On April 11-15, 2022, within the framework of the EU Erasmus + SQUARE project – Strengthening the Quality and Relevance of the Third Mission in Georgian Universities”, Caucasus University hosted another two-day training sessions.  The training was led by the academic representatives of the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts in the French Republic (CNAM). It should be emphasized that the ERASMUS+ SQUARE is the capacity-building project implemented and coordinated by the TSU.

Within the project partnership, the institutional representatives from the 8 Georgian higher educational institutions, as well as the Georgian Ministry of Education and Science and the National Center of Educational Quality Enhancement participated in training sessions.

The two-day training channeled through the expert knowledge from CNAM as well as theoretical and conceptual frameworks of European university 3rd Mission models and offered participants a comprehensive overview of the strategic assessment framework, embracing macroeconomic scenario analysis, project identification, and prioritization methods, decision support tools, etc. As a key takeaway, training revealed 7 latest priority challenges for the university's 3rd Mission strategy within the EU area; these topics cover Health and Demography, Bio-Economy Development and Food Security, Energy Efficiency and Green Transport, Resource Allocation, and Social Inclusion. In addition, the CNAM experts stress the importance of the project-oriented teaching approach and the necessity of the public sector involvement in the 3rd mission strategy development process.

The next on-site training sessions will be held in May, to be hosted by Shota Rustaveli Batumi State University.