Uzwater

The UZWATER project aimed to improve the environmental situation in Uzbekistan by contributing to education at the universities in the country. Students need to acquire a broad understanding of environmental problems, receive up-to-date knowledge and skills in water resource management to make them able to address changes towards more sustainable development of the country.
The UZWATER project developed a 2-year master program with focus on environmental science, sustainable development and water management for Uzbekistan higher education. The project, funded by EU Tempus, was running for 2013-2015 with a budget of 12 mln SEK. The project was initiated and coordinated by the Swedish Aral Sea Society.

Project partners

The project had 14 partners. In EU 6 partners: Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania, Uppsala University, Sweden, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, Swedish Aral Sea Society, Sweden. University of Latvia, Latvia, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland. In Uzbekistan 8 partners: Samarkand State Architectural and Civil Engineering Institute, National University of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, Samarkand State University, Samarkand Agricultural Institute, Bukhara State University, Tashkent Technical University, Karakalpak State University, Nukus, Urgench State University.

Partners in the EU relied on the contacts developed within the Baltic University Programme (BUP). Partners in Uzbekistan developed from contacts proposed from colleagues at the KTH, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm.

Project coordination

The project was coordinated by SASS, Sweden; administration of the project and economic review was made by Kaunas University of Technology. A coordinating committee was set up with Uzbek and EU partners, which met yearly, first in January 2013 in Kaunas, then in Samarkand in October 2013 and in Uppsala in 2015

Outcome of the project

  1. Organized visits of Uzbek teachers to the EU partners, and EU partners to Uzbek universities to show in some detail how environmental education was made in the EU, and as well run the teachers programme.
  2. Developed all details for a master programme at the universities, including courses and study material for the courses;
  3. Built study centres at each of the universities and equipped these study centres to both run the master programme and contact authorities in the surrounding society.

Visits

UZWATER included several rounds of visits of Uzbekistan teachers to EU universities to study curricula, courses, and teaching methods to support the development of the new Master Programme. Special attention was paid to adapt the new courses to be compliant with the Bologna process and European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).

Uzbek partners visited the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden April 2013; Uppsala University and SASS, Sweden May 2013; University of Latvia, Riga, and Warsaw University of Life Sciences and Kaunas University of Technology, September 2013; and Uppsala University, Royal Institute of Technology, and University of Latvia May 2014.

EU partner visits to universities in Uzbekistan included the Second Steering Committee Meeting at Samarkand State Architectural and Civil-Engineering Institute and visits to partner universities in Samarkand, Bukhara, and Tashkent (October 19-25, 2013). Intensive training at partner universities in Samarkand, Bukhara, and Tashkent (August 29 – September 7, 2014). Intensive training at partner universities in Urgench and Nukus (November 8-15, 2014, April 12-19, 2015).

The master programme consisted of four units (modules) each one with special focus:

  1. Environmental Science unit (30 ECTS) will cover the basic situation of the environment in Uzbekistan; include the basic tools in Environmental Science, such as biogeochemical flows, Environmental impacts and remediation approaches and methods.
  2. Sustainable Development unit (30 ECTS) will include the basic methods used in Sustainability Science, in particular introduce systems thinking and systems analysis, resource flows and resource, a series of practical tools for good resource management, such as recycling, energy efficiency, etc.
  3. Water Management (30 ECTS) unit will focus on the water situation in Uzbekistan and introduce methods for river basin management, water supply and water scarcity issues, wastewater techniques, and international water issues, such as water conflict resolution and water diplomacy.
  4. Master thesis work (30 ECTS) is the last of the four modules and will be conducted by the students to get a hands-on experience in solving environmental and water problems in the Uzbek society. This unit will also include education to foster skills in written and oral presentation and communication.

Books produced in the project:

A number of books and compendia were written and complied in the project to be used as course literature in the master programme. They were all available in English and several of them also translated into Uzbek language. They were available both as printed books and as pdf material which could be downloaded on the Internet. The most important of them are listed below:

  1. Environment, Pollution, Development: The Case of Uzbekistan (12.33 MB)
    by Māris Kļaviņš, Azamat Azizov and Jānis Zaļoksnis. 304 pages, Riga, UL Press, 2014.
  2. Environmental and Ecological Economics (3.47 MB)
    Editors: Farhod Ahrorov, Ibrahim Ganiev, Akhmal Abruev, Samarkand Agricultural Institute (SAI) and Lars Rydén, Uppsala University. 263 pages. Uppsala 2016.
  3. Energy and Climate (3.04 MB)
    Editors: Lars Rydén, Uppsala University, Natalia Akinshina, National University of Uzbekistan and Eshkuvat Arzikulov, Samarkand State University. 248 pages. Uppsala 2015.
  4. Sustainable Use and Management of Natural Resources (4.62 MB)
    Editors: Lars Rydén, Uppsala University and Natalia Akinshina, National University of Uzbekistan. 284 pages. Uppsala 2015.
  5. River Basin Management (8.21 MB)
    Editors: Linas Kliucininkas, Kaunas University of Technology and Inna Rudenko, Urgench State University.
  6. Waste Management (2.34 MB)
    Editor: Siarhei Darozhka, Belarusian State University. 200 pages Uppsala 2016.
  7. Building Sustainable Societies (2.84 MB)
    Editors: Lars Rydén, Uppsala University, Rustam Eshniyazov and Rifkat Gimush, Karakalpak State University

Study Centres

UZWATER established study centres at the partner universities in Uzbekistan; two of these more specialized; each of the centres were provided with computers, a small library of relevant books as well as laboratory equipment to study water environmental quality.

The goal was to improve the capacity to train master students with expertise to address the severe environmental and water management problems of the country; support the introduction and use in Uzbekistan of modern education methods and study materials and e-learning tools.