German Embassy Cultural Section officials visit UT

On 27 August, 2019 ,  the German Embassy Cultural Section officials paid a visit to University of Tehran and met with Prof. Ghahramani, Vice President for International Affairs, University of Tehran.

German Guests:

1.  Mr.Stephan Reitze, First Secretary , Head of Cultural Section
2. Mr. Volker Redder, Head of Cultural Programs
3. Ms. Farnaz Ghorbani Monhasser , Staff Commissioned for Cultural Projects

UT In-attendees:

1. Prof. Mohammad Bagher Ghahramani, Vice President for International Affairs
2. Prof. Cyrus Zamani, Vice President for Coordination of President’s Office Affairs and Public Relations , Advisor to the Dean of College of Engineering on Int. Affairs
3. Prof. Mohammad Ali Sharifi, Department of Survey Engineering
4. Ms. Nasibeh Moradian, Expert on Int. Affairs
5. Abdolmajid Eskandari, Director General, Office of International Relations

In the beginning of the meeting, Prof. Ghahramani welcomed the German guests and explained about the scope of the past activities and collaborations between German universities and University of Tehran.

Then, Prof. Sharifi talked about an upcoming Geospatial conference 2019 which will be held in association with DLR , German universities and ISPRS at the venue of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources on 12-14 October, 2019 . He further stated that the main theme of the event focusing on agriculture, disaster management, smart cities, etc .. Prof. Sharifi also invited the German Ambassador or the Head of Cultural Section to attend the event and support it, given the fact a noticeable number of German scholars will be present in the event.

After that , Mr. Redder , expressed his happiness with being present in the meeting and explained about the activities of DAAD and its role in helping with the promotion of academic ties between University of Tehran and German universities and the scholarships or grants which might be offered to various programs.

In the continuation of the meeting, Abdolmajid Eskandari explained about the good relation of UT with German universities through various programs such as Eramsus +  DAAD, DFG , exchange of students and faculty, research stays, joint publication and the priority which is given by UT to cooperation with German universities . He also thanked Cultural Section for their support to the missions of UT professors or students and positive attitude of the embassy,  Prof, Zamani explained in details various types of previous cooperation between University of Tehran and German universities and  research institutions.  Referring to incomplete project of cooperation program with German railway , Prof. Zamani requested the German side to follow it up if possible at all.    

Afterwards, referring to a plan which had been put in the past on vocational training , Prof. Ghahramani stated that this plan could have helped the promotion of business ties between Iran and German companies and it has been discontinued and the embassy can help to renew it.

In the meeting , also Mr. Redder referred to the support of EU to cultural heritage management and explained that UT can receive the funds for such programs on cultural heritage by presenting proposals.

Mr. Stephan Reitize also expressed his readiness to collaborate with UT in further expanding cultural ties with German universities and emphasized on cultural and academic relations to reinforce bilateral ties.

Finally , both sides agreed upon the following issues in principle:

• Establishing ties between German Cultural Section and Office of Vice President for Cultural Affairs, College of Fine Arts ,….
• Using the capacities of IESTE for cooperation with German cultural section
• Strengthening further ties between Department of German Language and Literature and German Studies and Cultural Section of German Embassy
• Using the capacities of Kish International Campus  on organizing summer or winter schools and vocational training programs
• Establishing ties between Cultural Section of German Embassy and faculty members of Department of Theater and Cinema to work on German theater
• Establishing further ties between Tehran University of Medical Science and Cultural Section on medical conferences, visits , etc
• Holding joint cultural and academic conferences with the support of German Embassy-Cultural Section

At the end of the program, some small souvenirs were presented to German guests as a memory of their visit to University of Tehran.