Due to the globalisation of the maritime industry it is evident that training and education of students is less isolated to particular regions. As a result many students who begin study in one region often end up working in another region. This complicates matters when further studies are required. Students need to return to their original institution of study due to recognition and possible language restrictions. Therefore the NMU and SAMK after a number of meetings and visits decided to begin a partnership to develop the maritime qualifications and staff and student exchange. SAMK identified the Erasmus+ programme as an opportunity to incorporate other leading institutions in the maritime training sector from Europe and South Africa. All the EURO-ZA partners have a long history in maritime education with some European partners over 100 years. Therefore this is an opportunity to conduct a detailed analysis of the curriculums and facilities to truly evaluate any similarities, differences and opportunity for improvement for both the South African and European partners. It is noted that the NMU is only starting maritime education but has been involved in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Civil and Mechatronics) for decades. This programme will conduct an extensive evaluation of all six maritime curriculla. Comparison of these curriculla will lead to an understanding of similarities and differences. Out of this a comprehensive understanding can be established as to what the strengths and weaknesses are in each institution's curriculum. Included in the study a detailed evaluation will also be conducted on the different pedagogical processes as well as facilities.The result will enable a possible alignment of qualifications allowing knowledge sharing, student, staff and research exchange ultimately recognising a global standard and an improved product to industry.

Inspired by the EU funded network of ‘Higher Education Reform Experts’ (HERE), the South African Association of Technical Universities (SATN) and 6 of its members, in cooperation with European partners, is launching and piloting a similar network in SA, comprised of two academic leaders from each partner university. The ‘HERE SA’ are strategically selected given their roles in overseeing and guiding teaching and learning strategies and with potential to be catalysts for change in the HE sector. The HERESA project will train and capacitate these individuals, enabling them to train other peers at the management level and to contribute to holistic higher education development to meet labour market and societal needs. The network will be instrumental, in the first instance, in supporting the SATN members to refine and revise their institutional strategies for teaching and learning. These key areas are: 1) strengthening governance and university leadership, particularly related to teaching and learning, 2) innovative curricula development, oriented towards the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), competence-based learning (CBL) and work integrated learning (WIL), and 3) entrepreneurship education in collaboration with industry partners. Technical assistance will be provided by EU partners from Italy, France, Sweden, Finland, Spain and Ireland, to support the SA partner universities to implement these strategies and train staff. In addition to facilitating cooperation, exchange of practice and training around these issues and advancing strategy development, the SA HERE network will be expanded at the end of the project and become an important dialogue partner with the Council for Higher Education (CHE) and a means to connect policy and practice more pragmatically and systematically in South Africa.

The project aims to build capacity to internationalise and transform higher education curricula by broadening student participation in the internationalisation process. The project is key as institutions are not prepared for curriculum internationalisation, which will become mandatory in the near future, particularly as physical student mobility is unable to reach a sufficient number of students in South Africa.iKUDU will develop and effect strategies to guide curriculum internationalisation through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) virtual exchanges. COIL is a novel teaching and learning initiative that advances global competencies across shared multicultural learning environments using Internet-based tools and online pedagogies. Students in two countries use electronic communication to work jointly through virtual exchange. Noteworthy is the intentional development of intercultural communicative competence amongst staff and students. Working with a peer in another country, the lecturer facilitates the competencies and skills necessary to live and work in a multicultural, interconnected world through COIL virtual exchanges. The project will train 55 teaching staff to become experts in curriculum internationalisation and transformation, and COIL virtual exchange. They will be equipped to train additional COIL virtual exchange experts. During the project’s lifespan, 55 sustainable COIL virtual exchanges will be developed with European partner universities, in which 2625 South African students will partake.The impact of the project will be that all students at partner institutions will benefit from internationalised and transformed curricula. The 55 trained COIL virtual exchange experts, who will be competent to train future cohorts, will be a critical mass to ensure that in the longer term a substantive part of the student population at South African partner universities will be able to access international exposure through COIL virtual exchanges.

