The first workshop of Timișoara University Alliance

joint directions for research, digitization, internationalization and educational marketing have been established

On January 14, 2022, the Conference Center of Politehnica University Timișoara hosted a reunion of Timișoara University Alliance (ATU), an organization that established its relevance through pragmatism, concrete actions, work directions and its members.

The acting president of the alliance, assoc. prof. dr. eng. Florin Drăgan, the rector of Politehnica University Timișoara, spoke in the opening of the event about the necessity of organizing such events involving the four large universities in Timișoara - Victor Babeș Medicine and Pharmacy University in Timișoara, Politehnica University Timișoara, West University Timișoara, Banat Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Mihai I of Romania” in Timișoara - because since its inception, ATU had taken on the challenges of identifying, supporting and implementing large-scale, educational, scientific research and community projects with applications and changes for the public life of Timișoara, Timiș county and Banat as a region.

The main topic of the Friday session was increasing the appeal of Timișoara as a university city, the management of the four universities having the opportunity to debate the following subjects:

1. Expanding the recruitment pool for the university city of Timișoara, attended by the vice-rectors responsible with the educational process, the vice-rectors responsible with marketing, communications directors and student representatives;
2. Internationalization and securing partnerships for attracting international students, attended by the vice-rectors in charge of internationalization, international relations department directors and student representatives;
3. Joint ATU projects for digitization and internationalization, attended by the vice-rectors responsible with university assets, IT directors and student representatives;
4. New multidisciplinary research perspectives and opportunities for graduates, attended by the vice-rectors responsible with research, doctorate study center directors and student representatives.

Joint teams were formed for each of the four major directions of the alliance, the first steps to be taken and the calendar of future activities were defined and the conclusions were presented in a plenary session.

Some of the activities decided by the teams formed by the representatives of the member universities are:

• Improving the collaboration between ATU member universities and local and county administration;
• Organizing a joint educational fair;
• Promoting Timișoara at the national level (making a promotional movie);
• Organizing an extraordinary event in Timișoara for future students;
• Sending an ATU delegation at Expo Dubai with presentations of the four universities during February 28 - March 6, 2022;
• Joint participation to international education fairs and a closer collaboration with embassies;
• Using ATU as a means for digital development, developing an application for reporting research results within ATU which would benefit all the partner universities; building an ATU website;
• Organizing joint doctorate programs, partnerships between innovation and technology transfer centers;
• Sharing existing research infrastructure.

At the end of the session, the rectors of the four universities, prof. dr. Octavian Marius Crețu, Ph.D., assoc. prof. dr. eng. Florin Drăgan, Ph.D., prof. dr. Marilen Gabriel Pirtea and prof. dr. eng. Alin Cosmin Popescu, Ph.D., presented the conclusions of the event and underlined the importance of the collective impact of the four higher education institutions in Timișoara and the need for a joint development strategy, increasing the number of student positions in the city, continuing working in teams, supporting entrepreneurship.