Uzbekistan’s sector of higher education (HE) was in the transformation phase initiated by a government decree in the late 2012. The soviet style system of doctoral education (DrEd) was being replaced by a EHEA and ERA oriented system. At the time of initiating the reforms, Uzbek HE stakeholders turned to the European colleagues for assistance and expertise to implement planned changes in doctoral education. UZDOC, the first European project focused solely on the reform of doctoral education in Uzbekistan, was started under the coordination of UNICA, supported by the Uzbek Ministry of Higher Education eager to accelerate the reforms. We believe that after three years of successful project implementation, Uzbek sector of DrEd is prepared to push the reform in the next phase. UZDOC 2.0 structural project, in which the Uzbek Ministry of Higher Education is a partner, had the overall goal of furthering the quality of doctoral education in Uzbekistan higher education institutions (HEIs), building on the results of the 1st UZDOC project coordinated by UNICA. The Project consisted of four elements crucial for a successful reform of DrEd in Uzbekistan : institutional and structural support, integration of quality assurance elements and mechanisms, building and increasing the capacity for human resources, and creating better connections with the business and industry sector in Uzbekistan by reducing the skills gap between doctorate holders and the sector. UZDOC 2.0 had substantial impact on the capacity of participating Uzbek HEIs for development and modernisation of the quality of DrEd. The consortium was composed to provide best coverage of expertise from European institutions, to offer good geographical coverage, dissemination and exploitation potential, and involvement of diverse and mutually complementing Uzbek partners and stakeholders.We believe that by implementing the UZDOC 2.0 project, Uzbek DrEd sector became familiar with the latest European trends, integrated good practices and methodologies, and able to better respond to the challenges facing the Uzbek research and economy sectors.

The main objective of the project was to promote government reforms on social protection and employment of the population, reduction of unemployment and increase of the real incomes of the population, through training, retraining and advanced training of middle-aged unemployed people.For achieving the goals of the project cooperation of employment centers, women associations, government bodies (mahalla), research centers and agricultural institutions were established.The following tasks were executed within the frames of the project:1. Establishment of Career Centers (4 regional centers in the cities of Ferghana, Nukus, Karshi, Andijan). Rooms have been allocated and equipped in these cities. For efficient organization of Career centers experience of European universities and centers of excellence, specializing in life-long learning, have been studied by representatives of partner countries.2. Organization of activity at Career Centers.As part of this activity, Training of Trainers (TOT) of the Centers were held, where trainers of the centers took courses aimed at the study of methods of teaching adults, evaluation and development of methodological base. Learned experience and activity of the European VET centers, the methods of their cooperation with non-academic partners allowed adapting the experience and creating on its basis a model for effective cooperation of Network of universities and non-academic partners, which has been tested and will continue to be proposed for application in other regions of Uzbekistan.3. Training courses in Career Centers.Work has been carried out on the development of methodological base of courses, taking into account the peculiarities of the Target Group.As compulsory optional subjects in each direction (agriculture, services, entrepreneurship) have been carried out training on computer skills and taxation.

In recent years Uzbekistan has paid significant attention to the practical use of renewable energy sources (RES) as they are viewed as an important factor of sustainable development and economic competitiveness of the country. Degradation of environmental conditions in Uzbekistan has become a major driving incentive for the pursuit of alternative forms of energy consumption.Fortunately, climatic conditions and geographical location of Uzbekistan make very promising perspectives for future use of renewable energy with solar energy having the highest potential. Training of engineers which are qualified to work with modern RES solutions is, therefore, an important issue that the Government wants to address.Project proposal has been prepared as a follow up of previous cooperation amongst consortium members. All partners have bi/multi-lateral cooperation. Though all institutions never worked as a single consortium, but some of Uzbek universities have had joint projects under TEMPUS and another framework. For example, KTH, UrSU and KarSU participated in a TEMPUS project, UNIVAQ and KTH were partners in another TEMPUS -2011, КТН coordinated TEMPUS projects with participation of TARI and some participants in the project have met in conferences and seminars held in the framework of the TEMPUS program. The project idea to create a master's program in Renewable energy sources for Uzbek universities was discussed in one of the meetings by representatives of TARI, UNIVAQ and KTH, in order to cope with the national needs in this field.The main goal of this project was then to develop a new master's program on renewable energy sources and sustainable environment and implement the developed courses at all Uzbek partner universities.Thus, the project's main pursued objectives were:1. Development of a new MSc curriculum in renewable energy sources and sustainable environment2. Capacity building in renewable energy sources and sustainable environment at 6 Uzbek universities3. Establishment of laboratories in renewable energy.4. Implementing the triangle research - education – innovation in Renewable Energy sources and sustainable environment.A wider objective of the project was to create an infrastructure and system for training new generation of engineers in renewable energy sources and sustainable environment. These engineers are the professionals able to solve local and regional energy and environmental challenges of industries, public administration institutions and private consumption in Uzbekistan. This objective is has been achieved by creating a new MSc program with complete curricula at the faculty of Engineering of ASU,GulSU, UrSU, KarSU, TARI and TTPU. Main outcomes of the project are also the definition of 12 new courses compatible with European standards in ECTS as the basis for a Full Master of Science curriculum; fully functional and well equipped 6 Renewable Energy labs with all tools for analyses and experiments in the area; Uzbek professors, teachers with newly gained skills in Renewable energy sources and sustainable environment; Growth of interest amongst specialists of industries and public administration institutions and the society in general in retraining and updating their skills.New laboratories and teaching facilities at ASU,GulSU,KarSU,UrSU,TARI and TTPU have been created and fully implemented in the planned activities.The Uzbek Partners represent different regions of the country, so that the dissemination of competencies and results have been easily transferred to a wide territorial stakeholders.TARI and TTPU are from the capital,GSU is from the central region,KarSU from the south,UrSU from the northwest and ASU from the east.The Minister of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education, International Solar Energy Institutre (ISEI) and Solar Energy Company(MIRSOLAR) have actively partecipated in the project and contributed with their day-to-day practical issues for studies and analysis.