On November 25^th 2021, a training session was held with all Uzbekistan’ partners to improve the use of some technical equipment that were acquired under the BUzNet project. The equipment and local technical staff are now able to help improve the quality of local milk products. Another goal of this session was also to prepare the local partners in the development of external services for mastitis control in Uzbek farms contributing to reduce the economic losses with this disease and to improve animal welfare. Finally, these new equipment and technical capabilities will certainly enrich the veterinary medicine curriculum and help in training future veterinarians.

On October 9^th 2021, the BUzNet partners and the National Erasmus Agency in Uzbekistan organized a symposium regarding “How to Manage a Capacity Building for Higher Education Grant”, as a part of its involvement in building bridges and capacity improvement.
Three main subjects were presented during the symposium: Upcoming CBHE calls under the new E+ programme, Tips to make a CBHE application successful and Implementing and Monitoring CBHE projects.
The workshop received a very positive feedback from the participants who after the symposium, and during the final conference exchange ideas and contribute to a continuation of BUzNet project.
Local media coverage (from minute 3’40’’): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prj0_yJ0ryE

Between 8^th and 9^th of October 2021, we have successfully organized the Final Conference of BUzNet. 120 participants attended the event, locally and online, from across European and Central Asia countries. It was a great moment of sharing among participants with various backgrounds: academics, youth professionals, students, unions, government members, etc.
Education is all about building bridges. Thank you very much to everyone for your participation!

For those who missed it, some parts of the event were recorded and is available here!
Feel free to write us by email if you have any questions about our project, about the process or just if you want to share some thoughts about the subject!
Local media coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Prj0_yJ0ryE

From September 28^th to October 7^th 2021, the BUzNet partners, together with two external evaluators, made a monitoring visit to the four Uzbek partners HEIS of the project (Andijan Agricultural Institute, Karakalpak Agriculture and Agro-Technologies Institute, Samarkand Agricultural Institute and Tashkent State Agrarian University).
Improve veterinary and zootechnical teaching and learning is a part of BUzNet’ goals. Therefore, these visits aimed to check the success of the new implemented curricula, the books bought, the IT rooms settlement, as well as the new equipped laboratories, aimed for hands-on and for blended learning. These laboratories set for Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics students, are also ready to be used and support the community and local companies.
The core innovation of the project’s approach is the use of a B-learning interface to create a learning community. It is expected to bring the rich field experiences on different veterinary topics and case studies and engaging Vet and Zootechnics professionals and students, especially in a challenging post-COVID-19 era.

Slowly we will be sharing with you all smart and simple presentations regarding of what and how we have been doing in the framework of BUzNet Project!
Here you can find a quick presentation on the work done by Andijan Institute of Agriculture and Agrotechnology.

BUZNET Andijan report 2021.pdf

Can we keep up with formal education or do we need informal tools as well?

In BUzNet project, we designed and implemented a new Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics curriculum based on contextualized hands-on learning, boosted on the development of a project platform and a blended learning interface (BLUzVet).

All partner institutions were deeply involved in developing the new tools, which were presented in its trial versions on Samarkand on 8 and 9^th of October. In the future, it is our aim that this system can be extended to other countries and regions, replicating the network formed within this project, which brings together members with different experiences and background in the teaching of Veterinary Sciences with the purpose of defining new standards in veterinary practice, animal production management and food quality.

On this final conference, to occur in Samarkand on October 8^th and 9^th 2021, we will share our story with you. The conference is free. Be part of it!

You can register via this link: https://www.conftool.net/vetinary-education2021

Samarkand - 8^th and 9^th October 2021

Agenda

On 23^rd July 2021, BUzNet project was broadcasted on Andijan local media. During a 2:30 min story, the settlement of the equipment provided, within Erasmus+ project, to university’s teaching laboratories for Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics, was disclosed.

Take a look (Uzbek language only)!

Previously, Portuguese newspapers also made some headlines about BUzNet project.

BUzNet is a Capacity Building Project (KA2), funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program.

We are happy to share with you that Andijan Agricultural Institute, Karakalpak Agriculture and Agro-Technologies Institute, Samarkand Agricultural Institute and Tashkent State Agrarian University, from Uzbekistan, already have an IT room and a fully equipped laboratory, aimed for hands-on and for blended learning, set for Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics students.

Within the EU Erasmus+ financing programme, one of BUzNet project mission was to offer a better technical and laboratorial support to Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics students in Uzbekistan, in order to support their updated hands-on learning boosted curricula and by a new B-learning interface (BLUzVet).

In the future, the system developed and first implemented in the four partner HEIS in Uzbekistan is expected to be extended to other neighbour countries and regions, bridging professionals with different experiences and background in the teaching of Veterinary Sciences, with the purpose of defining new standards in veterinary practice, animal production and management and food quality.

Nukus - Karakalpak Agriculture and Agro-Technologies Institute

Andijan - Agricultural Institute

On 25^th to 27^th November 2020, an online course concerning “Teaching practical subjects” and “How to teach special veterinary pathology” was promoted by Tashkent State Agrarian University.
Covid-19 brought challenges, but also solutions. It showed how B-learning could be effective bridging professionals with different experiences and background in teaching and reinforce broader interactions among students.

Boost students for Veterinary Sciences, and producing and sharing knowledge are goals of BUzNet project.

In this order this Erasmus+ project was present at educational fairs from 2017 to 2019, both in Portugal and Uzbekistan, participated in international conferences, such as the “First International Conference on Agricultural Science: Problems and Solutions”, held in March 2021, and published a few papers related to Veterinary Sciences teaching.

