Cooperation with local industry has been one of the UBT – Higher Education Institution’s strengths, while departments across the UBT have established their partners in their study focus. In this context, teaching staff at the Program comprises a significantly large number of people of an academic background, with a number of them currently working in sectors of industry. Although UBT is able to manage the whole teaching and research process with its local staff, the Program will be supported by 2 international staff, and this is in line with Institution’s strategy for international cooperation. Within the Erasmus+ projects, UBT – Higher Education Institution consistently involves industrial stakeholders in joint projects. UBT – Higher Education Institution benefits from strong partnerships with international project teams to apply internationally, including those from Germany, Czech Republic, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria etc.
Furthermore, in the context of our research priorities and our role as a catalyst for development, the program will focus on building further alliances with key external stakeholders. The stakeholders include national and international research centers, government and funding agencies, and industry partnerships, etc. In keeping with emerging approaches internationally, knowledge transfer is defined by the Program as an ‘engagement’ with a diverse range of public and private organizations in a two-way, mutually beneficial process. Clear structures and processes to manage knowledge transfer in an increasingly complex and changing environment; A more strategic approach to knowledge transfer and external partnership management in order to maximize the full potential of activities; Strengthening management information systems to track, support and monitor the engagement with external organizations; An appropriate culture supporting responsiveness to external drivers and active engagement. The objective is to foster staff development programs to enable and incentivize staff to engage in the creation and transfer of knowledge. These issues have led the Program to create strategic themes for knowledge transfer.