Meeting with representatives of the largest enterprises of China working in water related fields, attending the school with modern education technics, excursion to laboratories equipped with the latest technologies, discussing the purchase of equipment for partners, developing new laboratory courses for the developing lectures and much more were the subjects of discussion at the eighth project meeting in Jinan that was organized by the Shandong Jianzhu University (SJU) and was held from 2th to 6th of November, 2017.

The meeting began with the official part, at which the Vice-Rector of SJU welcomed the partners of the project at the university. “The project “Water Harmony Erasmus +” is an important part of SJU’s international activities and I am very happy, that our educational programs become harmonized with partners from all over the world” – said the Vice-Rector.

The project team visited the Jinan State Primary School and conducted short presentations for the children about the participating countries of the project, emphasizing the importance of learning English and encouraging future students’ ambitions for international education.

Traditional and, for sure, one of the most important activities in the framework of the project meeting was the holding of a seminar on “Wastewater – the untapped resource”, dedicated to the water reuse and the recovery of valuable resources from wastewater. The following presentations were given by the participants:

1. Wastewater reuse and resource recovery, Harsha Ratnaweera, NMBU;
2. Value in leachates/Resources from black water?, Martin Oldenburg, UAS-OWL;
3. Circularity in wastewater management, Zakhar Maletskyi, NMBU;
4. Wastewater management in food industry, Michał Smoczyński, UWM;
5. Microalgae for nutrient recovery and energy production, Ketheesan Balachandran, UoJ;
6. Potential for wastewater reuse in Sri Lanka, S B Weerakoon, UoP.

Also,  was held a meeting with representatives of large enterprises that work in the field of water treatment (Everbright Water Company, Shandong Elong Environmental Protection Co Ltd, Shuifa Group Co Ltd, Origin Water). A unique opportunity for representatives of universities was to demonstrate their scientific development to representatives of Chinese business. The partners presented three practical ideas:

1. A low-cost innovative method for safer drinking water, Viktor Gevod, USUCT;
2. Use of industrial wastes (Red mud) in water treatment, Olga Sanginova, KPI;
3. Use of mechanical cavitation in wastewater treatment, Gennadiy Stolyarenko, CSTU.

In addition, a number of administrative and financial issues were discussed, new tasks and responsibilities were assigned, and was started a work on the development of laboratory courses that would complement the developed lectures by practical skills.

This year was very rich on mobilities,  so this issue was highlighted in a separate session. About the October 2017 Special mobility strand of six teachers from Germany, Poland and Norway to NTUU “I. Sikorsky KPI” told Dr. Zakhar Maletskyi. Students-participants from Shandong Jianzu University of Summer School – 2017, which was held in June -July at the NMBU, prepared a short overview about the spent time. Serhii Shmyhol told about the annual mobility of Ukrainian students to the universities of Germany and Poland.

The closest activities within the project will be the mobility of six teachers from Ukrainian universities to the University of Warmia-Mazury in Olsztyn (Poland) in December, 2017; mobility of six teachers from Ukrainian universities to the University of Life Sciences (Höxter, Germany) in January 2017; IX project meeting of the project participants at the University of Jaffna (Sri Lanka) in February 2018.

 Participants of the project meeting in Jinan express their gratitude for such a high-quality organized events, which made it possible not only to work fruitfully, but also to fully enjoy the unique cuisine, art and other cultural features of the People’s Republic of China. We look forward to the new meetings of the Water Harmony family.

Serhii Shmyhol, sergioshyhol@gmail.com

VIII Project Meeting, Jinan, China, 2-6/11/2017

Since October 2017, 4 students from each Ukrainian partner university (Cherkasy State University, National Technical University of Ukraine ” Igor Sikorsky Kiev Polytechnic Institute” and the State Higher Educational Institution “Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology” (Dnipro) have received a unique chance to study in one of the best European universities for 1 year. 

6 students (Serhii Shmyhol, Valentyna Kultenko, Liubov Obodenko, Denys Samoilenko, Tetiana Klochko, Viktoriia Bilenko) will be studding for one year at the German Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences (town Höxter), and the second group of students (Mariia Kuptsova, Andrii Slys, Andrii Sviderskyi, Mariia Loboda, Oleksii Novikov, Tetiana Yashchenko) will be trained at the University of Warmia-Mazury in Olsztyn.

