TH-Wildau - News
Successful model of European cooperation: collaboration between TH Wildau and UCTM Sofia
International university cooperation is an integral part of teaching and research at TH Wildau. There is a long-standing close partnership with UCTM in Sofia, which is characterised above all by regular student and staff mobility. The cooperation is to be substantially expanded through joint projects with industry on the one hand and with other partner universities from the Western Balkans region on the other.
For more than 25 years, the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau (TH Wildau) and the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy (UCTM) in Sofia have maintained a close academic partnership – with specific scientific projects, lively mobility of students and teachers, and demonstrable significance for securing skilled workers in the region.
‘The partnership between TH Wildau and UCTM is based on trust, long-term academic interaction and real results. It is strategically important for the internationalisation of our university and for the career prospects of our students,’ emphasises Prof. Senia Terzieva, Rector of UCTM.
‘The cooperation with UCTM not only gives us valuable access to young talent, but also forms the basis for joint work on relevant future topics such as green technologies, sustainable production and the circular economy,’ explains Prof. Michael Herzog from TH Wildau, who also serves as an honorary professor at UCTM.
UCTM lecturers are regularly invited to the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau to participate in research projects and give guest lectures as part of the Erasmus programme. Ten cooperative doctoral theses have now been successfully defended. The majority of young academics now live in the Berlin metropolitan region and work in research institutions or companies. In Bulgaria, the proportion of women in engineering and natural sciences is above the EU average. This diversity of qualified specialists represents valuable potential for competitiveness.
At the beginning of July 2025, three scientists from the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau travelled to Sofia again, held courses at the UCTM and agreed on new research projects. Among them was Prof. Christian Dreyer, Professor of Fibre Composite Material Technologies at TH Wildau and Head of University Cooperation at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP), who was visiting the partner university for the first time.
‘It was a great pleasure for me to travel to Sofia for the first time recently. The way the exchange with UCTM has developed over the past few years is truly impressive. This makes me all the more positive about the future, and I am excited to see how we will modernise and jointly shape research and teaching in the future,’ said Dreyer.
The partnership between TH Wildau and UCTM exemplifies the opportunities and added value of international university cooperation and serves as a model for the exchange with the University of Montenegro, which will start in October 2025.
Further information
Information on international partnerships at TH Wildau: https://en.th-wildau.de/university/central-facilities/centre-for-international-affairs/international-office/international-partner-universities
Contact at TH Wildau:
Prof. Michael Herzog
TH Wildau, Hochschulring 1, 15745 Wildau
Phone: +49 (0)3375 508 332
E-mail: michael.herzog(at)th-wildau.de
Contact persons External Communication at TH Wildau:
Mike Lange / Mareike Rammelt
TH Wildau
Hochschulring 1, 15745 Wildau
Phone +49 (0)3375 508 211 / -669
Email: presse(at)th-wildau.de