Monitoring of Erasmus+ activities of BUzNet project, by the National Erasmus+ Office (NEO) in Uzbekistan, has taken place on the 5 November 2019 at the Andijan branch of Tashkent State Agrarian University and on the 8 November 2019 at the Tashkent State Agrarian University. The representative of the NEO office in Uzbekistan, Mr Kudratkhon Bahadirov, visited the partner institutions and discussed the progress of activities with the local project partners. Representatives of the Samarkand Institute of Veterinary Medicine as well as of the coordinating institution, the University of Porto have also joined these visits/meetings.

The overall feedback communicated by the EACEA indicates that the project is making good progress, and it highlights that the topic of the BUzNet project continues to be very relevant in the country and is in line with national policies in relation to Higher Education and the agrarian/veterinary fields. Some recommendations have also been suggested in order to improve the implementation of the BUzNet project.

From the 22^nd of April to the 13^th of June, 12 Uzbek participants participated in the 2nd BUzNet Training of Trainers, organized by the 4 European partner institutions: University of Pisa (Italy), University of Padova (Italy), Estonian University of Life Sciences (Estonia) and University of Porto (Portugal).

Building upon the success of the 1st edition, and following the same scheme, the second group of Uzbek teachers undertook a 2-week training in each of the EU Institutions, that concentrated on the contact with state of the art facilities and the best teaching and learning practices, but also included conferences with lecturers from outside of the partnership. Participants had also the chance to get in touch with the equipment they were most interested in, as they have had the opportunity to request it prior to the training. This ensured not only that the training would be carried out in accordance with their expectations, but also that the participants understood how the equipment worked and what they will have to do to handle it when it is installed in their institutions.

The opinion of both the hosts and the participants is that this was a very important activity for the project, creating networking opportunities and knowledge share.

The 2nd BUzNet consortium meeting was held at the University of Porto on the 28^th and 29^th of March 2019 with the presence of representatives from all partners.

The consortium had the chance to discuss the management and implementation of the project as well as planning future activities. In particular, this meeting was very important, as it was the first face-to-face meeting partners had following the Uzbek reform on Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnical teaching in the country. Therefore, a small presentation explaining the main changes and expected outcomes was prepared by Uzbek partners.

Further to that, partners presented the state of play in terms of the project’s results in each WP, and they also were able to discuss the best way to follow through with the next tasks to be performed. There was also an opportunity to work on specific questions about project management, dissemination and quality monitoring.

In order to prepare the final conference, an Organization Committee was selected and had the opportunity to meet in order to start planning the activity, which will mark the end of the project.

This meeting was a great networking opportunity to strengthen the bonds that connect all BUzNet partners, thus easing working together and fostering future partnerships that may arise from BUzNet.

8 Uzbek teachers have participated in the 1st BUzNet Training of Trainers held from the 28^th of October to the 20^th of December of 2018 at the 4 European partner institutions: University of Pisa (Italy), University of Padova (Italy), Estonian University of Life Sciences (Estonia) and University of Porto (Portugal).

The Uzbek teachers had the opportunity to spend 2 weeks in each of the EU Institutions, in which a customized program allowed them to get in touch with the best teaching and learning practices and state of the art facilities. Participants have created case studies that focused on the themes they worked on in each visit, which will be included later in the BLUzVet mobile app. This training also represented the possibility of the Uzbek teachers to become acquainted with the new equipment their HEIs will receive within the framework of the Erasmus+ BUzNet project.

Feedback from the satisfaction surveys revealed this was a very positive experience for all participants.

The Kick-off meeting of the B-learning Uzbekistan Veterinary Network / BUzNet project took place on the 16^th and 17^th of March in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, with 23 participants from the project´s consortium of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) from Portugal, Italy, Estonia and Uzbekistan. Representatives from the Ministry of Higher and Secondary specialized education were present in the official project´s launch, on the 17th of March, together with the Ambassador of the EU Delegation to Uzbekistan, a representative from the National Erasmus Office in Uzbekistan, as well as representatives of the associated public and private sector partner institutions.

Moreover, the European experts started a field trip on the 12^th of March until the 24^th March to collect data from the local areas of Andijan, Tashkent, Nukus, and Samarkand regarding the current situation of veterinary practices in farms, clinics, dairy farms, and quality control practices at milk processing manufacturers and milk companies.

The B-learning Uzbekistan Veterinary Network / BUzNet project is coordinated by the U.Porto and funded by the European Commission for the next 3 years (until 2020), through the Erasmus+ programme’s action 2 Capacity Building Higher Education. The general objective of the BUzNet project is to increase the life standards of common Uzbek people through improved veterinary and zootechnical teaching and learning, which will ultimately result in better technical support for local herds’ owners and safer animal products reaching the general society.

A consortium of 4 European HEIs and 4 Uzbek HEIs will implement the BUzNet project. After the needs analysis and preparatory stage, a group of Uzbek young professors will be trained in the partner European HEIs to have contact with new practices and learn about new ways of teaching practical subjects and using B learning strategies to assist them doing so. The core innovation of the project’s approach is the use of a B-learning interface (BLUzVet) that will create a learning community consisting of all members of the project consortium, teachers, students and veterinarians.

In the future, this system will be extended to members from other countries and regions. The network formed within this project encompasses different backgrounds in the education Veterinary Sciences and will improve the setting of veterinary, animal production management and milk quality control teaching standards in Uzbekistan and beyond.