At the moment the students, thanks to the responsibility of the host universities, have arranged their house and home, solved all the necessary administrative and financial issues, and began to study the local language, study and work on research projects.

Serhii Shmyhol, Sergioshyhol@gmail.com
Iryna Kosohina, kosogina@email.ua

Student Mobilities To Germany And Poland (since October 2017)

During the three weeks from June 18 to July 8, 2017, the best students from Bangladesh, Belarus, Germany, Canada, Kazakhstan, China, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, USA, Tajikistan, Uganda, Ukraine, South Sudan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Japan participated in the international summer school “Water Harmony” in the framework of the project “Water Harmony Erasmus +”.

This year the number of participants was a record – 66 people! Organizers believe, this experience of the unification of different countries representatives brings unique fruits: from the establishment of intercultural dialogue to joint scientific work in the future.

The students attended the course of THT-311 (Water Resources Management and Treatment Technologies) at NMBU. To get acquainted with modern and high-tech enterprises, excursions were organized at the Lillelstrøm drinking water treatment plant for the needs of Oslo city in Norway.

Undoubtedly, the “highlight point” of the School this year was a one-week trip to UNIS University (University Centre In Svalbard) at the Svalbard archipelago, which included classroom activities and the passing of the exam after the special course THT-312 (Water Management in a Cold Climate). For students this trip was not only an extraordinary opportunity to enjoy the beauties of Svalbard (which it is impossible to describe in words, you just need to see it with your own eyes), but also to visit one of the largest satellite stations in the world KSAT (Kongsberg Satellite Services), the island’s water treatment equipment and other unique infrastructures , which is typical only for places with a similar climate.

At the end of the summer school, the participants took the exam. The examination commission consisting of teachers from NMBU and teachers from other countries under the guidance of professor, Water Harmony Erasmus+ project coordinator Harsha Ratnavira.

The closing of the summer course was a festive ceremony in one of the oldest NMBU’s auditoriums, where motivational and inspirational words were told by high-ranking guests. The festive dinner already became traditional, which was prepared for the participants by graduate students and students of the Norwegian university.

The project participants wish all the best to graduates of “International Water Harmony Summer School” and invite to follow the news at our Facebook page.

The seventh project meeting was held on July 8-11, 2017 at the Cherkassy State Technological University, in the framework of the project “Water Harmony Erasmus +”. Representatives of 10 partner universities from Germany, China, Norway, Poland, Sri Lanka and Ukraine took part.

According to the agenda of the meeting, was negotiated administrative issues related to finances, contracts, reports, progress report for the EACEA, development of training materials for six training courses, as well as the use of the Canvas platform for distance learning. Partners from Germany (UAS) took the responsibility for preparation of guidelines for the laboratory courses until the beginning of the autumn.

In discussion about improving cooperation between universities and enterprises, the analysis of existing experience of cooperation was made, selected best practices by taking into account the answers to the following questions: “What is the best way to establish contacts with enterprises?”, “What is the most beneficial form of cooperation with enterprises?” and “How to initiate and conduct contract research?”. According to responses of all participants, was prepared a rating questionnaire for identifying the current state at universities, where everyone could describe when and how he used the methods given in the questionnaire. The results of the analysis will be available on our website in the near future.

Each project meeting of the project “Water Harmony Erasmus +” is characterized by open lectures for students and teachers on various topics related to water issues. This time the seminars were held in the Cherkasy Oblast State Administration and were called “Water in a Changing World” and “Water: from challanges to opportunities”. Students and teachers had the opportunity to listen to the following lectures:

• What is wastewater? Prof. Lihua Cheng, QTU (China);
• Climate change impacts on water resources – adaptation for enhancing resilience, Prof. S B Weerakoon, UoP, Sri Lanka;
• Process control in water management, Dr. Olga Sanginova, NTUU KPI, Ukraine
• Project examples for resource orientated sanitation systems, Prof. Martin Oldenburg, UAS, Germany;
• Challenges & possibilities of Erasmus, Prof. Andrzej Zolnowski, UWM, Poland;
• Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Prof. Harsha Ratnaweera, NMBU, Norway;

You can get acquainted with materials of seminars by the following link.

