Muş Alparslan University has achieved another significant success in the fields of European Union projects and internationalization. The university’s Erasmus+ KA220-YOU project, titled “Mind & Belong: A Toolkit for Youth Workers Supporting Mental Health and Inclusion (MIND2BELONG),” has been selected for funding. The project marks the first time that Muş Alparslan University has taken part in an Erasmus+ project as the coordinating organization.

With a total budget of €250,000, the project will be carried out between 2026 and 2028 under the coordination of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Muş Alparslan University. Muş Alparslan University will serve as the coordinator of the international consortium, which consists of six organizations from five countries: Türkiye, Slovenia, Poland, Georgia, and Czechia.

The project will be led by Rector Prof. Dr. Mustafa Alican, while project coordination activities will be carried out by Prof. Dr. Kasım Müminoğlu and Furkan Hergül. Vice Rector Prof. Dr. Kenan Yıldırım was also thanked for his institutional contributions to the preparation and development of the project.

Focusing on Youth Well-Being and a Sense of Belonging

The MIND2BELONG project aims to support young people’s mental well-being, sense of belonging, and social participation. To this end, multilingual, digital, and practice-oriented training materials and resources will be developed for youth workers. The materials produced will be tested through pilot activities conducted in the partner countries.

The project also aims to ensure that the outputs generated contribute to the educational, research, and experiential learning activities of Muş Alparslan University.

The collaboration established between Muş Alparslan University and Cosmos Youth Association at the beginning of 2026 played an important role in the development of the project. Bringing together the university’s academic capacity and the association’s experience in Erasmus+ youth projects and fieldwork, the initiative quickly evolved into an international partnership involving six organizations from five countries.

The selection of MIND2BELONG for funding is regarded as an important achievement in strengthening the international project development capacity of Muş Alparslan University and its Faculty of Arts and Sciences, as well as in enabling more effective use of European Union funding opportunities.

Prof. Dr. Kasım Müminoğlu, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, expressed his appreciation to the academics who contributed to the preparation and development of the project.

Prof. Dr. Müminoğlu stated:

“I would like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bayram Arıcı from the Department of Turkish Education and the Department of Social Sciences at the Faculty of Education of Muş Alparslan University; Asst. Prof. Dr. Furkan Atmaca from the Department of Special Education; and our Faculty Vice Deans, Prof. Dr. Abdullah Aydın and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Murat Alanoğlu, for their valuable efforts and contributions to the preparation and development of the project. I believe that the contributions they will make to the successful implementation of the project will be of great value.”

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