Schmalkalden University maintains around 200 partnerships with universities worldwide. But none is like this one: For 50 years now, Schmalkalden University of Applied Sciences and Kauno Technikos Kolegija have been linked by a long-standing friendly partnership and scientific cooperation. It is the oldest partnership that Schmalkalden University has maintained abroad.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary, a ceremony was held yesterday evening in the auditorium. A seven-member delegation led by Director Dr. Lina Girdauskiene is currently staying in Schmalkalden. This university cooperation is rightly considered number one, said university president Prof. Gundolf Baier in his welcoming speech. "Such a historic event can find no better place than the auditorium," Baier said.
Prof. Roy Knechtel led the entertaining evening. Former professors and rectors of the university were invited as speakers, including Prof. Nobert Krah, Prof. Jürgen Müller and Prof. Elmar Heinemann. They all actively lived and promoted the exchange. The first student exchange took place in 1974 with ten students. "We boarded the night train to Leningrad, now Saint Petersburg, and were picked up in Vilnius and taken to Kaunas," said Prof. Nobert Krah. "We were received with such warmth and cordiality - this was just great." In addition to the professional exchange, excursions to the region to Trakai or Memel were always on the agenda. Prof. Jürgen Müller and Prof. Elmar Heinemann also knew about this. "You met people who were like family," Heinemann recounts. He was in Kaunas a total of seventeen times, of which the 95th anniversary of Kaunas University was a highlight. All the speakers agreed that this was a great partnership that definitely needs to be continued. But the Faculty of Electrical Engineering is already working on this - two new project applications have already been submitted.
As befits an anniversary, gifts were of course exchanged: the guests of honor from Lithuania received a 50th anniversary book and a commemorative medal. In return, the speakers and faculty members were honored with gifts from Kaunas.
The event concluded with the playing of the Kaunas University anthem and a laser show. A festive buffet rounded off the evening and invited further exchanges.
