András Nemeslaki, vice rector for international affairs at BME, and Attila Aszódi, dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, recently visited the Silesian University of Technology (Politechnika Slaska in Polish) in Gliwice to discuss cooperation between the two institutions.

“We have had a long-standing relationship with the Silesian university, but it has not been active recently. Now they approached us because Poland had started its own nuclear energy program and want to launch new courses related to this. They are counting on the cooperation of the BME Institute of Nuclear Technology,” András Nemeslaki told bme.hu.

This basically means that students will come to BME to study and teachers will come for trainings. SUT very much needs the knowledge available at BME, not only in the field of engineering, but also in nuclear technology management. “During the discussions, we came to the conclusion that cooperation could be of interest to both parties, so we signed an agreement,” said the vice-rector.

SUT is one of 10 higher education institutions in Poland that receive significant state support as research universities. What is more, it is relatively close, not more than a six-hour drive from Budapest.

“Energy security is a key issue in the region, and nuclear energy will play a major role in it, so a closer partnership is justified in every respect,”

explained Mr Nemeslaki.

Vice-Rector for Education Anna Chrobok, Rector Marek Pawelczyk, András Nemeslaki and Attila Aszódi

He added that they had also seen interesting developments at the Gliwice campus that are worth considering for BME. For example, the money allocated to research universities was used to establish a student science center at SUT, where students can work on projects in various laboratories, either independently or under guidance. “It was also instructive to see how the training structure of a university that used to meet the needs of the surrounding mining region, is changing.”

Rector’s Office, Communications Directorate
photos: Maciej Mutwil