Read more: http://uvt.ro/ro/blog/uvt-onorata-sa-promoveze-romania-la-expo-2020-dubai/

Read more: https://libertymarathon.uvt.ro/    

Our Erasmus International Week targets both academic and administrative staff members from WUT’s partner universities interested in knowing more about us, as well as exploring the challenges and opportunities of the Erasmus Programme and the process of internationalization in the field of higher education in Europe and worldwide.

The schedule of the week includes: presentation(s) of WUT and partner institutions, workshop(s) on internationalization of HEIs, teaching activities, job shadowing session and networking events.

During the time spent together we will discuss various means and approaches to the process of internationalization of higher-education institutions. Therefore, we would like to invite you all to share knowledge and good practices with us in Timişoara, the biggest city in the West of Romania and future European Capital of Culture in 2023.

More details about the event are available here.

Read more: https://wsu.osut.ro/

NTU approached 6 partner universities, including West University of Timisoara, who were all very keen to share the opportunity with their students:

· West University Timisoara

· CETYS University, Mexico

· Kuban State University, Russia

· Utah State University, USA · Ryerson University, Canada

· Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Germany

The worry that students might have ‘digital fatigue’ and not want to participate rapidly faded away as organizers were proved wrong by the 194 applications in just 3 weeks of promotion. The largest number of students came from West University of Timisoara, with 69 applications.

Students were matched into groups of between 3 – 6 students from different universities, with a total of 46 groups. The matching process was thoroughly done by NTU based on hobbies, musical interests, if they had pets, what kinds of books they liked to read. In this way, the organizers made sure that students had things in common to chat about, a very important varianle in making the exchange a success. The exchange was designed so that students had a timetable of discussion themes to follow, while being able to meet when and how they liked and use whatever platform they wanted to for the meetings. On thinking of a project topic that was relevant and all students had experience of, Covid 19 came up and students would create a group project around 5 covid[1]based questions that the organizers proposed. Additionally, the project included pre- and post[1]exchange activities including Cross Cultural Communication Workshops.

The feedback received from students for this exchange was overwhelmingly positive. Some remarks of West University of Timisoara’s students can be found below and they reinforce students’ needs for connection in these difficult times, as well as the added value of international collaborative projects for students’ personal and professional development. This gives all of us involved in the internationalization of higher education hopes that Covid 19 can not and will not stand in the way of international cooperation.

First of all, I want to congratulate the project initiative, the meetings proposed in this format without the constraint of a professor made our discussions flow freely, and the established topics based on a specific schedule made our conversations focused in a certain direction and area of interest. The most interesting aspect was about sharing cultural customs because we could compare various things (clothing style, restaurants, outing habits, food) or styles (perspectives on books, movies made in our countries, stereotypes about our nations, etc.). I don’t think I have changed anything in my lifestyle, but certainly, I`ve got rich with some information and curiosities regarding Russian, Spanish, and UK culture.

 I liked that in these exchanges I had the opportunity to meet new people with whom to share different things and with whom I was able to spend my time. The most interesting aspect of these exchanges was that each of us was in a different corner of the world. I am glad that I had opportunity to participate in the “European and International Cities Virtual Student Exchange’ program, from which I managed to improve my ability to work in a team and to improve my English.

This exchange experience enriched my heart getting close with strangers and making them my friends during hard times, we comforted each other and listened for each other all this way and I really don’t think my life would have been the same without them.

In some ways, the expectations I had at the beginning were true because there were certain cultural differences, but not as many as I expected. We were a lot more alike than I initially thought and we had a lot in common, which was nice. It was a pleasure to be a part of this student exchange, it was very entertaining and fun. It was nice to talk to people that are on the same wave-length with you and I feel like we were all a perfect match.

Following the promotion of the summer school event, 71 Bachelor and Master students registered by filling in the registration form. The international participants came from countries such as: Albania, Algeria, Brazil, China, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lithuania, Morocco, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan and Vietnam. Each candidate had the chance to select minimum 3 courses out of the offer of 13 courses, in the order of preferences. The courses offer was:

– Historic and artistic crossroads

– Sympathetic Humour and Postmodern Irony in our times. Soothing the Soul vs. sharpening our Rhetorics

– Taxation and Accounting in the Digital Era and Global Economy

– Machine Learning Applied on Earth Observation Data

– Presentation skills and nonverbal communication

– Words’ Histories – Quantum Logics of Chemistry

– Biochemistry aspects in various medical conditions

– Key points in the History of Design (1900-2000)

– History of the universe and cosmology

– Getting the changemaker mindset: reinvent yourself as a social entrepreneur

– The Constitution today. Judicial review and civil liberties

– Counseling and self-development

Regarding the organization of the extracurricular activities, these alternated, combining the cultural activities with the diverting ones. Thus, the participants had the possibility to attend two workshops organized by the members of the International Relations Department, the first workshop being „English as a Global Language”, and the second one being „Stereotypes, Political Correctness and Culture Shocks”. At the same time, the participants had the chance to experience in a nutshell the Romanian culture and language by attending a Romanian language crash course, a yoga session with a specialized trainer, and a virtual theatre performance that took place on the virtual stage of the Radu Stanca National Theater (TNRS), located in the Transylvanian city of Sibiu. In order for a , the participants enjoyed a virtual tour of the city of Timișoara, a tour that was organized by a tourist guide specialized in the history of the city but also of the Banat region. In order to be able to render in an even more palpable way the cultural and dynamic experience of the city that will be the European Capital of Culture in 2023, the participants were introduced to the city of Timisoara through a virtual tour organized by a tourist guide specialized in the history of the city and of the Banat region.

