gSmart Erasmus Mundus Info Day at Gumilyev ENU

Today on Oct. 16,  Dr Ainura Nazarkulova from ACA*GIScience at KSUCTA Bishkek led an information day on gSmart scholarship opportunities at L.N.Gumilyov Eurasian National University (ENU) in Astana. Dr Nazarkulova started with a presentation introducing the overall framework of gSmart and giving recommendations for applications, followed by an intensive Q&A session with approx. 50 students and faculty attending the event.

ENU is one of 13 Central Asian partner universities in gSmart, offering attractive scholarship options to its students, faculty and staff. The event was held at the Faculty of Natural Sciences and organized by Prof. Musabaeva Meruet Nasurlaevna, Dr of Geography and Head of Physical and Economic Geography, and Senior Lecturer for GIS Babkenova Lazzat Temirhanovna.

Candidates from ENU are invited to apply during the second call for applications opening in December 2013. They are encouraged to study information available from the gSmart website > http://EM-gSmart.zgis.net in detail, and clarify any remaining questions through the ENU contact person, Prof. Nurzhan Kerimbay. A preregistration is being offered at any time, registrants will be informed by email as soon as the next call opens.

Tempus GeoDBMS Workshop for Uzbek Universities

Within the Tempus GE-UZ project >http://www.ge-uz.eu, teachers from four Uzbek universities will be trained in a four-week workshop at the University of West Hungary in Szekesfehervar, Hungary >http://www.geo.info.hu/english/.

Today this workshop started with a year-1 review meeting involving project contacts and leaders from partner universities, the Uzbek Ministry if Higher Education and the state enterprise 'Geoinformkadastr'. Progress towards curriculum and learning materials development, faculty development, accreditation and start of Geoinformatics MSc programs is being discussed.

The GE-UZ project is considered a key initiative towards implementation of Geoinformatics study programs at Uzbek universities, addressing the increasing demand for geospatial experts across a variety of disciplines in this country. Establishing and enhancing international collaboration certainly is a critically important step towards achieving these aims.