Talent Project

In the Erasmus+ TALENT project, European and Central Asian partners are establishing master programmes in Human Resource Management in six universities in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. HRM is essential expertise in modern private and state organisations, helping organisations to become more transparent and offering employees opportunities to develop their talents. Discover on these pages the TALENT HRM master programmes, and the universities and the project behind it.

Mission Statement

The basic aim of the TALENT Erasmus+ project (December 2018 – November 2022) is to establish a two-year master programme in HRM in six universities in Central Asia. Coached by EU universities in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany and Greece, six universities in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan are developing an innovative academic environment to teach and study HRM insights and practices adapted to the needs and specificities of the socio-economic challenges the Central Asian region is confronted with. The first cohort of students is expected to start its education in September 2020.
Through its various objectives and activities, such as teacher trainings and seminars, the TALENT project intends to develop a network between universities and public and private actors allowing for a long-lasting exchange of expertise in HRM as well as to create the incentives for mobilities between the partner universities of students, teachers and researchers interested in HRM in Central Asia.

The Project

While Central Asian (CA) countries have a growing education system, they suffer from a malfunctioning labour market, with large parts of graduates unable to find qualified work and unable to develop their talent within their job. This problem is increasingly recognised by CA government institutions and employers. Universities have a double interest in developing HRM master programmes: (a) graduates can be locally or nationally employed as HRM specialists, and (b) these graduates can study and improve the labour market within the university’s region. However, an HRM master programme only makes fully sense if it is adapted and backed up with local experience and research. The latter point requires cooperation with i.c. EU universities and cooperation between the CA universities. With this context, the project has three main objectives

TO RETAIN

teachers from 6 CA universities in 8 HRM related courses. The CA teachers will be made deeper acquainted with EU HRM research and practice. The CA teachers will be encouraged to develop comparative courses, and to question what HRM in the EU or western context takes for granted. Mainly, the teachers will develop syllabi and introductory texts to their courses.

TO ESTABLISH

accredited master programmes in “TALENT”. The details of the curriculum have been developed in Year 1 of the project. The programme is oriented towards giving students a background in HRM that enables them to scientifically analyse an organisation and to set up methods for improving both the situation of employees and the economic efficiency of the organisation.

TO MAKE

an informal network of EU and CA teachers. Within the project, CA teachers working on the same or similar courses are coming together in workgroups and HRM seminars with the EU teachers. Academic discussion and comparative HRM is being stimulated. In Year 3 of the project, the network will aim for the systematisation of CA HRM research.

European Union Partners

Vrije Universiteit Brussel

VUB (Brussels, Belgium) is an internationally oriented university and has 8 main faculties, offering in total 144 study programmes to almost 18,000 students. VUB generally manages the project.

Athens University of Economics and Business

AUEB Research Centre (Athens, Greece) founded in 1983, collaborates with other universities, public entities and organisations, private enterprises, international organisations and selected qualified individuals.

The Otto-von-Guericke University

OVGU (Magdeburg, Germany) founded in 1993, has an orientation towards natural sciences, in addition to medicine, economics and humanities. The university hosts 14,000 German and international students.

Institute of Philosophy and Sociology

IPS at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (Sofia, Bulgaria) was founded in 2010. The IPS conducts complex theoretical and applied, sociological, philosophical and science-studies-related research on knowledge, values, man and society and trains highly qualified specialists.

Central Asian Partners

Nazarbayev University

NU (Nur-Sultan) founded in 2010 with an explicit mission to raise research quality to a standard equal to the top research universities in the world, with a strong international focus. The university provides education to almost 4500 students in 8 schools.

Kyrgyz Economic University

KEU (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) founded in 1953 is a leading institution in Kyrgyz Republic specialised in preparing specialists in Economic field. The university offers programs in economics, management, business, commerce, service, tourism and IT.

Westminster International University in Tashkent

WIUT (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) founded in 2002 in partnership with the University of Westminster (UK) and the first President of the Uzbekistan. WIUT has been the first International University in Uzbekistan and has developed 5 undergraduate courses and 7 postgraduate programs.

Innovative University of Eurasia

InEU (Pavlodar, Kazakhstan) founded in 1991, provides undergraduate, postgraduate and adult education for about 6000 students. It is a large regional research and education institution.

The American University of Central Asia

AUCA (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan) founded in 1993 is an international, multi-disciplinary learning community in the American liberal arts tradition. AUCA provides education for almost 1132 undergraduate and 119 MA students in 22 programs.

Bukhara State University

BukhSU (Bukhara, Uzbekistan) is one of the largest scientific and academic centres of Uzbekistan. It has more than 22.500 students in 13 faculties and 1 institute. BukhSU offers academic programs at bachelor, master, graduate and post-graduate courses.