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NICOPA
New and Innovative Precision
Farming Programs in Kazakhstan
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In 2018, the team of M. Kozybayev North Kazakhstan State University began research on the "New and Innovative Courses for Precision Agriculture (NICOPA)" project under the program ERASMUS + Capacity Building in Higher Education funded by the European Commission. Kazakh Agrotechnical University named after S. Seifullin is the project coordinator.
Project Brochure
The main direction of research is related to the improvement of educational programs through the modernization and introduction of new courses on innovative technologies of precision farming, creation of an engineering laboratory, and internships for teachers, specialists, and students at leading European universities.
The project partners are 9 leading universities and 3 research organizations of Germany, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Duration - 3 years.
The project main activities are the analysis and implementation of educational programs for undergraduate and graduate programs in the specialties of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, Instrument Engineering, Physics, Physics and Astronomy, Agronomy, Forest Resources and Forestry, advanced knowledge in the field of precision farming, development, publication and acquisition of new literature. Also, it is planned teachers advanced training in leading European universities, as well as the creation of an Internet platform and engineering laboratory in each partner university of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, at the expense of the project financial resources.
Implementation of the "New and Innovative Courses for Precision Agriculture (NICOPA)" project at M. Kozybayev North Kazakhstan State University.
Following activities have been implemented at North Kazakhstan State University under the NICOPA project:
1. A research group has been formed to work on a project consisting of:
- Koshekov K.T., Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of "Energy and Radioelectronics", project coordinator from M. Kozybaev NKSU. Duties in the project: responsible for internal communication on all issues of the project implementation at the university, external communication with project management and other organizations of the consortium, scientific support of the project, implementation of the project plan and documentation of all completed project activities, presentation of reports, participation in coordination meetings, creating an office for precision farming at the university, organizing and conducting master classes;
- Shayakhmetova Altyn Seytakhmetovna, Ph.D. (Candidate of Agricultural Sciences), Dean of the Faculty of Agrotechnology. Duties in the project: responsible for the analysis, updating and development of training modules / programs and other educational and methodical documentation in accordance with the requirements of the Bologna process and existing new developments in the field of precision farming in the specialties of 5B080100-Agrnomy and 5B080700-Forest resources and forestry”, implementation of the project results at the university, testing at industrial enterprises and educational institutions of the North Kazakhstan oblast, organizing a survey of students, graduates and employers, speaking in the media, organizing and master classes, the organization of accreditation (or approval) at the university of new and upgraded modules and the timely start of pilot training since September 2020;
- Savostin A.A., Ph.D. (Candidate of Technical Sciences), associate professor of the Department of "Energy and Radio-electronics", project performer. Duties in the project: responsible for the analysis, updating and development of training modules / programs and other educational and methodical documentation in accordance with the requirements of the Bologna process and existing new developments in the field of precision farming in the specialties of 5В071600- and 6М071600- Instrument Engineering, 5В071900- and 6М071900-Radio Engineering Electronics and Telecommunications; implementation of the project results at the university, testing at industrial enterprises and educational organizations of the North Kazakhstan Oblast, organizing a survey of students, graduates and employers, speaking in the media, organizing accreditation (or approval) at the university of new and upgraded modules and timely starting pilot training since September 2020;
- Ritter D.V., Ph.D. (Candidate of Technical Sciences), associate professor of the Department of "Energy and Radio-electronics", project performer. Duties in the project: responsible for the reception and commissioning of new equipment and the creation of a new classroom / laboratory, the organization of the project quality group and the implementation of activities on internal and external quality assessment (WP3);
- Sartin S.A. Ph.D. (Сandidate of physical and mathematical Sciences), head of the department of "Physics". Duties in the project: responsible for the analysis, updating and development of training modules / programs and other educational and methodical documentation in accordance with the requirements of the Bologna process and existing new developments in the field of precision farming in the following specialties: 5В012800-Physics and Computer Science and 5В061100- and 6М061100-Physics and astronomy; implementation of the project results at the university, testing at industrial enterprises and educational organizations of the North Kazakhstan Oblast, organizing a survey of students, graduates and employers, speaking in the media, organizing and conducting master classes, organizing accreditation (or approval) at the university of new and modernized modules and timely start pilot training since September 2020;
- Koshen B.M., Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Professor of the Department of Agronomy and Forestry. Duties in the project: responsible for the developing recommendations for upgrading training modules / plans, choosing equipment for a new laboratory and forming topics for advanced training courses, providing scientific support for hardware implementation of precision farming technologies, analyzing and processing questionnaires and materials from stakeholders in the field of precision farming;
- Omarov Zh.Zh., General Director of the “Shagala Agro” LLC. Duties in the project: responsible for the practical testing of the project results, the qualitative assessment of educational and methodological documentation of the relevance, novelty and practical significance;
- Akhmetov M.B., Master, Senior Lecturer of the Department of Agronomy and Forestry. Duties in the project: preparation of publications on the project and handouts, information boards, posting information about the project results on the website of M. Kozybayev NKSU, collecting materials, photos, videos for updating the Web-platform, communication with graduates;
- Mustafina A.B., student of the Instrument Engineering -17 group. Duties in the project: explanatory work with students about the project goals and objectives, project office workflow in the office, evaluation of the developed training modules / programs for congestion and the quality of learning of the studied material by students.
2. In accordance with the basic plan for the implementation of the NICOPA project, an action plan was developed at the university for the project implementation for 2018-2021.
3. Target faculties and departments for the project implementation have been identified. It is the Engineering and Digital technologyl Faculty and the Faculty of Agrotechnology. Departments: "Energy and Radio-electronics", "Transport and Engineering", "Agronomy and Forestry", and "Physics".
4. 6 specialties were selected (two-level educational programs) for the implementation of the NICOPA project:
- Radio engineering, electronics and telecommunications;
- Instrument Engineering;
- Physics;
- Physics and astronomy;
- Agronomy;
- Forest resources and forestry.
Responsible people were appointed - leading teachers of the department.
5. A list of disciplines was formed for their analysis and subsequent updates in specialties. These are 9 undergraduate disciplines and 10 master's disciplines.
6. A schedule has been developed for analyzing and modernizing existing disciplines that are close to the project subject.
7. Criteria were developed for the selection of teachers for internships in European universities, taking into account the work experience at the university, the English language level and skills in the development of educational documentation. Basic education is taken into account.
8. Questionnaires have been developed to analyze the relevance of the NICOPA project, as well as the status of existing plans and disciplines for students, non-academic partners and graduates. A survey was conducted.
9. Associate partners (production, research organizations) and enterprises interested in the results of the project are identified:
10. The Two SKYPE-conferences were held with Mr. Arnold - the project foreign partners.
11. On the basis of the conducted review-analysis of the taught disciplines in the context of specialties, relevant topics and new disciplines have been identified, contributing to the improvement of existing courses.
12. Laboratory equipment is being selected in accordance with the proposed areas of discipline improvement.
NICOPA _Presentation
PROJECT'S NEWS
The publication has been developed within the framework of the European Union Erasmus+ programme and reflects the views of the authors. Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency and the European Commision cannot be held responsible for any use which be made of the information contained therein.
