UniClaD
Project "Enhancing capacity of universities to initiate and participate in clusters development on innovation and sustainability principles" (UniClaD)
European Union ERASMUS+ KA2 Program 609944-EPP-1-2019-1-LT-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP
Project start date: 15/01/2020
Project end date: 17/11/2024
General goal and main objectives of the ERASMUS+ project
Development of the potential of universities as a component of agro-industrial clusters. Creation of innovation centers as a prerequisite for the development and successful functioning of agro-industrial clusters.
Main objectives of the project:
- development of the chain: master's student – PhD student/candidate of sciences – researcher as the primary link, and project researcher-developer-executor as the final link;
- sensitization of business, local authorities, science, and education to cooperation within the framework of clusters based on the principles of mutual benefit;
- increasing the potential of business, science, and education for development and work within the cluster (through special trainings and special modules included in master's and postgraduate study programs);
- introduction of special structural measures in universities as a basis for activities carried out within the framework of clusters;
- increasing the practical value of research, dissertations, and master's theses of students, as well as student employment;
- creating conditions for better integration of innovations into agro-industrial production based on sustainability principles.
ERASMUS+ activities
- develop special modules for master's and PhD students, such as: statistics, project development, econometrics, modules focused on modern challenges: climate change, COP 21 commitments, food security, poverty reduction;
- study the EU experience in the field of university activities within clusters and disseminate this information among stakeholders;
- organize special trainings and study trips for representatives of business, science, and education to demonstrate the benefits and build capacity for cooperation within the cluster;
- develop a legislative framework that defines the rules and conditions for the functioning of universities in clusters, in accordance with national legislation;
- create prerequisites for the establishment of four clusters (water management and aquaculture, new technologies (IT) in agriculture, agro-tourism cluster, and milk production and processing with a focus on traditional local products, biotechnology in poultry farming);
- development of master's and dissertation theses in accordance with pilot projects.
Our consortium
Lithuania Kauno Kolegija (University of Applied Sciences) – coordinator
Poland Poznań University of Life Sciences
Austria University College for Agrarian and Environmental Pedagogy
Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, Rural and Mountain Research
Spain University of Valladolid
Hungary University of Debrecen
Italy International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies
Ukraine Scientific and Methodological Center for Higher and Professional Pre-Higher Education
Association «Ukrainian Food Valley»
Central Ukrainian National Technical University
Institute of Agriculture of the Steppe of the NAAS of Ukraine
Poltava State Agrarian Academy
Farm “Dobro-Craft”
Lviv National Agrarian University
Yavoriv National Nature Park
Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University
Moldova Comrat State University
Enterprise «FABRICA OLOI PAK»
State Agrarian University of Moldova
Enterprise Terafix
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan State Agricultural University
Agricultural farm Suliddinoglu
Azerbaijan Technical University
Our partner in the project is the Institute of Agriculture of the Steppe of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (IAS NAAS).
Our university will work on creating an expert center (a prerequisite for a future cluster) dedicated to the introduction of IT (innovative technologies) in agriculture.
The tasks of the first period of the project are:
- holding meetings at the CUNTU base with the involvement of local authorities, business representatives, scientists from the partner organization Institute of Agriculture of the Steppe of the NAAS, and university representatives in order to familiarize with the project and develop a joint strategy for its implementation;
- searching for creative agricultural producers interested in conducting research using innovative technologies at their enterprises, which will increase the practical value of qualification works;
- involving CUNTU master's students in the scientific research of the IAS NAAS for the purpose of writing qualification works.
Objective of the project:
Improving the quality of the agro-food complex in countries that have become associate members of the European Union by improving the training of specialists.
Project goals:
- Creation of specialized Master’s courses in laboratory practice for specialists of the agro-food sector;
- Creation of specialized courses for postgraduate training of laboratory employees;
- Updating of training courses carried out by laboratories;
- Developing new collaborative practices among laboratories and universities based on mutual benefit.
Project goals:
- To develop standards of specialization "Laboratory practice" for the following Master’s degrees: veterinary medicine, agronomy, livestock production and processing, food technology that are developed in collaboration among universities and laboratories on a mutually beneficial basis;
- To develop curricula and syllabuses: existing training programmes are supplemented by new subjects identified according to recommendations;
- To train groups of trainers from university teachers and laboratory specialists;
- To develop courses of postgraduate training for employees of the agro-food sector laboratories;
- To involve tools of continuous cooperation among universities and existing laboratories: involvement of laboratory specialists in the educational process, organization of practical courses by laboratories with the possibility to visit their units and enterprises; creation of the international platform for the ongoing exchange of information among laboratory professionals and university teachers.
Project consortium:
• National University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) - coordinator
• Lyon Veterinary School (France)
• Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences (Poland)
• University of Teramo (Italy)
• ISLE (International Association for Innovation, Training and Promotion of Sustainable Development in Europe and the World)
Ukraine:
• National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine
• Scientific and Methodological Centre “Agroosvita”
• State Scientific Research Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary-Sanitary Expertise
• State Centre for Certification and Expertise of Agricultural Products
• Sumy National Agrarian University
• Bila Tserkva National Agrarian University • Odesa National Academy of Food Technologies
• Stepan Gzhytskyi Lviv National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnologies