The review of the Eurasia Programme covers the current programme period from June 2015 to June 2021. The programme stimulates increased cooperation related to education between Eurasian and Norwegian higher education institutions (HEIs). The entire project portfolio of 62 projects that have been supported with NOK 153 million is included in the review. The projects in the programme are typically collaborations with a view to cooperate in activities such as developing new courses and study programmes and facilitate student and staff mobility.

The nine countries in which Norwegian HEIs may enter into cooperation with Eurasian HEI’s are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan and Ukraine.

The overall aim of the Eurasia Programme is to ‘contribute to renewal and internationalisation of higher education in the partnering countries as a means to provide a basis for political and economic reform, to stimulate sustainable development, to increase the level of education in the population and to increase respect for human rights’. The overall aim is operationalised into eight programme objectives.

The review takes into consideration that the programme period is ongoing and that at the time of this review, only some of the supported projects have been completed. The purpose of the review is threefold:

• › To assess the Eurasia Programme’s achievements in light of the overall aim and the anticipated outcomes.
• › To assess the management of the programme, including the quality and efficiency of Diku’s role as administrator.
• › To provide recommendations for possible adjustments to the Eurasia Programme beyond 2021.

The intention of the review is not to evaluate the implementation of individual projects but the projects’ aggregated contribution to the fulfilment of expected objectives and impacts of the Eurasia Programme. The methods applied in this review include document studies, two electronic surveys and 50 semi-structured interviews targeting project coordinators, network partners, students in Norway and the partner countries and other relevant stakeholders.