The project “Advanced training on sustainable management of pastoral systems” (TranSuMan), approved by the European Commission within the framework of ERASMUS+ Key Action 2 (KA220 HED) – Cooperation partnerships in higher education is officially completed on 2 April 2024. The project was coordinated by the Universita degli Sudi di Camerino (Italy) and also involved the Fundacion Universidad Catolica de Valencia San Vicente Martir (Spain), the Universitatea Babes Bolyai (Romania), while the University of Thessaly (Greece) was represented by the Department of Forestry, Wood Sciences and Design. The members of the Department Professor Michalis Vrachnakis, Associate Professor Ioannis Kazoglou and Associate Professor Marios Trigas were participating in the project. From the beginning of the project (03/01/2022) until its end, a group of students and interested parties (stakeholders) was employed.

The project developed an innovative interactive educational approach to create a professional profile, capable of carrying out, in an interdisciplinary manner, the sustainable management of European grassland ecosystems and especially the Mediterranean ones. According to this interactive approach, academic knowledge together with the experience of local actors (stakeholders) contribute to the creation of a favorable learning environment forΗΕΙ students (tomorrow’s professionals), enabling them to work in a real environment. The specific objectives achieved through the project were: – to define common methodological guidelines and strategies for the sustainable management and utilization of grasslands – to define teaching methods and strategies to involve stakeholders in the teaching/learning process – and to transfer knowledge to students of Higher Education on the complexities of grassland management, including the design of sustainable production chains based on high quality products and the management of processes from the base to the top (bottom up approach). To achieve the goals of the project, the Green Team of 25 people was created, the composition of which was 3 professors, 9 postgraduate students, 8 undergraduate students and 5 local actors.

The most important project results were the development of (a) methodological guidelines, (b) integrated scientific tools (teaching toolkit), (c) a comprehensive online course and (d) future perspectives and a replicability plan) for the sustainable management of grasslands. The development of these achievements as well as other issues related to the ecology, management and exploitation of the grasslands developed during the project were communicated at the local level, so that the relevant actors are informed about the cutting edge of Rangeland Science and about the latest developments and scientific achievements on grassland ecology and management.

Project results are available for downloading from:

https://www.ucv.es/investigacion/transhuman/grasslands-management

Professor Michalis Vrachnakis

Coordinator of the Greek partnership