 projects involving Kazakh HEIs were selected for financing. Among 9 projects 4 are multi-county and 5 - multiregional. They involve 19 higher education institutions and 8 non-academic partners from 10 regions of Kazakhstan.

Kazakh Economic University named after T.Ryskulov has become the first Tempus project Coordinator in Kazakhstan (project “Promoting Educational Organisation through peoPLE”). Following the selection NTO organized consultation meetings for coordinators of new Tempus projects in three regions: - 27th November 2013 – Karaganda, Karaganda State Medical University; - 29th November 2013 - Almaty, Kazakh Economic University named after T.Ryskulov; - 10th January 2014 – Astana, Eurasian National University named after L.N.Gumilev.

Project coordinators and consortium members from neighboring regions were also invited to these meetings. Main objective of the meetings - to familiarize with the rules and procedures of implementing Tempus projects, facilitate partnership and sharing of experience between project partners. During the meetings NTO Coordinator in Kazakhstan Sh. Tasbulatova briefly presented results of Call VI, shared practical recommendations to successful implementation of Tempus projects.

543657-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-KZ-TEMPUS-JPGR – “Promoting educational organisation through People”; 543720-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-DE-TEMPUS-JPCR - “Strengthening education in space-based remote sensing for monitoring of eco systems in Israel, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan”; 543746-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-ES-TEMPUS-JPHES – “InnoLabs in Central Asia for a sustainable catalyzation of innovation in the Knowledge Triangle”; 543808-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-BE-TEMPUS-JPHES – “PICTET: EQF-based professional ICT training for Russia and Kazakhstan”; 544126-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-ES-TEMPUS-JPHES – “Strengthening Career Centres in Central Asia Higher Education Institutions to empower graduates in obtaining and creating quality employment”; 544132-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-FR-TEMPUS-JPCR – “Development and implementation of masters programmes in food safety and the production and marketing of TRADitional food PROducts in Russia and Kazakhstan”;

For your attention:

• Tempus IV –Call VI Results

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• CALL VI projects involving Kazakh HEIs ……………………………...1

• Projects field monitoring

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• Study visit to Italy

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TEMPUS IV – CALL VI RESULTS

CALL VI projects involving Kazakh HEIs

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544319-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-FR-TEMPUS-JPCR – “Réseau Professionnel de Masters "Informatique Seconde Compétence"; 544490-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-ES-TEMPUS-JPCR – “A Methodology for the Formation of Highly Qualified Engineers at Masters Level in the Design and Development of Advanced Industrial Informatics Systems”; 544601-TEMPUS-1-2013-1-DE-TEMPUS-SMGR- “Einführung des Qualitätsmanagements im ELearning an zentralasiatischen Hochschulen”.

In accordance with the project Field Monitoring Plan in 2014 National Tempus Office will carry out monitoring of the following projects: - February - March. Environment protection through development and application of sustainable Agriculture Technologies (EPASAT); - April. Technical Education on Resource Savings for Industrial Development (TERSID); - June. InnoLabs in Central Asia for a sustainable catalyzation of innovation in the Knowledge Triangle (INOCAS); - September. Promoting Educational Organisation through people (PEOPLE); - September. PICTET: EQF-based professional ICT training for Russia and Kazakhstan (PICTET); - October. Strengthening education in space-based remote sensing for monitoring of eco systems in Israel, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan” (SESREMO); - October. Development and implementation of masters programmes in food safety and the production and marketing of TRADitional food PROducts in Russia and Kazakhstan (TRADPRO); - October – November. Einfuehrung des Qualitaetsmanagements im E-learning an zentralasiatischen Hochschulen (QAMEL); - November. Réseau Professionnel de Masters "Informatique Seconde Compétence" (PROMIS); - November – December. Student Support and Development Services (SSDS);

- December. A Methodology for the Formation of Highly Qualified Engineers at Masters Level in the Design and Development of Advanced Industrial Informatics Systems (MEDIS).

