HERE Annual Conference in Barcelona, Spain

The Annual Conference of the Higher Education Reform Experts (HERE) was held in Barcelona from 4-5 December 2023. The Conference brought together HEREs and NEOs from European and Partner Countries to discuss topics related to greening in higher education and sharing information and practice for current reform priorities. The event was organised with the support of EACEA and the SPHERE Team (Centralised Support for Higher Education Reform Experts).

Turkmenistan HEREs Shohrat Bashimov (Turkmen State Institute of Finance) and Bayram Jumayev (State Power Engineering Institute of Turkmenistan) shared their impressions about the work implemented in the framework of the Conference agenda.

Shohrat Byashimov has said that the key questions discussed during the breakout session, which he was involved in, related to the issues of developing a university "green" strategy and active involvement of students and teachers in eco-initiatives on the institutional and national levels to make them better understand the ongoing processes connected with climate change on the planet.

"The hardest and most exciting challenge was the discussion of the results of the SPHERE study (“Findings of the SPHERE study on greening”) conducted by the European universities.

Universities in Turkmenistan are actively involved in various environmental initiatives, however, the development of strategies by our HEIs could provide considerable support to the Turkmen higher education in institutionalizing the SDG principles and implementing the actions for mitigating environmental damage.”

Bayram Jumayev told that the Barcelona Conference had become fruitful for Turkmen partners and made them assured that the objectives of the Conference and International HERE Team fully coincide with the education policy priorities of Turkmenistan.

“Barcelona conference was really beneficial for Turkmen experts. We could discuss with colleagues the possibility of cooperation within new Erasmus+ CBHE projects in the field of internationalization, STEM-based education, and university greening.”

The Annual Conference of the Higher Education Reform Experts is an important element of community building, networking, practice sharing and reflection for this action. HERE are nominated by their governments and appointed by the European Commission to play a catalytic role in inspiring higher education reform. They are also provided with training opportunities by SPHERE related to higher education policy trends and opportunities in the EU and the European Higher Education Area.