ProInCa consortium consists of European(4) and Kazakhstan(5) HEIs, and associated partners(13) representing variety of different stakeholders. The project is led by JAMK(FI), and supported by the Kazakhstan(KZ) Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health. ProInCa strives for solving the defined problems in KZ nursing HEI and nursing practice: lack of collaboration and knowledge sharing between the HEI’s, health service sector and international nursing research community; lack of capacity of HEI’s teaching staff teaching for evidence based nursing, nursing research and nursing management; absence of nursing research; undeveloped leadership in nursing. The wider objective of the project is to develop the sustainable innovation capacity of KZ Medical Universities for the modernization of nursing. Significant results and long-term benefits are expected within the 3-year project: • Sustainable mechanisms for collaboration and knowledge sharing between national and international academic nursing community and society• Increased relevance of HEI nursing education for the labor market through the implementation of EBN• Strengthened role of Medical Universities in building evidence based nursing research activities in health services• Improved capacity and relevance for the labor market on nursing leadership and management in health care transition• New sustainable system of nursing leadership and management in health care with collaboration of HEI's and Health care facilitiesFour development work packages generate several outcomes, which provide sustainable results as collaborative structures and persistent bodies to the HEIs and health care facilities (e.g. Center of Nursing Excellence, Nurse Leaders´ National Network); national capacity building materials for HEIs and HCF (e.g. nursing research, evidence based nursing, leadership), and reports with policy recommendations (e.g. nursing research infrastructure, nursing management system).

The European Union has made a major start articulating the relevance of cultural and science for its external relations. What has yet to be done, however, is to make explicit the assumptions underpinning much of this work on cultural and science diplomacy and to codify and articulate it as part of a systematic and strategic approach to understanding the direction of travel of science and cultural diplomacy that locates developments in these fields within the evolving global and EU external relations context. EL-CSID will do this, with the added ambition to identify how the Union and its member states might collectively and individually develop a good institutional and strategic policy environment for extra-regional culture and science diplomacy. Hence, the over-arching objectives of this proposed project are threefold: 1) To detail and analyse the manner in which the EU operates in the domains of cultural and science diplomacy in the current era; comparing its bilateral and multilateral cultural and science ties between states, regions, and public and private international organisations. 2) To examine the degree to which cultural and science diplomacy can enhance the interests of the EU in the contemporary world order and to identify: (a) How cultural and science diplomacy can contribute to Europe’s standing as an international actor; (b) Opportunities offered by enhanced coordination and collaboration amongst the EU, its members and their extra-European partners; and (c) Constraints posed by economic and socio-political factors affecting the evolving operating environments of both science and cultural diplomacy. 3) To identify a series of mechanisms/platforms to raise awareness among relevant stakeholders of the importance of science and culture as vehicles for enhancing the EU's external relations. The research will generate both scholarly work and policy-oriented output which will be disseminated through an extensive and targeted dissemination programme.

Insufficient qualifications of nursing teachers, lack of experience in nursing research, undeveloped leadership and involvement in the management process of nursing, insufficient state support for Master and PhD level students in nursing may result in shortage of highly qualified scientific personnel in nursing in Kazakhstan, if no structural reform is done in higher education. The State Health Development Program of the Republic of Kazakhstan has emphasized the necessity of strengthening the status and role of nurses, nursing research and education on postgraduate level to increase the quality of healthcare services, however the support is weak due to the lack of expertise in nursing education and research development.AccelEd gathers international experts in postgraduate nursing education with the overall aim to strengthen nursing education on Master level and establish and launch PhD nursing science in Kazakhstan through changes in policy and institutional structures, involving ministries, universities, healthcare institutions, associations (both in healthcare and education), and international nursing communities. Best international practices and expert knowledge will be employed to build the capacity of academic staff, healthcare institutions, research centres and national policy makers by developing expertise in nursing science, qualitative nursing research methodologies, Master and PhD theses assessment, collaborative structures and network creation, leadership, policy reforms in education and healthcare. Potential PhD students will be engaged to ensure sustainable development of nursing science and research. Study courses, benchmarking reports, workshops, seminars, masterclasses, conferences, pedagogical/research internships, workshops, publishing, webinars, mentorship sessions and policy discussions with concrete recommendations will be delivered by AccelEd international team to initiate transformation and modernisation of postgraduate nursing education.

In Central Asian (CA) countries, large groups of graduates don’t find a job according to their degree, nor can they develop their talent within their work. The countries lack HRM experts that can e.g. introduce transparent selection and promotion procedures in enterprises, or assist the government in modernising its labour market policy.In this project, 3 Kazakh, 2 Uzbek and 2 Kyrgyz universities will each develop a two-year HRM master programme (TALENT) that has similar core courses in the 7 universities. Each of the programmes has to obtain accreditation, by the middle of Y2. In Y3, the first year of the 7 TALENT programmes must take start. Some of the 7 universities have an excellent reputation; they will help the less prestigious universities to develop and maintain their TALENT programme.The course development will be coached by the EU partners, with the teachers of each course meeting each other and further co-operating via a knowledge sharing platform. The teachers will develop separate, but highly comparable course syllabi and introductory texts. In 6 workshops, the EU and CA teachers will present HRM topics, adapted to the CA context and illustrated with CA examples.The project website will start as an introduction to the project, and then develop into a website introducing HRM and its applicability to the CA context. It will include a selection of the introductory texts, together with video recorded material of the workshops and case studies. Most material will be available in 3 languages (EN, RU + (KZ or UZ or KG)).The 7 CA universities already have good contacts with regional and national stakeholders. In this project, the focus will be on entrepreneurs, trade unions and governmental bodies on labour markets and work conditions. With each of the 6 HRM workshops, the stakeholders of the respective university will be engaged, i.c. in the role of disputant. A selection of stakeholders will be incorporated in each university’s TALENT advisory board.