Among the ways to facilitate partner

search, establishing and enhancing cooperation between Kazakh and EU universities among the most efficient ones is organizing study visits to EU higher education institutions. Our experience has shown that their success is a subject to a number of constituents – selection of interested Kazakh participants, motivation and readiness of EU universities to cooperate, support of EU Embassies and National Contact Points in Member States, and of reputable professors. In March 2009 Bologna University supported a visit of NTO coordinators from Central Asia to Italian universities. In January 2011 with active support of the Embassy of French Republic and partner universities we had a visit of 6 representatives of Kazakh universities to France. In November 2011 jointly with British Council was organized a study visit to Great Britain, and from 10th to 16th December 2012 – visit to Spain.

All these visits were content-rich, fruitful and effective. They helped to revive and further promote joint activities of Kazakh universities with British and French higher education institutions. The study visit to Spain in 2012, along with activities on bilateral cooperation, resulted in developing and submitting several joint project proposals to the Tempus Call VI – a very important achievement. As a result of the selection process three proposals were shortlisted and two were funded. Among them – “A Methodology for the Formation of Highly Qualified Engineers at Masters Level in the Design and Development of Advanced Industrial Informatics Systems” (Polytechnic University of Valencia) and “Promoting Educational Organisation Through People”, in which Kazakh Economic University named after

T.Ryskulov has become the first coordinator of a Tempus project in Kazakhstan.

The analysis of Tempus IV Calls selection results have shown that Germany, Spain and Italy were the top three countries to win the biggest number of Tempus projects. This has become a determining factor in the choice of the country to visit in 2013 – it should be Italy. The visit was co-organised by Pisa University and Professor of this University Katherine Isaacs.

On behalf of the entire Kazakh group we would like to express Pisa University leadership and in particular, to Professor K. Isaacs, our special gratitude. Despite her busy schedule she took over the preparation of both the content and organizational parts of the visit – from visa support letters, contacting with colleagues in other Italian universities, drafting and finalizing the programme of the visit to purchasing train tickets for travels in Italy and helping to book hotels. It is because of her energy, enthusiasm and high reputation the visit was organized at a high level, has become interesting and efficient.

We would also like to thank for the invaluable support provided to our group by Mrs. Viktoriya Kolp, manager of international projects in Pisa University, including the ongoing TUCAHEA project which involves universities from all Central Asian countries.

The programme of the visit was thoroughly planned. Practically in all universities we met with top leadership. Even minor details were thought of. Whenever it was possible, the meetings were attended by Russian speaking colleagues and this enabled us to discuss in small groups practical aspects of further cooperation. In the majority of HEIs visited the departments of

PROJECT FIELD MONITORING

STUDY VISIT TO ITALY

Brief report

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international cooperation have beforehand prepared draft agreements on bilateral cooperation in electronic and paper formats. All hosting universities made available presentations and information packages about their institutions.

In the present visit the Kazakh delegation, along with HEIs who have a good Tempus experience, was represented by regional universities interested to establish bilateral cooperation with Italian colleagues, and also to develop joint project proposals in the framework of Erasmus + programme. The group consisted of Doctor M.Yelyubayev, President of Kokshetau University named after A.Myrzakhmetov; Professor S.Arystanbayeva, First Vice-Rector for academic affairs of Kazakh Economic University named after T.Ryskulov; R.Ismuratova, Vice-Rector for public relations of Kostanay Engineering- Economic University named after M.Dulatov; Professor S.Baidurin, Head of Chair of “Internal diseases” of Astana Medical University; Professor S.Bekzhanova of Kazakh Academy of Transport and Communication named after M.Tynyshpayev; Doctor A.Baspakova, Head of department for management of scientific research of West Kazakhstan State Medical University named after M.Ospanov; O.Stepanitskaya, Head of International Programmes and Projects Centre of Karaganda Economic University of Kazpotrebsoyuz.

