Baku as a guest in Lusatia
During the two-day program in Cottbus and Senftenberg, BTU President Prof. Dr. Gesine Grande, Vice President for Research and Transfer Prof. Dr. Michael Hübner, and International Affairs Officer Prof. Dr. Michael Schmidt welcomed the guests from Baku, including Rector Prof. Dr. Vilayat Valiyev, Vice Rector for International Affairs Prof. Dr. Subhan Namazov, and Prof. Dr. Yagub Piriyev, responsible at the Ministry of Education for universities and vocational schools.
The occasion of the visit was the signing of a contract for structured student exchange in the field of engineering. On this occasion, the responsible persons exchanged views on the possibilities of establishing a double degree program in the planned BTU study program "Lightweight Construction and Materials Technology" with the Technical University of Azerbaijan (TUA).
BTU President Prof. Dr. Gesine Grande: "The new student exchange agreement will deepen and broaden cooperation between the two universities, for example to develop joint degree programs. The BTU's strengths in engineering, especially mechanical engineering, and our major projects in structural change will enrich this exchange. We look forward to future cooperation with our colleagues from Azerbaijan - in teaching and research."
The representative of the Ministry of Education was particularly interested in a joint project between the two universities: the establishment of a German-language master's degree program in mechanical engineering at the TUA with the qualification focus "Digital Product Development and Production" - supported by the DAAD with funds from the German Foreign Office. But the dual study program, which does not (yet) exist in this form in Azerbaijan, also aroused his curiosity - and so he let himself be told about the experiences of the BTU. "We hope that Azerbaijani university teachers will be able to come to Cottbus and Senftenberg in the summer to exchange ideas with their BTU colleagues in this regard," said Prof. Dr. Yagub Piriyev. "And we also hope that the first students will be able to take a language course in presence at the BTU in September."
Friendly relations between the two universities have existed since 2009, when the first cooperation agreement was signed a year later between the Azerbaijan University of Technology and the Lausitz University of Applied Sciences in Senftenberg, which merged with BTU Cottbus in 2013 to form BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. Since then, numerous joint activities in the field of teaching and research have taken place, international conferences, summer courses and workshops have been held by both universities - much of it funded by the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD or the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.
