UCA hosts one-week study visit for HERD partner university representatives

From 28th of May UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne (France), one of the project's international partners, hosted a week-long study visit to HERD representatives. Representative of the Ministry of Education and Science ofGeorgia, Mindia Okujava – deputy head of the  Division of Science and Technology of the Science Development Department also participated into the study visit. The Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA) was created on January 1st 2017, from the merging of the Université Blaise Pascal and Université d’Auvergne. With 35.000 students, including 4.600 (13%) international ones, and 3.300 staff, UCA plays a key role in the territorial structuration and the building of a European level region. Its 20 Faculties and 5 DoctoraI Schools offer more than 170 training programs. UCA strongly supports a wide range of European and international exchanges, through study grants, joint degrees, co-supervised theses and collaborative research. UCA has further started some years ago to develop its international cooperation more effectively, e.g. through its involvement in several Leonardo and Tempus projects, and it is pursuing this effort through various projects in the new Erasmus+ and Horizon2020 programs. UCA is located in the Auvergne region, which combines rural areas with a wide range of industries, from SMEs to international groups, some of them having their headquarters in Auvergne (Michelin or Limagrain). UCA has long ago chosen to open up to society in general. Its national diplomas can be obtained through either initial or continuing education programs; specific training and facilities are proposed to a non-student public, in connection with the social and institutional local surroundings. UCA also hosts thirty-one laboratories and research teams, is committed to several laboratories of excellence, regional clusters and competitiveness centers, and takes part in a lot of prestigious projects including research, innovation and high-technology. The new university and its regional partners has just been awarded (Feb 2017) an I-Site label, namely "Program Investing for the Future 2" which integrates engineering schools, industry and research laboratories in one of 12 major poles of research in France.