The group is very grateful to Tempus

Unit, EACEA and personally to Project Advisor Ms. Alba—Chiara Tiberi, for supporting and making the visit possible.

As it has always been the case, the programme was very intensive and included visits to universities in Milan, Florence, Pisa and Rome.

The first day on December 9, 2013 started with the visit to University of Milan (Università degli Studi di Milano) in the Rectorate building on Via Festa del Perdono, 7.

Professor Egill Boccanera started the meeting with welcoming the guests. He briefly introduced his colleagues who attended the meeting, and presented the university. The University of Milan (UM) is the only Italian university among the 21 prestigious members of League of European Research Universities (LERU); it is highly rated in major international rankings. It is among the top 200 HEIs according to the Shanghai ranking; according to the QS University Ranking 2013 is in the 275 place in the world.

The University of Milan is the largest university in Lombardy – one of the most dynamic and internationally oriented EU regions and leader in the Italian economy. Its main campus is located in a 15th century monumental complex in the heart of Milan. At present the UM has a staff of more than 200 professors and 64 thousand students, of which 4% are foreign students. Training programmes are offered in such areas as humanities, social sciences and law, medicine and health care, veterinary, pharmacy, exercise and sport sciences, science and technology, agricultural and food sciences, based on three cycle model: bachelor studies – 3 years, Master degree – 2 years, Doctoral programmes – 3 years. University offers 31 doctoral programmes in which highly specialized training and research activities are closely related. Special attention is paid to programmes taught in English. In more detail the information is available on www.unimi.it.

Further presentation of their fields of activity were made by Researcher and Assistant Professor in the department of Slavic Studies Paola Cotta Ramusino; Mrs. Monica Sinibaldi, Head of Office for International Cooperation; Professor Vincenzo Piuri, Head of Information Technology department; Mr. Alessandro Vitale, Researcher and Assistant Professor, Political Sciences department; Professor of department of Agriculture and Food Science Alessio Scaraboni; Professor of Medicine Claudio Colosio. Professor C. Colosio is coordinator of

Tempus project “Central Asian Network for Education, Research and Innovation in Environmental Health”, involving Kazakh higher education institutions. It was very pleasant and useful to meet him and his colleagues, discuss various aspects of the project progress.

Further the participants split into groups to discuss cooperation perspectives in the fields of interest of selected universities. Summarising, Professor Egill Boccanera once more emphasized mutual interest to enhancing collaboration. In the future it is essential to specify areas and scope of cooperation, indicate them more clearly in the draft agreements on bilateral cooperation. The parties exchanged contact details. It was agreed that University of Milan in the communication will be represented by Mrs. Monica Sinibaldi, Head of International Relations. In the second half of the day the Kazakh delegation met with professors and researchers of University of Milano-Bicocca - www.unimib.it. The meeting was attended by representatives of the department of international cooperation – Head of the International Office Mrs. Agnese Cofler and staff member Mrs. Simona Maraboli; Professor Stefania Bandini, Director of department of Computer Science, Systems and Communications; Professor Roberto Moscati, Director of department of Sociology and Social Research; Professor Alessandro Tibaldi, Director of department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

А. Cofler presented general information about the University of Milano-Bicocca. The university was founded in 1998, separating from Milan Polytechnic University. The university is comparatively young, however during the

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fifteen years it has gained recognition both on the national and international levels. The university has 16 departments and 4 schools, enrolls 32000 students. In international ranking Bicocca is among top 400 universities in the world and is in the 228 place. Bicocca has 28 buildings with an area of 300 000 м2. With 910 teaching staff, among them 471 professors and 439 researchers, the university has all necessary facilities for education and research activities. Training is offered in 66 courses, including 32 bachelor and 34 Master and Doctoral degrees. Among them Economics and Statistics, Law, Medicine and Surgery, Psychology, Education, Science, Sociology. In medical specialities Bicocca provides dual Master degrees that are recognized not only in Italy, but throughout the world. The duration of compulsory education is 6 years with further specialization. The university can also provide co-coaching in 22 PhD programmes.

