• Facilitate exchange on the positive effects of internationalisation for modern education systems between representatives of Central Asia public authorities, education practitioners, business community, representatives of EU Institutions and Member States and international donors;
• Share the results of the CAEP mobility stock-taking report with all stakeholders involved;
• Gather ideas and developing recommendations for better cooperation in Higher Education (HE) between the EU and CA countries.

Since Poland has assumed a leading role for HE under the “Central Asia Education Platform (2015-2018)”, this conference will be held in close cooperation with the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MSHE). This conference will be underpinned by a recent report produced by the CAEP Technical Assistance Team on “Existing Capacity Development and Mobility Programmes between the EU and Central Asia Countries”, which is currently finalised and will be shared with you in due time. Ministers for Education noted in the Riga Joint Communiqué (2015) the importance of the Bologna and Copenhagen Processes, taking into account regional synergies in association with the European HE Area as well as characteristics, needs and reforms of each Central Asian country. Furthermore there was clear common understanding about the relevance and benefits generated by mobility actions for students, academic staff and researchers as offered by Erasmus+ and bilateral programmes supported by EU MS alike. All representatives from Central Asia ministries, institutions and other stakeholders have expressed the need for strengthening these manifold exchange and cooperation opportunities in Higher Education to strengthen their educational systems, in particular HE, to make them more international and competitive. This includes as well capacity building activities between EU and CA based HEIs as foreseen in Erasmus+ and the supportive role of the National Erasmus+ Offices and Higher Education Reform Experts (HERE) active in CA countries. Furthermore, the contribution of EU MS to support mobility by offering grants and scholarships to students and academics or to develop joint study programmes is a second pillar of this cooperation. Finally, it has become obvious that also student mobility and HE cooperation at institutional level within the region has taken in some cases some substantial form. As indicated in the agenda, the conference will consist of three days (two conference days and one day to visit relevant institutions to link the conference presentations, discussions and working groups with practice): Day 1: State of play of existing cooperation in HE between EU and Central Asia (CA) in practice and internationalisation strategies

• Presentations from EACEA on current and planned Erasmus+ activities in CA
• Presentation of CAEP stock-taking report on Mobility
• Good practice from CA countries on international cooperation in CA
• Presentations and Round table discussion on the Internationalisation of HE

Day 2: Specific aspects of Cooperation in HE and linkage to labour market needs

• Poland’s experiences of reforming and modernising higher education in the context of internationalisation
• Interrelation of Higher Education and VET with regard to labour market needs and graduates’ expectations
• Working Groups on relevance of HE programmes for the local and international labour markets and on strategic capacity of HEI (addressing issues like autonomy, good governance and finance)
• Outlook on future CAEP activities

Day 3: Site visits to link presentations with good practice from Jagiellonian University (JU) and facilitating exchange between EU and CA Higher Education Institutions in a networking event.