The official part of the meeting was held in the press-center of the Cherkasy state administration with the participation of the First deputy head of the administration Vitaly Koval, the rector of the ChSTU Oleh Hrygor, the heads of departments, journalists. Mr. Koval noted the importance of the project for the region, as it concerns two of the most important areas included in the “Development strategy of the region until 2020 “, which are environmental protection and human development. The project coordinator Prof. Harsha Ratnaweera thanked to the representatives of the regional authorities for the comprehensive support of the project and  for supporting of the Department of Chemical Technologies and Water Treatment of the ChSTU.

In one of the blocks of the meeting students of ChSTU, who visited the summer school “Water Harmony” at the Norwegian University of Natural Sciences, made the presentation. Participants of the mobility shared their impressions of the educational process, study trips to Svalbard and city Be, excursions to the water and wastewater treatment plants of Norway, as well as their free time spending with participants from other countries.

In addition to students from Ukraine, students from Poland Marlena Skrobisz and Artur Wiktorski shared their experience of participating in the project on student mobility, who from March 1, 2017, have been studding in ChSTU. They told about the experimental part of the work in four areas related to water, namely: coagulation, ozonization, electroactivation, ion exchange in a continuous acting unit. Based on the results of the studies, the students prepared a report.

Until the end of this year, the project provides a number of activities for students and teachers mobility:

• По 2 студента от каждого украинского университета-партнера проекта с октября 2017 года отправятся на годовое стажировку в университет University of Applied Science (Германия) и University of Warmia and Mazury in Olshtyn (Польша).
• 6 teachers (2 from NMBU, UAS, UWM) in October 2017 will visit the KPI named after Igor Sikorsky to exchange experience and improve pedagogical practices, and six teachers from Ukrainian universities (USCTU, KPI, ChSTU) will learn from their colleagues at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn.
• 2 students from each Ukrainian partner-university will be departed for an annual internship to the University of Applied Science (Germany) and the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olshtyn (Poland) since the 1st of October 2017.

At the end of the working meeting, important issues were discussed: involving partners in joint research, mentoring in the preparation of scientific papers, and publishing joint publications. The rector of the Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology (Dnipro), Alexander Pivovarov, invited all the colleagues to join the editorial board of specialized scientific magazines, which are published by the USCTU.

This year, colleagues will meet again in the next project meeting, which will be held in Jinan (China) in late October.

From the 17^th to 23rd of October 2016, Ukrainian State University of Chemical Technology  (Dnipro, Ukraine) was hosting representatives of Warmia and Mazury University in Olsztyn (Olsztyn, Poland), University of Applied Sciences of Eastern Westphalia Lippe (Lippe, Germany) and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (As, Norway) in frame of the Water Harmony ERASMUS +project mobility program.

The agenda was well prepared and included educational, scientific and cultural activities.

The main objective of this mobility – exchange was to improve the quality of teaching in the partner universities. Each of the participants held an open lecture for students and staff of the host university. The participants visited the laboratories and lectures, and also got acquainted with the electronic educational test system, which functioning in USCTU.

The presentations in water related sphere were given by Professor Nicolay Koshel and Associate Professor Victor Gevod from the Ukrainian State Chemical Technology University, Professor Harsha Ratnaweera and Associate Professor Olfa Khelifi from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Professor Slawomir Kalinowski and Professor Lech Smoczyński from the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Professor Joachim Fettig and Volker Pick from the University of applied Sciences in East Westphalia Lippe.

The company Aqua Holding, USCTU’s partner, hold the presentation about the company and modern business trends in water treatment.

The participants visited two the largest water companies in the region – the brewery “Carlsberg” and Dnipro water-power plant.

According to the results of the mobility the working group produced a report with recommendations for improving the teaching methods in water related disciplines.

Shmyhol Serhii, sergioshyhol@gmail.com
Smotraiev Roman, smotr00@gmail.com