Strong emphasis is made on academic mobility of students and teachers. The university has over 300 international agreements with HEIs all over the world. Academic mobility is implemented in the framework of international programmes – Erasmus, Extra, Smart, Exchange and Summer Schools. 1566 students were involved in the programmes in 2011-2012, of them 513 – international students.

Further in accordance with the programme university professors made their presentations on their fields of study:

Professor Roberto Moscati, Bologna expert, made a brief overview on the transition of Italian universities to three cycle study. He noted that even at present there are unresolved problems in getting employment upon completion of bachelor degrees and in enrolling for PhD degrees. The Bologna process is widely implemented, however new approaches to organizing studies in the three cycle system – bachelor-Master-PhD – are being explored.

Stefania Bandini in her presentation emphasized that innovative computer technologies have a decisive role in education and research activity. Computer programmes can be used in

any area based on multi-disciplinary approach. Professor presented several programmes in which computer technologies can successfully be utilized. Among them, in particular, Crowdess programme aimed at studying crowd behavior, Severity programme on ageing of population. Professor Bandini, whose main field is behavior of people of various age groups and in various environments, shared her experience on how these computer programmes can be used in research activities in Master and PhD studies.

Alessandro Tibaldi familiarized the guests with programmes on studying and preventing natural disasters – landslips, climate change, pollution of environment, global warming. He has been involved in cooperation activities with Kazakh Research Institute of seismology located in Almaty and is ready to continue research cooperation with universities.

After the presentations of Milan-Bicocca professors members of the Kazakh delegation introduced their institutions, fields of prospective cooperation that are of interest for them. Summarising the discussion, Mrs. A. Cofler noted the big potential and mutual interest to developing cooperation, and presented for consideration of Kazakh colleagues draft bilateral framework agreements.

On December 10th the group visited Polytechnic University of Milan (Politecnico di Milano- www.polimi.it).

Already approaching the university campus we saw some kind of lively activity – here and there we could see groups of young people who were establishing stands and decorations, tuning up musical instruments. Cars and small lorries were arriving, people were taking out and arranging trays, stalls,

boxes, equipment. In a word, a very active preparation to an event was going on. Later we found out that exactly the same days the University is celebrating its 150th anniversary. In connection to this every day there are various activities ongoing that are organized by students and the Student Council.

The meeting took place in the university main conference room – Aula Magna. We met with Professor Adalberto Del Bo- Full Professor of Architectural and Urban Design in the department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering, and Mrs. Fracesca Fogal – International Projects Service, University department of External Relations and Communication Area.

Professor Adalberto Del Bo on behalf of the university leadership welcomed representatives of Kazakh universities, and expressed his regret that due to the participation in the Conference of Rectors in Rome and ongoing preparations to the celebration the meeting couldn’t be attended by Rector and Pro-rector. Professor emphasized that in accordance with the University organigramme in allocating responsibilities special attention is paid to extending international cooperation. And what is specific for this university is that there are professors responsible for international relations, whose task is – concrete work with specific regions. Professor A. Del Bo is a supervisor for Central Asia. Further Professor A. Del Bo made a detailed presentation about the University in the context of overall reforming higher education in Italy. Politecnico di Milano is the biggest technical university in the country and is the oldest one in Milan. It was founded on 29th of November 1863 and initially

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was called Istituto Tecnico Superiore. There are only three such universities in Italy that prepare specialists in engineering specialities and architecture (along with the Milan University there are two more – in Turin and Bari). In 2011 Politecnico di Milano was the 48th in the world among technical universities according to the Top Universities Ranking made by Times Higher Education. In 2009 Italian researchers admitted it being the best in Italy according to the criteria of scientific output, attractiveness for foreign students. At present Politecnico di Milano has over 42 000 students in the area of engineering, architecture and industrial design, it consists of 17 departments and 9 schools. The overall territory of 350000 м2 accommodates 355 modern laboratories and 42 libraries. University has 7 main campuses in the regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. Primary attention the university gives to international projects for foreign students.

