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On Friday, Nov. 22, a delegation of Sharif University of Technology (SUT) faculty members, consisting of Dr. Ebrahim Azadegan, Head of the Philosophy of Science group, Dr. Hassan Hosseini, and Dr. Arash Abazari visited the Institute of Philosophy of Saint Petersburg University (SPBU).

They attended a workshop named “Theoretical on Applied Ethics: Traditions and Perspectives 2019”, in which Dr. Azadegan gave a lecture.

During this two-day visit, the SUT delegation met with SPBU Institute of Philosophy’s officials, Dr. Sergey Dudnik & Dr. Tigran Tumanian, where they discussed the establishment of joint master’s degree program in philosophy, holding joint summer and winter schools, and student and faculty mobility programs in philosophy.

It is worth mentioning that SUT and SPBU have signed an MoU in 2018 which has been implemented in terms of student/faculty mobility, joint research initiatives, and summer school programs.

On Nov. 12, a delegation from the All-Russian Institute of Aviation Materials visited Sharif University of Technology (SUT) and had a meeting with some of our faculty members.

The Russian delegations first visited Sharif Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Then they went to the International Affairs office for a meeting.

Present in the meeting were Dr. Nayebi, SUT Russia coordinator, Dr. Kordkheili from Aerospace engineering, Dr. Ramazani from Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, and Dr. Pourjavadi, from the Chemistry department. The Russian delegation consisted of Mr. Viacheslav Zheleznyak, Ms. Anna Gunyaeva, Mr. Anton Sorokin, and Mr. Valerii Startsev.

The meeting began with Dr. Nayebi presenting Sharif University of Technology and discussing its key strengths. Then, Dr. Kordkheili, Ramazani, and Pourjavadi each talked about their respective departments. After that, Mr. Zheleznyak started presenting his institute.

During the meeting, both sides explored ways of future collaborations and had a discussion on how to prepare a proposal for a joint project, funded by INSF–RFBR.

It should be mentioned that SUT has multiple forms of agreements with different Russian institutes, such as a joint research agreement with Saint Petersburg State University and a student exchange program with ITMO University.

Mr. Zheleznyak’s presentation is available here.

On Sunday, Oct. 06, in step with the “World Space Week,” Sharif University of Technology hosted two former Russian cosmonauts, Talgat Musabayev & Anatoli Artsebarsky, where they revisit their great experience in space and then held a Q&A section.

Mr. Talgat Musabayev has spent about 340 days in space and has logged more than 41 hours of EVAs (Extravehicular activity). He currently serves as the head of Kazakhstan’s National Space Agency, KazCosmos.

Mr. Anatoly Pavlovich Artsebarsky became a cosmonaut in 1985 and has spent more than 140 days in the Mir space station.

It should be mentioned that before the start of the event, “ShadX New Horizon” student team, who hosted the program and was awarded the second position at the “AIAA: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics” international contest, Jul. 2019, explained their winning design to the cosmonauts.

On Sep. 16, Dr. Sepehri, a faculty member of Sharif Graduate School of Management and Economics (GSME) visited Tyumen, Russia. He was invited there to hold a workshop at Tyumen industrial University on “Mixed-research Methods” and “Contract Engineering” for about a week.

Dr. Sepehri was received warmly in the cold weather of Siberia, and as an ambassador of Sharif University of Technology, he discussed the strengths of Sharif with the officials of Tyumen Industrial University. Both sides agreed about future research and educational collaborations.

Dr. Sepehri was invited on Wednesday, Sep. 18, to attend a ceremony to co-sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the governor of Tyumen.

On Thursday, Sept. 19, Dr. Sepehri was invited as a key speaker in an oil and gas forum in Moscow to deliver a lecture on “Megatrends and Future Professional”.

It is worth mentioning that the region of Tyumen has vast reservoirs of oil and the Tyumen industrial University, is one of the best academic institutions of the region in Petroleum Engineering for more than 60 years.

On Monday, Aug. 26, 2019, Prof. Parastar Shahri, Director of Public Relations of Sharif University of Technology, visited Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (MUCTR). There, he had a meeting with Dr. Tatyana G. Guseva, Vice-Rector for Strategic Development and Mr. Ilya V. Shlykov, Deputy Head of the Office of International Projects and Programs.

During the event, the officials of both sides discussed the strengths of their institutions and explored various ways of collaborations between them. In the end, an MoU was signed by both sides to mark the beginning of the joint academic cooperations of Sharif University of Technology and Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia (MUCTR).

On Monday, Dec. 17, 2018, Mr. Gerard Seeber & Ms. Elin Aryan from the Australian Embassy in Iran visited Sharif and had a meeting at the International Affairs Office with Dr. Arash Simchi, Director of International Affairs Office, and IA Office’s specialist, Mr. Pooria Soltani.

During the meeting, Mr. Seeber briefly talked about his new position as Commissioner of the Victorian Government, Trade and Investment in the Middle East. He also expressed his desire to strengthen the academic ties between the universities of Monash & Melbourne with Sharif University of Technology.

Dr. Simchi then shared his views on the subject, mainly that any agreement between universities should have specific steps toward each type of collaboration such as dual degree programs and faculty sabbaticals. He stressed that MoUs without a definite plan, are rarely implemented and have no value.

In the end, both parties agreed to follow up the matter until they reach satisfactory agreements.

It is worth mentioning that SUT currently has signed MoUs with four universities in Australia, including the University of Sydney, Curtin University, Melbourne University, and Macquarie University, the last two of which are implemented in terms of establishing a joint water research center and Ph.D. dual degree programs, respectively.

Sharif International Affairs Office successfully held the “2^nd seminar on Internationalization of Higher Education” on Thursday, Dec. 13, 2018.

The event, to which attended more than a hundred professors and specialists, consisting of university presidents, directors of international affairs, ministry officials, and international speakers, included speeches on several topics on the main themes of the seminar which are listed below:

• Sharing Best Practices in Internationalization of Higher Education
• Quality Assurance in Learning, Research, and Outreach in the Global Interest
• Monitoring Current Trends in Internationalization of Higher Education
• Establishing a Road Map for Internationalization of Higher Education
• 5/200 Program: Promoting International Visibility and Ranking of 5 Top Iranian Universities and Research Institutes

In addition to lectures from experts, three panels were held to discuss specific issues in the internationalization of higher education such as University Ranking and Accreditation, Economic Perspectives, International Student Recruitment, and International Research and Industrial Collaborations.

The full agenda of the seminar could be found here.

The statue of Iranian Alumni of Chinese Universities Association discussed at Sharif.

On Saturday, Nov. 17, 2018, a group of five Iranian graduates from Chinese universities gathered together in the International Affairs Office, along with Dr. Yoosef Hojjat, former Scientific Attaché of Iran Embassy in China to discuss the newly written draft of the statue of Iranian Alumni of Chinese Universities Association. Also present were Dr. Khalaj from Sharif Electrical Engineering Department and Mr. Pooria Soltani from IA office, both of whom handle Sharif’s international relations with China.

There was first a brief introduction and a quick presentation of Sharif University of Technology’s efforts as the Iran-China Academic Collaboration Leading House. The guests then discussed various points of the draft of the statue, such as gathering Iranian students’ information and the time period between regular meetings of the members. Agreements were made on nearly all of the clauses, at which point the group thanked Sharif University’s hospitality and departed.

It is worth mentioning that Sharif University of Technology has been appointed as the Iran-China Academic Collaboration Leading House by the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology, late 2017.