UT researcher Alberto Martinetti is the one who initiated the collaboration. He explains why he thought establishing formal ties with Serbia and Armenia was desirable: 'As the UT is putting a lot of effort into internationalization, attracting students from the Balkan countries can be an important point for us. Our university represents an attractive option for them. And the University of Belgrade can offer a lot of knowledge on mechanical engineering of capital asset industries, for instance.'
'Moreover,' continues the Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering. 'Universities in the Balkans are working hard to align their higher education and research to the European standards. To stimulate this trend, it's important to arrange students and staff exchange so they can experience how we work here and vice versa. The collaboration is based on the ERASMUS+ action granted by the EU in order to promote exchange of knowledge among various European universities.'
The collaboration represents the first official partnership between the UT and a Serbian university. So far it has only involved students and staff exchange between the UT's Faculty of Engineering Technology (ET) and the Faculty of Mining and Geology at the University of Belgrade, but Martinetti is aiming for more. 'We want to share more mobility and research projects. We have already submitted a proposal for the SAF€RA call, which involves research on the prevention of accidents in industrial environments.'