Following Professor’s presentation participants of the meeting exchanged ideas and opinions on developing cooperation in various fields. They discussed in detail the procedure of concluding bilateral agreements. Mrs. F. Fogal clarified that the mechanism of signing agreements depends on its content and orientation. Framework agreements are considered and signed by the University administration; agreements on specific areas (double diploma studies, academic mobility, etc.) are considered by the departments concerned, and further, after all necessary endorsements are made, also signed by University administration. After the official part interested members of the Kazakh delegation discussed face to face with Mrs. F. Fogal

prospective directions of cooperation between individual Kazakh HEIs and Politecnico di Milano, exchanged contact details. On Wednesday, December 11th at 11 a.m. in the main conference room the meeting with researchers and university administration (heads of structural subdivisions) of the Florence University (Università degli Studi di Firenze -www.unifi.it) took place. The Italian side was represented by Professor Marcantonio Catelani, President of School of Engineering; Doctor Elisa Guberti, Head of International Relations Office, department of Engineering; Professor of School of Medicine Nicola Comodo; Doctor Edgardo Giordani – teacher of department of Agriculture, Food Science and Environment Science; Mrs. Alessandra Currini, University Office for International Relations. On behalf of University administration President of School of Engineering Professor Marcantonio Catelani welcomed the Kazakh delegation. Professor expressed regret of Rector who could not be personally be present at the meeting as at the moment is taking part in the Conference of Rectors in Rome. Professor M. Catelani introduced his colleagues, then members of the Kazakh delegation gave a brief information about themselves, main areas of their universities, fields of their interests. Guests were particularly interested to know more about the models for quality assurance, in particular, criteria of external assessment carried out by Italian Conference of Rectors (CRUI), system of assessment based on EURACE model for engineering disciplines, and of the Atenium model – process of internal audit or self- assessment. After the official welcome part was over, the Italian colleagues presented their departments, main areas of training, international projects and programmes in which they are involved. Doctor E. Guberti made a presentation of her department, familiarized Kazakh colleagues with the experience of ongoing international projects, their coordination. She also informed that at present in the Florence University there are 5 students from the Kazakh National

al-Farabi University doing their Master course. In more detail Doctor Guberti presented her experience of coordinating Tempus project “Quality of Engineering Education in Central Asia” involving along with other CA countries 5 universities from Kazakhstan, confirmed her interest to jointly developing a new project proposal with HEIs participating in the study visit.

Professor of medicine N. Comodo in his presentation described the activity of his School, shared his practice of collaborating with foreign higher education institutions and medical centres. Kazakh colleagues were particularly interested in the experience of the School in co-coaching PhD candidates in the field of medicine. In detail was discussed a possibility of organising internship and post-doctoral training for teachers and professors of medical schools from Kazakhstan in the Florence University. Professor Comodo also confirmed that such a possibility can be made available and his readiness to sign bilateral agreement with medical institutions, including his own availability as visiting professor for delivering lectures and carrying out practical sessions in Kazakh HEIs. From the presentation of Professor Edgardo Giordani who represents department of agriculture, food science and environment protection, Kazakh colleagues also picked up a lot of information about the innovative areas for prospective collaboration. In particular, Professor E. Giordani and his colleagues have a good experience of implementing integrated disciplines in food science. Professor emphasized, that being an ‘interdisciplinary’ subject, environmental science degrees challenge students to