In the last two days of the WUT (Late) Summer School event, students participated in an examination and feedback session on the courses they followed and they provided a general feedback on the entire activity carried out during the event. To the detriment of online feedback, it relied on interactive and creative feedback, which is why it was concluded that this event offered the following opportunities: getting out of the comfort zone; appreciation of the availability of academic and administrative staff; free and unrestricted socialization environment; openness to interculturality and to people with other religious orientations; a better understanding of the concept of „time management”, flexibility in communication, and improvement of communication skills.

Our universities are located in rural and cross-border mountain regions across Southern, Central and Eastern Europe- Serra da Estrela (Beira Interior), the Pyrenees (Pau and Zaragoza), the Alps (Savoie Mont Blanc and Turin), and the Banat Mountains (Timisoara), in ecosystems sharing similar challenges.

UNITA Rural Mobility: a new form of student mobility focused on the sustainable development of rural, mountain, border areas!

It is an amazing chance for students who want to go the extra mile with their education, research and overall growth, while also making unique memories! The initiative is currently in the pilot phase but we can already see great results. For 2021, five students from Università degli Studi di Torino, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, Universidad de Zaragoza and Universidade Beira Interior, arrived in Timișoara on the 5th of July in order to start their amazing journey in the picturesque mountain territories from Banat.

Besides getting familiar to an amazing area, the students are able to work together with their host, WeWilder, UVT’s partner in this pilot phase, developing innovative ideas for the sustainability of rural mountain regions. The dissemination and communication team from UVT reached the five incoming students and asked them for first impressions on their time spent in Armeniș, Sat Bătrân. You will be able to see their testimonials very soon on UNITA Social Media Channels. Additionally, this first experience allows for various implementation procedures developed within UNITA for the purpose of supporting hundreds of rural mobilities in all six areas represented by the partners in the alliance by the end of our project, and beyond.

All of the involved actors will offer feedback in order to develop this initiative further and ensure the sustainability of UNITA Rural Mobilities as a flagship initiative of the UNITA alliance. Moreover, during this phase, UNITA’s partners focus on creating communities of practice and sharing resources, including teachers, researchers and administrative staff. At the end of this period, the teams will be used to working together, helping each other and exchanging ideas that will undoubtedly lead to new innovations and new projects. As soon as the pilot phase ended, a video overview of the first UNITA rural mobilities in Romania was filmed and it is available online.

*reposted partially from UNITA News&Views, the Newsletter of the UNITA European Alliance.

In the period September 20th – 26th, 2021, students enrolled in the 1st year of undergraduate study programs were welcome at WUT to discover what being a student means, how the university environment works and what opportunities they have from this position.

The program of the Induction Week at WUT implied introductory and adaptation events, information sessions, counseling and orientation sessions in the university environment, tours of Timisoara and visits to cultural institutions in the city, teambuilding activities, cultural events, conferences, debates, exhibitions, theater performances, film screenings, concerts, etc.

The activities that were specially designed for „freshmen” were meant to help students learn more about the university and how it works, about their study programmes, about the rights and opportunities they have as WUT students, about the teachers with whom they will interact, about the schedule and many other information needed to start a new chapter in their lives as students. They will also have the opportunity to discover Timisoara and its cultural institutions, and to participate in a whole series of cultural-artistic events.

The Induction Week at WUT also aimed to facilitate the transition from pre-university to university environment for students enrolled in the 1st year of undergraduate studies, by organizing counseling, orientation, initiation, integration and support activities and events during the week before the beginning of the academic year.

More precisely, all „freshmen” students at WUT had the opportunity to attend activities such as:

• workshops meant to present the faculties/departments of WUT or of the various institutions
  of interest for students in Timisoara;
• training sessions for the development of transversal competencies and skills necessary for
  the higher education system;
• presentations of the various institutions or facilities that can be enjoyed in WUT or in
  Timisoara;
• conferences with various personalities from the scientific, cultural or sports world;
• visits to various cultural objectives in the city;
• guided tour of Timisoara;
• participation in cultural/educational events in partnership with cultural institutions in the
  city;
• teambuilding activities.

The Induction Week at WUT ended with a unique event in Romania, called Univibes, which
transformed the entire university into a great location for concerts, art exhibitions and parties.

Well-known international and local artists transformed, for one day, the WUT headquarters into a
dancefloor, to celebrate together the beginning of a new academic year.