Karin Paardenkooper, the UT’s country coordinator for Mexico, explains why this new cooperation is ‘a big step’: ‘The University of Twente has had ties with TEC de Monterrey since the 1990’s, but so far only in education. This is completely new, because the Graduate Project is all about research. It aims to establish collaborative research projects, joint PhD supervision, as well as graduate students exchange and staff exchange.’
The project will be kicked-off with a ‘mini conference’ held today on campus. The event will be attended by a number of leading researchers from both universities, as well as UT Faculty deans, the Rector Thom Palstra and President of the Executive Board Victor van der Chijs. ‘Everybody recognizes the importance of this event,’ says Paardenkooper. ‘They all see the possibilities in this research collaboration. Because TEC is also a member of ECIU (European Consortium of Innovative Universities, ed.), there is potential to acquire ECIU research grants.’
For the time being, the project involves the UT research groups of Nanotechnology, Biotechnology and Optics. Scientists from these fields are meeting today with their TEC counterparts to discuss their research interests and to find ideas for joint research projects. It is possible that more UT groups will be included in the Graduate Project in the future.
