UniGe in Central Asia to promote education and sustainability

From 8 to 12 June 2026, in Turkmenistan, the University of Genoa took part in a week-long Training of Trainers (ToT) programme, comprising training activities organised as part of the Erasmus+ CBHE ESGCA – Bridging Environmental Concerns, Societal Needs, and Good Governance in Central Asian Education and Employment Sectors which focuses on the themes of environmental sustainability, social responsibility and good governance.

The events took place in the cities of Ashgabat and Mary, and involved lecturers and staff from universities in Europe and Central Asia. Representing UniGe, Giovanni Adorni, Agostino Massa (lecturer in General Sociology) and Angelo Musaio (Head of the International Cooperation and Development Department and project coordinator) took part in the activities. The presentations covered the following topics respectively:

• AI - Artificial Intelligence Literacy and Human-Centered Digital Pedagogies for ESG Higher Education
• The Social Pillar of ESG: recruitment, management and well-being of HHRR in the public administration
• Promotion of EC of Capacity Building in Higher Education curricular development, governance reform and relationships HE - Stakeholders

The presentations therefore covered topics ranging from artificial intelligence applied to university teaching to human resources management models in the public sector, and the role of universities in developing the skills needed to tackle the challenges of sustainability. Diana Spulber, a lecturer in Special Education and Pedagogy at the University of Genoa, also contributed to the event with an online presentation entitled ‘Inclusion as a Strategic Dimension of ESG Frameworks’, which focused on inclusion as a strategic dimension of ESG models.

The ESGCA project, coordinated by the University of Genoa in collaboration with Universitatea Lucian Blaga of Sibiu (Romania) and the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (Slovakia), forms part of a programme of cooperation with the countries of Central Asia launched by UniGe over twenty years ago.

Turkmenistan is undergoing a process of opening up and cooperation with the European Union, with a view to steering its economy towards prospects other than the current ones, which are fundamentally linked to the production of oil and natural gas. The training programme carried out in this country – one of the world’s top 10 producers of natural gas – represents the first stage of a series of activities that will continue over the coming months in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Among the project’s objectives is the creation and accreditation of a master’s degree programme dedicated to ESG issues at ten universities in the region, helping to strengthen academic and professional skills in a field that is becoming increasingly central to economic and social development.

Through initiatives such as this, the University of Genoa is consolidating its commitment to international cooperation and to building academic networks capable of fostering education, research and dialogue between Europe and Central Asia.