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Maryam Mirzakahni, the first woman to win the Fields Medal in Mathematics, passed away on July 15, 2017. Mirzakhani was a graduate of SUT’s Department of Mathematics. At the time of her death, she was the professor of Mathematics at Stanford University.

In separate letters of condolence, Dr. Rouhani, President of Iran, Dr. Farhadi, Minister of Science, Higher Education, and Research, and Dr. Fotuhi, President of SUT, offered their condolences on the untimely death of Prof. Mirzakhani to her family and Iran’s academic society.

A delegation consisting of students and professors from Tsinghua University, China, visited Sharif on July 15, 2017. Professor Hu Yu, Head of Journalism and Communication Department of Tsinghua University, led the delegation. The other members of the delegation were graduate and undergraduate students who were interested in the expansion of cooperation with Iran from different angles- both from engineering perspective and humanities perspective.

The delegation visited SUT’s Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and also Sharif Technology Services Complex. They also had a meeting with several professors and officials of SUT- including Dr. Ghofrani, Head of Energy Engineering Department, Dr. Khalaj, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Dr. Massoumian, International Affairs Consultant, Dr. Behzadipour, Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Department, Dr. Hajizadeh, Professor at the Graduate School of Management and Economics, and Dr. Fatemi, Professor at the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department.

During the meeting, after a brief introduction of SUT by Dr. Massoumian, Dr. Ghofrani gave a lecture entitled an overview of higher education in Iran with focus on Sharif University. On the other side, Mr. Zhao Chuang, introduced Tsinghua University to the participants. The parties also discussed the phenomenon of brain drain which besets both countries and proposed their solutions.  Finally, both parties expressed their hope that this visit can lead to a fruitful collaboration between the universities in the near future.

This Chinese delegation had also visited Kashan, Isfahan, and Shiraz during the previous days. It is worth mentioning that Tsinghua University is the best university in China and is ranked 24^th in 2017 according to QS rankings. Moreover, SUT’s current active engagements with China are collaboration with Shanghai University in China and HKUST in Hong Kong.

In a meeting that was held on July 9, 2017 at SUT’s presidential office, Mr. Polendakov, Ambassador of Bulgaria in Iran came to Sharif. Dr. Fotuhi, President of SUT, Dr. Movaghar, Dean of International Affairs, Dr. Massoumian, International Affairs Consultant, and Dr. Khalaj, Professor at Electrical Engineering Department, received  Mr. Polendakov.

After a brief presentation of SUT, the parties discussed the potential lines of cooperation between Sharif and Bulgaria. On behalf of Bulgarian universities, Mr. Polendakov said that these universities are more than willing to have active collaboration with Iranian universities, especially SUT which is famous as the MIT of Iran. The active collaborations of SUT with the members of the European Union, which is about 50% of collaborations in terms of MoUs, Dual Degree Program, Joint Publications, and Faculty Exchange were also discussed in the meeting. As
Dr. Fotuhi put it, the statistics show that the EU has become the most important strategic partner of SUT during the past decade or so.

It is worth mentioning that from the next January, Bulgaria will hold the presidency of the Council of the EU for 6 months. Moreover, the rector of Varna University of Management, Bulgaria visited SUT last week; a meeting which is going to be followed up in terms of signing an MoU between the universities in a near future.

In a meeting that was held on July 5, 2017 at SUT’s International Affairs Office, Professor Todor Radev, Rector of the Varna University of Management visited Sharif. In this meeting, Dr. Movaghar, Dean of International Affairs Office,  Dr Sepehri, Professor at the Graduate School of Management and Economics, and Dr. Massoumian, International Affairs Consultant, played host to Dr. Radev.

During the meeting, both sides gave a presentation of their respective universities. The parties also discussed the formation of joint degree programs for hospitality and tourism management at SUT’s International Campus on Kish Island. Further, dual degree programs in MBA and joint projects in entrepreneurship were also discussed by the parties.  

It is worth mentioning that Varna University of Management is one of the best universities in the field of hospitality and tourism management. This university is also very active in international engagements, including student and faculty mobility programs. Moreover, several world-class international journals on tourism management, for example European Journal of Tourism Research, is published by this university. Varna University works in close connection with the best of the tourism industry, as a result of which its students can enjoy internship programs in, say, the best restaurants of Europe.

A high ranking delegation led by Dr. Anne Dreier, Rector of FHM, visited SUT on May 18, 2017. Dr. Dreier was accompanied by Dr. Wittberg, Head of R&D and Doctoral Programs, Dr. Merk, Managing Director of FHM, Mr. Plueschke, Head of FHM-Shwerin Campus, and Dr. Doost Mohammadian, Representative and Iran Project Leader of FHM . On the other side, Dr. Raschtchian, Vice-President of Education, Dr. Movaghar, Dean of International Affairs, Dr. Massoumian, International Affairs Consultant, Dr. Ghafari, President of SUT’s Kish Campus, Dr. Sarbazi-Azad, Professor at Computer Engineering Department, and Dr. Khoei, Dean of Research and Education of SUT’s International Campus on Kish Island, hosted the German delegation.
After a brief introduction of SUT by Dr. Massoumian, Dr. Dreier introduced FHM and its activities to the participants. As she put it, FHM (Fachhochschule des Mittelstands) (University of Applies Sciences for Middle-Sized Companies) is a young university working in close connection with middle-sized companies in Germany. She added that FHM is pioneer in the field of hotel and tourism management. Moreover, the programs offered by FHM are mostly focused on management and economics. She also pointed out that FHM already has established successful joint degree programs with several universities in UK and China. Dr. Dreier mentioned that Iran has a huge potential for tourism and, for this reason, FHM is more than willing to cooperate with Sharif in this regard. Following the meeting, Dr. Movaghar focused on the serious issue of unemployment in Iran and said that Sharif is keen on making use of Germany’s experience in entrepreneurship. He continued that Sharif has the best graduate school of management and economics in the country and for this reason the cooperation of FHM and SUT would no doubt be mutually beneficial.

Finally, the parties decided to embrace three models of cooperation; 1. joint degree programs in hotel and tourism management in Sharif’s International campus on Kish island, 2. Cooperation on fostering entrepreneurship in Iran, 3. Joint projects; specifically, in the field of sustainability. FHM was also invited to participate in Sharif-Bosch Conference which will be held in the next January in Kish Island. The main topics of this conference are energy, personalized medicine, and environment.