INTERNATIONALIZATION OF UNIVERSITY ACTIVITY

The training of future specialists, who will work in a multicultural environment, requires a higher education system in which internationalization promotes cultural diversity and cultivates intercultural understanding, respect and tolerance. Namely, the internationalization of university activity contributes to the building of politically and economically competitive strong societies and countries. Internationalization represents an engagement in the process of international solidarity, human security and helps to build a climate of global peace.

The internationalization of university life is an innovative process that, in the interests of ensuring quality in education, seeks and produces changes from national to international. Here we can mention two perspectives: from an institutional point of view, all educational and research activity is located in international dimensions, and from the point of view of teaching staff and students, optimal functioning conditions are created both in the national environment and in the international.

Moreover, the profile of tomorrow’s engineer is determined by international competitiveness, the globalization process and the needs of society. From this point of view, the promotion of international cooperation is one of the priorities of UTM.

The Technical University of Moldova promotes an active and permanent policy of cooperation with universities, scientific centers and other institutions from the EU, CIS, USA and Canada. International cooperation is an important aspect of university life, which contributes to the University’s integration into European and global higher technical education and, at the same time, is a source of funding for education and research.

International cooperation actions are structured, as a rule, within bi- and multilateral collaboration conventions and relate to the initial and continuous training of engineering staff, university research activity, the improvement of specialists from the national economy, the exchange of experience in the field of university management, the use modern training technologies, technical assistance, etc. During the last years, agreements were concluded with research institutions and universities from such countries as France, Spain, Germany, USA, Canada, Romania. UTM maintains traditional collaborative relationships with higher education institutions from the CIS countries, such as Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, etc. practically in all fields of university activity: documentation, development of new courses, teaching of courses to UTM students, participation in international conferences and symposia, defense of doctoral theses and doctoral theses, etc.

In order to intensify participation in international programs, regular meetings are organized with the representatives of the embassies in Chisinau: the German Embassy, ​​the US Embassy, ​​the British Embassy, ​​the French Embassy, ​​the Italian Embassy, ​​the Latvian Embassy, ​​where various aspects of collaboration between UTM and institutions are discussed similar from the mentioned countries.

With the support of the Francophone University Agency, two Francophone branches have been successfully operating at UTM for several years – the Information Technology Branch and the Food Technologies Branch, in which all courses are taught in French by UTM professors or guest professors from French and Canadian universities. Students from the French-speaking branches take advantage of various scholarships and practical internships in France, Canada, Romania. At the Faculty of Computers, Informatics and Microelectronics, the English-speaking branch “Computer software” works.

UTM is a member of international bodies, as follows:

• BSUN – Network of Black Sea Universities;
• AUF – University Agency of Francophonie;
• CRRUFECE – the regional conference of rectors of French-speaking universities in Central and Eastern Europe;
• EUA – Association of European Universities;
• DRC – Conference of Rectors of the Danube Basin.

Within the BSUN university network, the Technical University of Moldova maintains collaborative relationships with universities in Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Romania, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.