On February 11, 2021, the kick-off conference in the Erasmus+ project "UnWaste - Promoting Circular Economy in Partner Countries through the Development and Implementation of the Master's Degree Program ABwaste Management" in the Erasmus policy area "Capacity Building for Higher Education" was held online. Six partner universities from the countries of Kazakhstan (Kostanay, Kokshetau and Nur-Sultan) and Russia (St. Petersburg, Kazan and Rostov) are working to establish an interdisciplinary master's degree program "Waste Management" at these six universities by the end of 2023 with the support of the EU partner universities from Riga, Tallinn and Wismar and to disseminate the principles of the circular economy in line with EU policy in the partner countries Kazakhstan and Russia as well, thus helping to strengthen the path towards sustainability through new competencies.
The launch conference was attended not only by the direct project partners but also by the representatives of the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture from Brussels (executing agency of the Erasmus+ program) and the national contact points (Erasmus+ offices) from Kazakhstan and Russia.
With the implementation of this event, which was conducted in an online format, Wismar University of Applied Sciences and the European Project Center (EPC) as the project leader have set the course for the future of the project, defined concrete roadmaps. Next, the universities in Kazakhstan and Russia will conduct the internal inventories regarding the existing courses of study in the fields of waste management and circular economy in order to identify concrete knowledge gaps, which in turn will later be addressed through targeted training measures (implemented by the EU partner universities) online or on site in the 2nd half of the year.