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Description
The academic environment is a place where knowledge and information is shared and debated among motivated individuals with common interests. The problems of the modern world are here analysed, and innovative and sustainable solutions are sought. The burning issues at present are environmental and energy related issues, with academics and authorities worldwide seeking solutions to reducing waste and producing green energy. This project is seen as an extension of the inter-institutional cooperation in higher education between the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca and other European universities, meant to bring challenging teaching-learning opportunities to academic staff and students alike. This project, envisaging cooperation between our university and two Norwegian universities (Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim and Osfold University College in Halden), is regarded as an opportunity to improve cooperation with the Norwegian academic environment to which access is a bit more challenging. The project proposes an exchange of academic staff and students between two Norwegian universities: the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and Ostfold University College, on the one hand, and the Project promoter on the other. We consider that the extended experience of our Norwegian partners will greatly impact Romanian participants in terms of their study, training and research activities, while also impacting their awareness regarding field-specific issues, and providing high scientific insight to both students and academic staff. The two Norwegian partners will facilitate the access of their Romanian counterparts (staff, as well as students) to the laboratory infrastructure and will coordinate research in the fields of interest. Participating students will have the opportunity to work at a high level in the fields of interest.
Summary of project results
The cooperation in the framework of this project was regarded as an opportunity to improve our relations with the Norwegian academic environment, and thus facilitate the exchange of know-how and expertise in the fields of Food Processing, Environmental Sciences and Energy, and possibly beyond these fields. We thus implemented two student mobilities for placement, and sent six staff members for training and/or teaching mobilities to the partner universities. More specifically, we organized a teaching mobility and a training mobility to NTNU, while the other four staff members went in mobility to HIOF. Of these, two went on a two-week training mobility, while the other two went on a one-week training mobility and a one-week teaching mobility respectively. It being a mobility project, all the information, knowledge, and know-how exchanged with their peers during these mobility periods impacted their teaching style, their approach of their subject matter and the manner in which information is delivered to students, and in the long-run, this experience will impact their career and job satisfaction. These mobilities have materialized with one scientific article which is currently under evaluation for publication in a ISI-Q1 journal, and a new project submitted in a consortium of 7 HEIs and 8 companies. The students had the opportunity to experience a different learning environment and thus broaden their minds in their field of study. An aspect which is not to be neglected is the cultural experience and the opportunity for personal development which a mobility in a novel environment can offer. In the long-run, a student who has been in a mobility abroad, has improved his knowledge and skills and their communication skills in a foreign language, and consequently has better employment opportunities and greater chances of finding a rewarding job.
Summary of bilateral results
Since it was a mobility project, the activities could only be carried out under a bilateral agreement. Having partners form Norway, we offered our students and staff members the possibility to get a glimpse into the educational system of this particular donor country, experience the teaching-learning process as it is carried out in this country and thus improve their own teaching-learning style, while at the same time providing them with the chance to experience the Norwegian culture hands-on. Not surprisingly, the students and staff members who benefitted from these mobilities also acted as emissaries of our culture and our educational system in the donor country. Thus these activities contributed to a better mutual understanding, improved knowledge in terms of both the cultural aspects of the two countries involved in the project and the field-specific knowledge of the participants. Moreover, the project has materialized with one scientific article which is currently under evaluation for publication in an ISI-Q1 journal, an increased interest in mobility projects which resulted in a new application for another mobility project under the new call, as well as concrete plans for continuing the collaboration under the framework of a research project submitted under the "Driving Urban Transitions" Call 2022.