Interview with the Major

Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava is located in Bukovina, a region in North-Eastern Romania, USV and is an innovative and comprehensive public higher education institution that organizes Bachelor, Master, Doctoral and Postdoctoral programs and conducts scientific research in the fields of Economic Sciences, Technical Sciences, Engineering and IT, Natural Sciences, Humanities and Health.

The first university in Romania in terms of number of patents and inventions over the last decade, USV plays a determinant role in the development and dissemination of scientific knowledge. Since its foundation in 1963, our university has constituted a powerful presence in a city of more than 100.000 inhabitants, decisively contributing to building a modern identity for the local community, in the geopolitical context of regional development and cross-border relations between Romania, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova.

The main objectives of Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava are in accordance with the EU policies in the fields of education and research: to train highly qualified and competent professionals to face global competition, to harmoniously shape the students’ personalities, to encourage creativity and innovation to continuously develop scientific research, to permanently assess the scientific performance of the members of the academic community, as well as to constantly improve the educational and scientific research activities with a view to structural, qualitative and economically successful integration within the European area of higher education.

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), which comprises several schools with an enduring history going back more than a century, is a public university devoted to the knowledge and practice of engineering, architecture, sciences and technology built on humanistic and social foundations. A key aspect of the UPC is its impact on its area of influence through education, research and the transfer of research results to companies. The education it offers is of a high quality and covers bachelors, masters and PhD degrees, as well as continuing education courses designed to foster lifelong learning.

The EXPLORATORI of natural resources is a project from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the Berga Town Council. The main objective of the project is to bring science closer to secondary school students, their teachers and the society in general in line with the STEAM education model. In order to achieve this goal, EXPLORATORI has organized several activities for 25 years, to engage youth in science using the methodology of learning by doing, especially in collaboration with Secondary Schools of Berguedà region.

University of Eastern Finland (UEF) is a multidisciplinary university, which offers teaching in more than 100 major subjects. We have four faculties: the Philosophical Faculty, the Faculty of Science and Forestry, the Faculty of Health Sciences, and the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies.

Our activities underscore multidisciplinarity. Our key interdisciplinary research areas are built around four global challenges. These challenges are Ageing, lifestyles and health; Learning in a digitised society; Cultural encounters, mobilities and borders; and Environmental change and sufficiency of natural resources. In addition to a high standard of teaching, we offer our students a modern study environment, which is under constant development. Student well-being is among our primary concerns.

We have extensive international relations and are involved in several international networks. Our teaching and research staff and students are active in participating in various mobility programmes. We have concluded bilateral agreements of cooperation with approximately 100 universities abroad. Furthermore, we are involved in several international networks and discipline-specific projects.

Together with our networks, we support the well-being and positive development of eastern Finland. Our goal is to be ranked among the leading 200 research universities in the world and, in the strong research areas, among the world’s leading 50 research universities.