A strong part­ner­ship between UTC and UPT-Tiraná began in 2008. Over the years, there has been a high lev­el of stu­dent mobil­i­ty from UPT to UTC, on aver­age two per year, at the ini­tia­tive of Pro­fes­sor Dri­tan Nace.

An ini­tial dou­ble degree agree­ment for a Mas­ter’s degree in com­put­er sci­ence and elec­tron­ics was con­clud­ed in 2019. It allows Alban­ian UPT stu­dents enrolled in a Mas­ter’s degree in Com­put­er Engi­neer­ing or Elec­tron­ic Engi­neer­ing to con­tin­ue the sec­ond year of their Mas­ter’s degree at UTC. “Since 2019, we have been wel­comed five stu­dents every year at UTC on a dou­ble Mas­ter’s degree (Eras­mus+ project fund­ing). These stu­dents have an excel­lent aca­d­e­m­ic lev­el and are achiev­ing remark­able results at UTC. In 2022, the col­lab­o­ra­tion con­tin­ued with a sec­ond agree­ment for a relo­cat­ed dou­ble Mas­ter’s degree, where, this time, UTC and its teach­ers deliv­er the Mas­ter’s cours­es on the premis­es of UPT. This course, which includes a semes­ter of work expe­ri­ence, was inau­gu­rat­ed by Pres­i­dent Claire Rossi in Octo­ber 2023 in Tirana. There were 14 stu­dents recruit­ed for this course in its first year. This year, there are 25 Alban­ian stu­dents who will grad­u­ate at the end of the 2024–2025 aca­d­e­m­ic year,” empha­sizes Joan­na Daaboul, Direc­tor of Inter­na­tion­al Rela­tions at UTC.

Transfer of the innovative model from UTC to UPT-Tirana

Among the many projects in progress is the UTEAM/ UTC-UPT coop­er­a­tion project designed to help UPT set up a struc­ture for man­ag­ing indus­tri­al rela­tions. “The aim of this project is to pass on UTC’s know-how, via UTEAM, in the cre­ation and man­age­ment of cen­tres for the pro­mo­tion of research and a uni­ver­si­ty’s rela­tions with the indus­tri­al world. We also have plans to set up a branch of UTC in Tiraná, on the UPT premis­es, with the intro­duc­tion of a Bach­e­lor’s degree in engi­neer­ing to com­ple­ment the exist­ing Mas­ter’s degree, announces Joan­na Daaboul. This will mark the cul­mi­na­tion of the col­lab­o­ra­tion. The broad out­lines of the project will fol­low the mod­el of UTSEUS, the Sino-French uni­ver­si­ty of engi­neer­ing in Shang­hai, found­ed in 2005, shared by the uni­ver­si­ties of tech­nol­o­gy (UTBM, UTC, UTT) and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Shanghai.”

Ministerial visit to UTC

Oger­ta Man­a­s­tir­liu, the Alban­ian Min­is­ter of Edu­ca­tion and Sport, vis­it­ed UTC on Novem­ber 15, 2024. This event marked a sig­nif­i­cant step in the devel­op­ment of aca­d­e­m­ic and insti­tu­tion­al rela­tions between UTC, the Poly­tech­nic Uni­ver­si­ty of Tiraná (UPT) and the Alban­ian gov­ern­ment. Dur­ing her vis­it, the Min­is­ter had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­cov­er the facil­i­ties of the UTC and to meet Prof. Claire Rossi, Pres­i­dent, Vice Chan­cel­lor and Direc­tor, as well as sev­er­al mem­bers of the teach­ing staff. Among the per­son­al­i­ties present were Dri­tan Tola, Alban­ian Ambas­sador to France and Val­bona Nano, rep­re­sen­ta­tive of the French Embassy in Tirana and the rec­tor of UPT-Tirana, Dr. Akli Fun­do. It pro­vid­ed an excel­lent oppor­tu­ni­ty to dis­cuss inter­na­tion­al part­ner­ships focused on inter­dis­ci­pli­nar­i­ty and the strength­en­ing of links between ped­a­gogy, research and the socio-eco­nom­ic world, but also to sign a let­ter of com­mit­ment and intent, for­mal­iz­ing the joint desire to cre­ate a cam­pus of UTC in Tirana. This ambi­tious project aims to strength­en aca­d­e­m­ic exchanges and offer new learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties to Alban­ian and French stu­dents, while pro­mot­ing inter­na­tion­al coop­er­a­tion in the field of edu­ca­tion and research.

KD