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draw on skills and knowledge from a variety of different fields. This could mean exploring aspects of biology, chemistry, physics, geography, earth and marine sciences, and also social sciences. The idea is to combine multiple perspectives and data sources, to build up a fuller understanding of natural and human environments. Fieldwork is an important part of most environmental science degrees. It often includes trips to a variety of different countries and world regions, to give students experience of different habitats, climates, land formations and societies. Also students spend a fair amount of time in the lab, learning how to carry out different types of tests. In addition, students often undertake voluntary work in an environment-related role, which provides invaluable experience to prepare them for employment. Professor shared his experience in the realization of the project on the cultivation of wild strawberry, which is financed by the government of Italy. In addition to scientific and applied aspects, the project has a social orientation - rural development, strengthening of the rural population. In conclusion professor Giordani mentioned that he himself and colleagues from his department are familiar with Kazakh higher education institutions through joint work with KazNU professors. The department has also accepted KazNU students for short-term training as part of academic mobility. He emphasized that the collaborative work was fruitful, his colleagues and himself are open for cooperation with other Kazakh institutions as well. Mrs. Alessandra Currini, Head of University International Office, expressed her availability for being a contact person in communication between Kazakh HEIs and Florence University. As has been mentioned earlier, collaboration is possible both in the frame of academic mobility, and also providing traineeship for teachers, carrying out joint research with interested Kazakh scholars and institutions. For instance, with West Kazakhstan State Medical University interested to use the experience of

Florence scholars in organizing research projects. Summarising, Professor Catelani thanked all participants for the interesting and content rich discussion, and asked Doctor E. Guberti to collect all questions that were addressed to other colleagues and send responses and contact details of professors via e-mail to the Kazakh colleagues. The same day the group left for Pisa where on 12th December in the morning in the Rectorate building had a meeting with professors and leadership of the University of Pisa (Università di Pisa- www.unipi.it). Guests were welcomed by Professor Marco Enrico Luigi Guidi, Delegate of the Rector for the promotion of international activities. Professor M. Guidi briefly introduced his colleagues present at the meeting: Mrs. Paola Cappellini, Cooperation Manager; Mrs. Viktoriya Kolp, manager of international projects, including Tempus projects; Professor of economics Luca Spataro, department of economy and management; Mrs. Francesca Pinzauti, secretary of the department of economy and management, coordinator of faculty international cooperation; Tommaso Salamone, representative of Scientific cooperation department; Federica Fulceri, coordinator of international projects in medical faculty. After the introductory part, exchange of business cards and contact details Professor Guidi made a presentation about his university. Pisa University was founded in 1343. At present it has 53886 students, 1600 full professors. Pisa University is research

university with 20 departments in 6 areas: mathematics, physics and science; social science; engineering; humanities; health sciences; agrarian science and veterinary. According to the Shanghai ranking, the university is included in the top 101-150, in the QS rating - top 200 HEIs. In star expression it has 4 QS stars, but for selected positions (e.g., accessibility, research, innovations) in 2013 the University received 5 QS stars. The University offers 60 bachelor, 74 Master and 28 doctoral programmes. Internationalization is well developed in the departments of physics, computer and science which offers 1 PhD and 3 Master programmes in English. Department of social science has 1 Master programme in English, 19 short-term courses in English in “Economy and management”, “Law”, “Political science”. The share of international students is 3,5% of the overall number. So far, no students from Kazakhstan yet. Further Paola Cappellini, Cooperation Manager, responding to questions, clarified the procedure of financing higher education in Italy. The overall cost of study varies from 2500 Euro per year (maximum) to 0 Euro. The amount of fees depend on the social status of the family; he average cost is about 800 Euro per year. Entrance requirement to be enrolled for candidate is B2 level of Italian language. Candidates for enrollment to PhD programme do not pay fees, but have to go through complex entrance tests. However international students who have scholarships of their countries can be enrolled with no entrance tests.

