On March 17, 2015 the Belarusian National Technical University (BNTU) has hosted Regular Meeting for the TEMPUS Project "Belarusian Road Safety Network" (Be-Safe). The Project aims at transferring to Belarus the most recent knowledge and good practices developed in Europe in the field of road safety by means of introducing the relevant Master's programs. Thus, Belarusian Universities are the key actors in this process.
The large-scale Meeting has united the representatives of all Partner Universities:
- Luka Persia, Gabriele Giustiniani, and Eleonora Meta of the Sapienza - Università di Roma (Italy);
- Stergios Mavromatis of the National Technical University of Athens (Greece);
- Joanne Barnes of the Loughborough University (the UK);
- Representatives of Brest State Technical University, Belarusian State University of Transport, Belarus State Economic University.
Professors of the BNTU Department "Organization of Automobile Transportations and Road Traffic" (OATRT) have organized the Meeting.
The Meeting has considered the peculiarities of training in the new specialities. Mr. Giustiniani and the representatives of Belarusian HEIs have delivered Progress Reports on the situation in this field. The BNTU representatives have not limited themselves to training manuals provided by the European Partners. They have performed spectacular research and introduced the results in the Master's curricula they developed. The participants have taken genuine interest in the presentation by Natalia V. Matveeva, Senior Lecturer of the OATRT Department. Natalia V. Matveeva has shared her experience in applying developed curricula at her lectures.
Denis V. Kapsky, Associate Professor of the above-mentioned BNTU Department, has greatly impressed the audience with his author's course on Basic Concepts of Road Safety.
Evgeny N. Cot, Associate Professor of the OATRT Department, has provided an exhaustive report on the differences in Belarusian and European approach to managing urban and intercity traffic safety.
The European Participants have eagerly participated in lively discussions, and Joanne Barnes has spoken about methods for training quality assessment.
Prof. Dr. Grabaurov A.V. has summed up the seminar asserting that the new BNTU Master's speciality "Intellectual Technologies for Managing Technical Systems" has gained recognition, as it is supported by a set of necessary documents.
Be-Safe Project also seeks to involve Belarusian Universities in a wider European network of research centers for road safety. Thus, it contributes to developing European Research Area (ERA) where knowledge, technology, and researchers circulate freely.