Kick-off in Georgia - APPEAR project ACCES

The main purpose of the meeting was to provide all participants with a detailed overview of the project objectives, timelines and targeted results and to establish good working environment for committed assistance and mutual support before start working on the activities.

An essential project goal is to identify the urgent institutional and labor market needs and expectations by facilitating the dialogue between university and diverse Georgian multi-stakeholders. Thus, representatives of the Faculty and University boards, Administration and Quality assurance offices, green and water supply companies, students and graduates, lecturer and faculty members were invited.

More than 25 delegates and guests joined the Kick off meeting and took actively part in the discussions.The multi-stakeholder partnership contributes towards a wide institutional and public perception of the program in environmental engineering. Furthermore it provide the opportunity for the university to play an important role in further development of the green industry as well as in strengthening the role of women in the academic, public and private sector in Georgia. The ACCES project itself is a good example, since it is coordinated from both sides (universities) by women.

Existing wide-ranging knowledge and expertise of the project consortium and the close collaboration with the stakeholders and public sector is a corner stone for successful project implementation.

Author: Dr. Margarita Himmelbauer, BEd (Project co-coordinator, BOKU)