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Professor Fotuhi, President of Sharif University of Technology, signed a trilateral MoU with Port and Maritime Organization (PMO) of Iran and World Maritime University (WMU) on 16 December. Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, President of WMU, and Mr. Mohammad Saeednejad, Vice-Minister of Roads and Urban Development and Managing Director of the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran were the representatives of the above-mentioned institutions. A high ranking delegation from SUT, including Dr. Movaghar, Dean of International Affairs Office, and Dr. Isaai, Chairman of the Graduate School of Management and Economics, were also present at the meeting.

This MoU paves the way for future collaborations between SUT, PMO of Iran, and WMU. The main focus of this MoU is on delivering a Professional Development Program in Iran to meet the needs and priorities of PMO and other maritime stakeholders, with a joint degree of SUT and WMU. Furthermore, cooperation in WMU’s M.Sc. program in Maritime Affairs is also stressed in the MoU in the following areas: Port Management, Maritime Safety, Environmental Administration, Shipping Management and Logistics.

A meeting was held at Sharif University Presidential Office on December 19, 2016 with the presence of professor Movaghar, the Head of International Affairs Office of SUT and a high ranking delegation from Economic Development Innovation Singapore (EDIS). After a brief introduction of SUT by professor Movaghar, Mr. Philip YEO, the Chairman of EDIS, explained that they are working on innovation centers and technology parks. He also added that in this regard, they are happy to cooperate with Sharif. Dr. Karimian Eghbal, the Chairman of the board of Vision Consulting Group, who was accompanying the delegation, mentioned that Sharif is pioneer in the field of accelerators and innovation and has the greatest number of cooperation with the industry among universities in Iran. For this reason, the cooperation of SUT and EDIS would be a wise choice for both parties.

A meeting was held on December 14, 2016 at Sharif University Presidential Office with the Ambassador of India, Mr. Saurabh Kumar. In this meeting Professor Fotuhi, the President of Sharif University of Technology, was also present. After a brief introduction of SUT, Dr. Fotuhi suggested that the collaboration between SUT and the Indian Institutes of Technology should be followed up as soon as possible. The Ambassador stated that they are eager to hold at least 10 joint projects and 2-3 workshops each year for the students and faculty members of both SUT and the IITs. He also informed the members of the meeting that a workshop for faculty members and professors will be held in IIT Delhi in February and that could act as a starting point for future collaborations. Mr. Kumar further added that in general the Indian government is eager to develop more economic ties with Iran and that there is political desires for both countries to progress in their relations. Following this meeting, for the first time in an Iranian University, SUT also hosted the Ambassador of Ecuador, Dr. German Ortega. The President of SUT suggested that joint degree and graduate programs be held between both countries. He also added that sabbaticals for PhD students would be a good basis for future collaboration and relations could grow from there. Dr. Ortega showed great enthusiasm for some sort of joint programs to be followed up and put into effect. He also showed concern regarding courses being taught in the  Farsi language and was informed that for undergraduate programs the University has a campus on Kish Island where all lessons are taught in English, and for post-graduate programs, which mainly involve research, language is not really an issue at all. Faculty members and students speak fluent English. Dr. Otega also stated that the objective of the government is to improve their universities’ rankings through international collaboration with other universities and explained how the higher education system works in Ecuador. The meeting ended with both parties agreeing to further their collaborations with each other.

A delegation from French academy visited Sharif on December 13, 2016. The meeting was held at Sharif University Presidential Office. After a brief presentation of SUT by professor Fotouhi, the president of Sharif University of Technology, each member of the delegation had a quick introduction of his/her university and institute.  Dr. Clement, ministry advisor of national educational ministry, mentioned that in the field of training, education and research, their ministry would be happy to cooperate with Sharif. Dr. Dumasy, president of Grenoble University, focused on the long cooperation with SUT and said that Grenoble University, which has 4500 students, 25 faculties and 18 research labs, is very pleased to develop the MoU with Sharif. Dr. Le Gall, director of Polytech University of Nantes, explained that they have 8 engineering deptartments, such as electronic and numerical technology, civil engineering, electrical engineering, computer sciences, material sciences, energy sciences, etc. After that, Dr. Bone, director of Ecoled’ingenieurs de Brest ENIB mentioned that their university has many fields such as mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. Moreover, they are looking forward having exchange programs with Sharif. Dr. Bigue, director of Ecole Nationale Superieure d’ingenieurs Sued Alasace (ENSISA) stated that they have 5 departments which are industry, mechanical, electrical, computer, and textile engineering departments. Furthermore, Dr. Bigue asserted that they are happy to have student and faculty exchange with Sharif. Dr. Zolver, Vice President of international affairs office of Centrale Supelec who was also coming on behalf of Paris Sac Lay University, proceeded the meeting by mentioning that their school consists of information, energy, and system engineering departments. Following the meeting, Mr. Fouillard, Grenoble ecole de management, asserted that their school is working on innovation environment for about 35 years, and they are trying to transform it to something useful in the market. For this reason, they are cooperating with engineering institutes and universities. Afterward, Dr. Siadat from ENSAM added that the agreement between ENSAM and Sharif has been signed yesterday in the field of master/PhD double degrees. Finally, Dr. Bert, director of international relation, ecole des ponts, added that as a business school and MBA executive they started cooperation with Sharif.

