On November 13-14, 2025, the Technical University of Moldova successfully hosted the fourth Steering Committee Meeting of the NeedEDU4.0 project – Enhancing Mechanical Engineering Education in Moldova for Industry 4.0. The event brought together institutional coordinators from partner universities in the Republic of Moldova (UTM, USARB, USCh), Romania (UNITBV, Brașov), and Germany (RWTH, Aachen), as well as prominent representatives of the business community in Germany and the Republic of Moldova, reaffirming their joint commitment to modernizing engineering education in the Republic of Moldova.
The meeting was opened by Prof. Larisa BUGAIAN, PhD, project coordinator, Dr. Daniela POJAR, vice-rector for finance and international relations at UTM, and Claudia MELINTE, national coordinator of the Erasmus+ Moldova Office. They emphasized the strategic importance of the NeedEDU4.0 project in modernizing engineering education and aligning it with Industry 4.0 standards. Over the course of two days, discussions focused on the progress made so far and the activities planned for the coming period.
Dr. Rodion CIUPERCĂ, project manager, presented the advanced stages of development of the interuniversity master’s program “Smart Industries and Digital Transformation,” detailing the development of modular curricula, the preparation of teaching materials, and the process of drawing up the necessary documents for the approval of the interuniversity master’s program by the Institutional Strategic Development Council and the UTM Senate.
This was followed by presentations dedicated to the activities, given by national partners (UTM, USARB, and USCh) and international partners (RWTH Aachen, UNITBV Brașov), who addressed, in their detailed presentations, vital topics regarding the training of academic staff and the methodology for implementing the master’s program in a blended learning format.
The first day ended with a visit to the UTM campus on Studenților Street, giving participants the opportunity to explore the laboratories of the UTM faculties specializing in mechanical, industrial, and transportation engineering.
The second day of the workshop was dedicated to quality assurance, sustainability, and dissemination of the project results. Prof. Simona LACHE presented the achievements within the Work Package (WP4), followed by the external evaluation report of the auditor Alice BUZDUGAN, which highlighted the main findings and recommendations for the period January 2024 – June 2025. Next, the current and future directions of dissemination, communication, and visibility activities were established, with an emphasis on their impact on the academic and industrial environment.
A defining moment was the intervention of Ioana VINTILOIU, coordinator from Fritz Dräxlmaier GmbH & Co. KG, who emphasized the particularly important role of economic partners in defining the necessary professional skills, adapting study programs to labor market requirements, and strengthening university-industry collaboration.
The meeting ended with the reconfirmation of the joint commitment to advance the implementation of the inter-university master’s program, strengthen the educational infrastructure, and ensure the training of a new generation of engineers prepared to respond to the demands of emerging technologies and the challenges of Industry 4.0.
Through the NeedEDU4.0 project, UTM reaffirms the importance of international cooperation, develops sustainable institutional capacities, and actively contributes to the training of a new generation of specialists capable of responding to the challenges of emerging technologies.
Dr. Rodion CIUPERCĂ, project manager, presented the advanced stages of development of the interuniversity master’s program “Smart Industries and Digital Transformation,” detailing the development of modular curricula, the preparation of teaching materials, and the process of drawing up the necessary documents for the approval of the interuniversity master’s program by the Institutional Strategic Development Council and the UTM Senate.
This was followed by presentations dedicated to the activities, given by national partners (UTM, USARB, and USCh) and international partners (RWTH Aachen, UNITBV Brașov), who addressed, in their detailed presentations, vital topics regarding the training of academic staff and the methodology for implementing the master’s program in a blended learning format.
The first day ended with a visit to the UTM campus on Studenților Street, giving participants the opportunity to explore the laboratories of the UTM faculties specializing in mechanical, industrial, and transportation engineering.
The second day of the workshop was dedicated to quality assurance, sustainability, and dissemination of the project results. Prof. Simona LACHE presented the achievements within the Work Package (WP4), followed by the external evaluation report of the auditor Alice BUZDUGAN, which highlighted the main findings and recommendations for the period January 2024 – June 2025. Next, the current and future directions of dissemination, communication, and visibility activities were established, with an emphasis on their impact on the academic and industrial environment.
A defining moment was the intervention of Ioana VINTILOIU, coordinator from Fritz Dräxlmaier GmbH & Co. KG, who emphasized the particularly important role of economic partners in defining the necessary professional skills, adapting study programs to labor market requirements, and strengthening university-industry collaboration.
The meeting ended with the reconfirmation of the joint commitment to advance the implementation of the inter-university master’s program, strengthen the educational infrastructure, and ensure the training of a new generation of engineers prepared to respond to the demands of emerging technologies and the challenges of Industry 4.0.
Through the NeedEDU4.0 project, UTM reaffirms the importance of international cooperation, develops sustainable institutional capacities, and actively contributes to the training of a new generation of specialists capable of responding to the challenges of emerging technologies. 
