On 4–5 December 2025, the LESLIE consortium held its onsite meeting in Almaty (Kazakhstan), hosted by Al-Farabi Kazakh National University (KazNU) at the Conference Hall of the Faculty of Physics and Technology.
The meeting gathered EU partners—Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) as project coordinator, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio (UNICAS), and University of Cyprus (UCY)—together with Kazakh partners (KazNU as national coordinator, Sh. Ualikhanov Kokshetau University (KOKSU), Akhmet Yassawi University (AYU), CAREC, and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Kazakhstan) and Uzbek partners (Fergana Polytechnic Institute (FPI) as national coordinator, TIIAME-NRU, BINRM–TIIAME-NRU, Bukhara State University (BSU), International Agricultural University (IAU), and the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovations of the Republic of Uzbekistan).
The onsite meeting opened with institutional welcome addresses by representatives of KazNU, the Erasmus+ National Office in Kazakhstan, and the LESLIE coordination team (UPV), with additional contributions from the Deans of the Faculties of Physics and Technology and Geography and Environmental Sciences.
A key technical session followed on micro-qualifications in Kazakhstan, focusing on definitions, conceptual approaches, programme design, and implementation experience, and enabling an open discussion on current challenges for universities when deploying micro-credentials. The afternoon concentrated on project implementation and deliverables.
The second day focused on operationalizing the micro-credential approach. In a dedicated WP4 teamwork session (UPV–KazNU), partners worked on:
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criteria for micro-credential development, and
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an implementation algorithm to support consistent deployment across institutions.
This technical work fed directly into the session devoted to the LESLIE Microcredential Catalogue, where the teams consolidated outputs, identified gaps, and agreed on future actions for catalogue completion and rollout. The programme also included an expert lecture on strengthening collaboration and skills development within the EU–Kazakhstan Partnership, reinforcing the policy and cooperation context relevant for LESLIE outcomes.
The meeting closed with conclusions and next steps (UPV), followed by a guided KazNU campus tour, supporting networking and a shared understanding of the host university environment.