A delegation from 3 main universities of New Zealand visited Sharif University of Technology on Sunday December 4th. The delegation was hosted by Prof. Movaghar, Dean of the office of International Affairs and several faculty members from Sharif University of Technology. The meeting took place at the International Affairs’ office. During the meeting, first Dr. Movaghar introduced Sharif University of Technology. Then Dr. Akbar Ghobakhlou from Auckland University of Technology, Dr. Soroush Safaei from University of Auckland, and Dr. Peyman Zawar-Reza from University of Canterbury presented their respective universities and departments. An open floor discussion followed the introductions.

During the meeting, Mr. John Laxon, the regional director for Middle East of Education New Zealand mentioned that at the last meeting in April, an agreement was made so that we needed to have academic to academic discussions. He also mentioned that they feel this is the best way to get to working with and discussion of what practical collaboration opportunities maybe worth pursuing. Both parts should work through some of the practical needs from both sides and identify a few projects to move forward because from New Zealand government’s viewpoint, it is desirable to collaborate with a prestigious and well-known university such as Sharif.

Prof. Movaghar mentioned that to summarize the areas of mutual interest, the environmental issues, resiliency, disaster management, and earth quake are of high interest for both sides. Research collaborations as well as joint programs, degree based or certificate based programs in resiliency and disaster management are another high priority subject. Sabbaticals for doctoral students and faculty members are also of benefit to both sides.

The delegation left Sharif after making a visit to the Civil Engineering department and their laboratories and facilities.

On 9 November 2016, Prof. Tony Chan, President of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology visited Sharif University of Technology. The meeting took place in the President’s office. Prof. Fotuhi, President of the University, Prof. Movaghar, Head of the International Affairs Office, Head of the Graduate School and Chair of the Graduate School of Management and Economics were amongst the participants.

During the meeting and after a brief introduction of Sharif by Prof. Fotuhi, Prof. Chan introduced the HKUST. Dr. Massoumian from the International Affairs Office gave a presentation regarding the entrepreneurship environment in Iran and especially in Sharif. The untapped market of Iran is a strong motive for joint industrial partnership between the two universities.

Prof. Khalaj, Director of the Dual Degree program between the SUT and HKUST, presented what the previously planned Dual Degree program had achieved. This was only limited to certain fields and has faced a fair share of challenges. Prof. Khalaj proposed to expand the program as in the end the results had been successful and encouraging.

An open floor discussion started between the participants to understand the possible fields and areas of collaborations that may be looked into. In this regard, Prof. Chan agreed with Prof. Fotuhi’s idea on joint research internship programs for undergraduate students. He then expressed his inclination towards providing sabbatical leaves for faculty members as well as expanding the Dual Degree program as it will make the bond between the two universities stronger. Promoting executive education and business studies was also discussed and will be followed up by the two universities.

On November 6^th, a delegation consisting of the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Vice Chancellor, and a few other senior managers of University Putra Malaysia (UPM) visited Sharif University of Technology. The delegation was hosted in the President’s office by Prof. Fotuhi, President of the University, Prof. Movaghar, Head of the International Affairs Office, and Heads of the Industrial Relations Office, Graduate School and International Students Office of Sharif.

During the meeting and after a brief introduction of the achievements and vision of Sharif in the upcoming years by Prof. Fotuhi, Prof. Aini Ideris, Vice Chancellor of the UPM introduced this university. UPM is a comprehensive university in Malaysia and is currently ranked 270 in the QS ranking. This university has a very strong international profile and collaboration with different institutes around the world.

An open floor discussion started between the participants to understand the possible fields and areas the collaborations may proceed. In this regard, it was mentioned that UPM is inclined to establish further strong collaborations with Sharif. Joint Post Graduate and Post-Doctoral programs is of interest to both parties. In this meeting, Sharif University of Technology also expressed the possibility of collaborations in the industrial sections as Joint Industrial programs, mainly in cooperation with the Sharif Technology Services Complex. This was a very new suggestion to UPM as they expressed much interest in further pursuing such programs.

After this meeting, the delegation was hosted for lunch. Visits to different parts of the Sharif Technology Services Complex were performed where activities and achievements of this complex was presented.