A kick off meeting of HECAFS project partners (“Higher Education for Central Asia Food Systems and Standards”) was held in Dushanbe, from 21 to 23 November 2016. HECAFS project is co-funded by the ERSAMUS+ Programme of the European Union.

10 equal partners, representing international and regional organizations and Universities from Europe, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have teamed up to support the modernization of higher education system for implementation of internationally recognized food production and processing safety systems and standards in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, thus increasing food export potential of small and medium enterprises.

The project consortium is aimed on bringing the higher education system to the needs of production and processing industries of Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Within three working days, participants presented their visions and achievements, which are the core of the implementation of the project and had the opportunity to strengthen relations between higher education institutions and representatives of business associations.

Through this cooperation it is proposed to implement direct interaction and relevance to the needs of production and processing industries when the demands of the human resources goes directly to higher education, which are preparing specialists of the industry. This networking also will be enhanced through involving companies in study content development processes, joint events and publicity measures.