Professor S. Arystanbaeva, First Deputy Rector of Kazakh Economic University, was interested to know about a possibility of cooperation in the frame of the national programme “Semester in a

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foreign university” which funds academic mobility of Kazakh students. Pisa University can accept students from Kazakhstan based on a 2-year Master programme in Economics in English, 1-year MBA programme and Master course on “Risk management”. After signing Agreement on Cooperation interested partners can start working directly with departments. Cost of fees for foreign students depend on the conditions stipulated in each specific agreement, but normally students studying based on bilateral agreements do not pay fees; they have only to cover the cost of living, including accommodation and meals. Cooperation is also possible in the frame of training in PhD programmes. Kazakh HEIs can invite Pisa professors as consultants and co-coachers both in economic and medical specialties. University of Pisa has a well developed system and experience of co-coaching. The general discussion was followed by detailed question and answer work on cooperation matters in small groups. Summarizing, Professor Guidi stated that as soon as needs and possibilities available are identified the parties should clearly define what specific areas of cooperation each university would like to include in the bilateral agreements and have them signed.

After a quick lunch the Kazakh group left to Rome where the same day we managed to participate in the reception organized by Kazakh Embassy in Italy on the occasion of Kazakh Independence Day. Here we were able to meet and talk with our compatriots – staff of Embassy, Kazakh students who arrived in Italy in the frame of academic mobility for training and Italian colleagues. There were many famous politicians, diplomats, art people. Among them such famous

singers as Al-Bano and Pupo. We enjoyed talking to them, singing songs and also took photos.

In the morning of 13th December the group met with representatives of academic and administrative staff of Sapienza - Università di Roma- www.uniroma1.it in Rome. The Sapienza University was represented by Professor Antonello Folco Biagini, Vice Rector, Deputy Rector for Cooperation and International Relations; Professor Roberto Pasca Di Magliano, Vice-President of scientific committee on innovations; Alfredo Antonaci, Professor in the department of Surgical Sciences; Professor Teodoro Valente, Head of the department of Chemical Materials, Environmental Engineering; Professor Filippo Lambertucci, department of Architecture and Design; Antonella Cammisa, Director of International Office; Graziella Gaglione, International Relations Office - Mobility Programmes; Susanna Squillaci, International Relations Office; Valeriya Klets and Diana Shendrikova, PhD students. La Sapienza University is one of the oldest universities in the world, a big educational and research centre. During the last years La Sapienza is actively developing international cooperation with various countries, including Kazakh HEIs. Teachers are actively implementing modern technologies, innovative approaches in teaching medicine, humanities, social, engineering and other fields of study. The University offers over 150 bachelor, 107 Master and 80 PhD degrees. Training in the majority of programmes is in Italian, and there are a number of programmes in English. The meeting, as it has already become traditional, started with welcome speech of Professor Antonello Biagini, Deputy Rector for Cooperation

and International Relations. Professor briefly introduced his university, underlining that throughout its history La Sapienza has been promoting international cooperation. It is open for developing collaboration and partnership with those HEIs that are not yet among partners of La Sapienza. The University has a wide spectrum of specialties practically in all fields of study, except for agriculture and veterinary, including also in English. Further Mrs. Graziella Gaglione, representative of International Office in charge of academic mobility programmes, in her presentation noted that their university has a good experience in implementing Erasmus programme (29-30 projects and 500 students) and Tempus (in the last Call La Sapienza won 3 projects as coordinator and 2 projects as partner in the consortium). She briefly explained the procedural part of establishing partnership, the algorithm of concluding General Agreements, executive protocols, subject related agreements. She also described the procedure of financing academic mobility of teaching staff adopted at La Sapienza, that enables Italian researchers visit other countries with research aims. The programme does not include academic mobility of foreign students.

University also has short-term courses with 3-12 months duration, and carries out Summer and Winter Schools. For foreign participants training is organized in English based on individual schedule. Kazakh colleagues were interested to know if La Sapienza can facilitate publications with high impact-factor. Vice-Rector clarified that if this is a joint research or project and if this is really an important research and meets

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international criteria, a publication is possible. It is also possible to jointly develop a PhD programme. Professor of medicine Alfredo Antonaci in his presentation also emphasized the interest of his department in developing academic mobility at all levels, and in developing double diplomas. The department is implementing a considerable number of programmes in medical specialties, carrying out research in the field of molecular biology and use of stem cells. The department offers short-term (3 months) courses in English for teachers. Professors are ready to implement a variety of cooperation forms, including delivering lectures and consulting foreign students.