In 2015, over 300 million tons of plastic were estimated to be produced worldwide. It is nowadays widely acknowledged that a proportion of this plastic reaches the aquatic environment in the form of plastic debris of various sizes. While Rochman et al., in the journal Nature, suggested to "classify plastic waste as hazardous", the scope of the impact of plastic debris on the aquatic environment and human health remains largely unknown. Despite being the least studied aspect of plastic debris in the environment, nano-size plastic is potentially the most hazardous. One significant source of micro and nanoplastics (MNPs) generated in industrialised countries is municipal wastewater sludge and effluents with a direct potential to impact recipient water bodies through reuse of treated wastewater, a practice increasingly suggested as a way to address water scarcity in the EU and worldwide. Although currently disregarded, the release of MNPs into the aquatic environment may negatively impact aquatic ecosystems beyond the mere physical presence of the plastic particles. Freshwater and marine water contamination by MNPs emerges as a fundamental problem directly undermining the fulfilment of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This project proposes to address two unacknowledged ensuing threats related to the potential for these MNPs to (i) act as trojan horse for chemical additives and contaminants of emerging concern (CEC), and to (ii) act as trojan horse for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) genes into aquatic ecosystems through wastewater reuse applications. There is currently a limited understanding of the release of MNPs from urban wastewater treatment plants (UWTPs) into freshwaters and even less on the fate of chemical additives associated with these plastic particles. Most plastics are produced and filled with a variety of chemical additives with specific purposes (e.g. plasticisers, flame retardants or UV filters). The impact of these chemical additives in freshwaters is closely associated to the fate of the plastic particles and remains largely unknown. In addition, the characteristic high surface area-to-volume ratio of MNPs may add to their potential hazardous effects as persistent and toxic contaminants (CEC) present in wastewater effluents have been demonstrated to be adsorbed on these particles. Further, the spread of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and their traits has been recognised as a truly global challenge that needs to be addressed at a global scale. The aquatic environment including lakes, rivers, streams, and coastlines, receives effluents from UWTPs, runoff from agricultural activities, and other human inputs and may become reservoirs of antibiotic resistance possibly further eliciting the emergence and propagation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB). Since DNA is known to sorb to certain plastics, we postulate that MNPs may represent an emerging risk for transportation of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) acting as a trojan horse for the transmission of antibiotic resistance through horizontal gene transfer along wastewater fluxes and in the environment (aquatic ecosystems and soils through wastewater reuse). In the NANO-CARRIERS project, we propose through a series of laboratory experiments, field measurements and case studies to develop new understanding of the risk posed by the UWTPs-based emission of micro and particularly nano-sized plastic particles into aquatic ecosystems in the context of emission and spread of chemical additives, CEC and antibiotic resistance genes.

South Africa is a country that continues to fight with poverty, high levels of unemployment and inequality despite the fact that economic growth has slowed down in recent years. “Basic enablers” for Southern Africa's sustainable growth, employment creation and reducing income inequality are especially HE institutions with business enabling environment, education and skills as mentioned in the Strategy Paper of the country. Particularly, successful organization of engineering education is related to the increasing relevance of the issues that are directly reflected in South Africa's National Priorities. One of the greatest challenges Southern Africa is facing at the moment is the acute shortage of engineers. The White Paper (Dep. of HE&T, Nov. 2013) proposes the introduction of on-line learning as appropriate to increase access, enhance quality and improve throughput and success.Using the knowledge developed by all partners the output of the proposed project PEESA III are: a) Design of min. three (3) engineering degree programmes at Partner Country's HEIs aligned with EUR-ACE standards, effective use of ICT, flexible learning path, transversale skills and closer University – Enterprise cooperation.b) Finalise self-assessment reports for EUR-ACE Accreditation of three (3) MA programmes on Energy Efficiency developed within the Edulink’s PEESA project, c) Increase the number of female students in engineering at Partner Country's universities together with closer University-Enterprise cooperation.As a result we get better employability of graduates, more engineering students (especially female students) which contribute to regional sustainable growth as well as social and cultural development. We promote student centred learning by accommodating their different learning styles as well as different circumstances in which students find themselves.The national and international mobility is supported through mutual recognition of degrees and modules.