The need analysis is based on a series of workshops and an employers’ survey conducted in 2019- 2020 under other EU-funded projects involving National University of Mongolia (NUM). The main conclusion was that stakeholders across all the policy floors involved in governance over natural resources and environment anonymously appreciate opportunities for the transfer of policy, management and technology innovation from the EU, and such opportunities were seen as valuable and worthwhile even by stakeholder representatives who were not really aware of their scope and nature. At the same time the EU-Mongolia interactions are growing and broadening, and therefore citizens, public bodies, business and other organisations need better awareness of the EU in order to make the best use of emerging opportunities in an inclusive and transparent manner, i.e. to facilitate direct access to good practices and capacity-building tools and to enhance public diplomacy. In case of stakeholders dealing with green transition and natural resources this is particularly appalling, as sustainable growth and environmental are key cooperation themes (also see 1.1). Understanding of relevant EU-related topics represents a useful competence, especially as adapting EU norms and standards is a key cooperation target. However, this is not provided through formal or informal education anywhere in Mongolia. Furthermore, the launch and widespread of EU Green Deal, represents a perfect and timely opportunity to transfer the environmental policies of the Green Deal to Mongolia HEI. 

Building on the identified needs we came up with the project concept whereas the educational provision would be through degree (BSc & BA) and non-degree (a summer school) programs of NUM jointly provided by the Department of Environment and Forestry Engineering and Department of European Studies, however with high attention to informal education (inclusive enrolment to the summer school and open access interactive e-learning). The educational offer is thought to be supported by joint research, while all the project activities will be backed by Mongolian Sustainable Finance Association. The foreseen activities are guided by the following objectives: 

• Training students and lifelong learners in EU subjects, including reflection on applicability of EU environmental innovation in Mongolia through the ONE International Summer School (certified) within Year 1 (112 hours (14 full days), 4 ECTS awarded by NUM, 25 enrolled participants; 

• Developing and teaching annually starting from Year 2 the disciplines covering EU subjects – EU sustainable development policies (64 hours / 3ECTS, 30 students), Green finances (based on overview of EU sustainable finance, Taxonomy, Green Bond Standards, Corporate disclosure of climate-related and ESG disclosures, sectoral green loan guidance such as Energy efficiency and Sustainable textile practices and discussing them in Mongolian context; 22 hours / 1 ECTS, 15 students) and Nature-based solutions and territorial resilience (based on the discussion of the eponymous EU research and innovation policy agenda and its implementation; 26 hours / 1 ECTS, 15 students); 

• Supporting informal education and dissemination of knowledge on EU subjects through the development of a package of MOOC-like materials covering 6 key module’s topics by the end of year 2 added to the MSFA e-learning platform and NUM e-system, and web streaming of selected lectures from the summer school and degree teaching (at least 16 academic hours / year); 

• Advancing understanding of applicability and transferability of EU environmental innovation in Mongolia through research, and disseminating the analysis to international and national academic readership through papers in international and domestic peer-reviewed journals (2 in total submitted by the end of the Year 3); 

• Disseminating information, insights and reflections on the transferability and applicability of EU environmental innovation to stakeholder communities through open-access research and learning materials, and through an academia-praxis workshop and roundtable during the Year 3 (at least 25 participants).