First international partners’ meeting of the Erasmus+ project “The digital Blue Career to overcome the Carbon Crisis – Innovations in Aquaculture Curriculum” [DiBluCa] in Kaunas
The first partner meeting of the international Erasmus+ project “The digital Blue Career to overcome the Carbon Crisis – Innovations in Aquaculture Curriculum” [DiBluCa] (No. 2023-1-LT01-KA220-HED-000154247) took place on 23-24 January at Vytautas Magnus University Agriculture Academy (VMU AA). The project partners are Balikesir University (Turkey), University of Dubrovnik (Croatia), Odesa National University of Technology (Ukraine), University of Thessaly (Greece), coordinator – VMU AA.
COVID-19 and the crisis of the war in Ukraine have highlighted the value of digital education in Europe; the DiBluCa project will develop an innovative higher education curriculum on water sustainability, fisheries now and in the future, which will contribute to ensuring sustainable industry and long-term employment.
The project will be implemented in phases: identification of sector needs, development and/or updating of the curriculum and development of learning materials. The project includes international partner meetings, a digital portal with user-friendly e-learning and best practice modules. An innovative Aquaculture Higher Education Handbook on Tackling Global Warming will be published in English; the e-book will be available in all languages of the project partners.
Project outcomes: adapted higher education and training curricula for future aquaculture needs, long-term employment of aquaculture professionals, increased number of university students, changing attitudes and trends, improvement of the aquaculture sector, aquaculture training knowledge and skills, development of integrated training materials, interactive e-book, international conference and project dissemination events.
During the meeting the main guidelines for the implementation of the project activities were discussed. The timetable for the activities and the responsibilities of the partners were also discussed. The first result of the project was presented – experts from Balikesir University prepared questionnaires for students, teachers, and members of the target groups. These questionnaires will help to find out what the sector needs. On the second day of the meeting, cooperation opportunities were discussed with the specialists of the Lithuanian Zoo – Science Curator Kriste Stravinskaite, Head of Marketing and Education Department Aida Grockiene and Coordinator of Educational Programmes Rasa Kirkaite. Many points of contact were found, prospects for possible cooperation and plans future were discussed. The next meeting of foreign partners will take place in Volos, Greece, at the beginning of June.
The project will run from 01.11.2023 to 31.10.2025.