Professor Roberto di Magliano, Vice-President of the scientific committee on innovations of La Sapienza, shared information on possible areas of cooperation in the department of economy. He noted that they have a two-year Master programme “Finance and Development” in English. In the frame of this programme there is a possibility of offering double diploma. It could be possible to discuss organization of such a programme with a Kazakh HEI; however, its implementation is a difficult task. There are also PhD programmes, therefore, co-coaching in English is also possible. They also have a flexible, tailored to the needs of partners, programme for up-grading qualification of teachers in the frame of academic mobility of staff. One more possible way of collaboration – joint research projects that could be funded by both sides. These can be implemented in a variety of fields – power engineering, transport and some others.

Further the floor was given to Professor Teodoro Valente, Head of department of Chemical Materials, Environmental Engineering. Professor introduced his department, pointing out that they are implementing all engineering specialties, except for shipbuilding. Besides, they have such specific areas of study as, e.g., ecological engineering, industrial biotechnologies, power engineering, renewable power engineering, ecological ways of mining and production, etc. Professor underlined that the department he represents also has a possibility to accept PhD candidates from Kazakh universities. Another perspective way of cooperation – technology transfer, as La Sapienza has several subdivisions in charge of commercializing research results. Professor Filippo Lambertucci from the department of architecture and design, also briefly introduced his department, underlined fields of study – urban studies, energy planning, urban design. The department was founded in 1928, has a good history in the area of preserving cultural heritage, restoration of historical artifacts. The department has 8 000 students in 4 faculties, offers courses in English; one of the specialties - Product design – is taught fully in English and is offered as a double diploma programme with a university in Argentina. The department has a good potential for developing cooperation with economical faculties of Kazakh HEIs, for instance, in the frame of the “Economical assessment of projects” programme. After the presentations and answers to general questions were completed the meeting continued in the form of small groups where Italian and Kazakh colleagues were discussing practicalities of further cooperation, procedure of preparing and signing framework and specific agreements. The draft agreements were given to the Kazakh delegation for further detailed consideration. Among possible variants of collaboration were also ideas to jointly developing project proposals to Erasmus + (taking into account the future format and priorities of the new programme). In detail the two sides have discussed possibilities of scientific co-

coaching of PhD candidates, implementation of training programmes, internships, joint research projects, carrying out online courses and lectures, academic mobility. Oral agreement was made with heads of relevant departments on joint organization of online training courses for upgrading qualification for teachers, on co-coaching for PhD candidates, organizing internship for researchers in “General medicine health services”, conducting master-classes in selected technical specialties. Mrs. Antonella Cammisa, Director of University International Office was nominated contact person on behalf of La Sapienza University. Summarizing Professor A. Biagini once more emphasized that the University leadership is open and ready to establishing diversified cooperation with Kazakh higher education institutions. The next step is to define specific common needs, further scrutinizing cooperation agreements at the level of departments and officially signing them indicating all nuances. Discussing the results of the visit the group expressed their satisfaction with achieved agreements and confidence that in the future mutually beneficial partnership will be still enhanced. Kazakh team is sincerely grateful to all Italian colleagues for excellently prepared meetings, their hospitality and cordiality. We believe that the negotiations and meetings will find their realization in the new joint projects, educational programmes, individual contacts and will in every possible way facilitate efficient collaboration between our countries.

National Tempus Office in Kazakhstan

Gogol street 84 A, Office 207 Almaty 050000 Kazakhstan Telephone +7 727 2669407 Telephone/fax +7 727 2663956 Email: nc@tempuskaz.kz, nto@tempuskaz.kz

Website: www.tempuskaz.kz