FAUL

The Faculty of Architecture (FA) offers courses leading to the award of the Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees in Architecture, Urbanism and Design. It also offers nondegree courses which provide further training for professionals who wish to extend their knowledge. This broad training offer makes the FA the largest and most diversified school in the country in its specialist areas, with an intake of approximately 3,000 students. It is also the school with the largest number of foreign students, who come from Europe as well as other continents where the FA has exchange agreements. In addition, it is the oldest school in Portugal, with a history dating back to the 16th. century. The main feature of this Faculty is the training offered through design studio project work in the 1st. and 2nd. cycles, in which the knowledge acquired in all subject areas is applied to the design of a broad range of possible objects, from small-scale to territorial. However, the aim of the FA is to train a wider range of professionals to work as consultants, researchers and public sector staff in areas associated with the built environment, culture and industry. It is, without doubt, these combined objectives which have ensured that over 95% of its graduates find employment within a year of completing their courses. The FA is currently investing in training professionals who can work in Portuguese society and help increase its potential for innovation, competitiveness and exports. For this reason, special emphasis is placed on the development of final projects and dissertations produced in collaboration with public and private entities, encouraging entrepreneurialism and creating future opportunities for students. Training in the 3rd. cycle is directed towards advanced research in the three subject areas of the FA within the framework of the CIAUD, a research centre classified as Excellent by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. A service provider centre, technology transfer office and business incubator have recently been created. As a modern school which aims to combine tradition and innovation, the FA is a leading institution providing professional training for architects, urban planners and designers, and is recognized in the field of specialist interdisciplinary research.

GTU

Georgian Technical University is the main and largest technical university of Georgia. It is located in the capital city of Tbilisi. Georgian Technical University was founded in 1922 as a polytechnic faculty of the Tbilisi State University. Transformed in 1928 into an independent "Georgian Politechnical Institute" it achieved University status by 1990.

In 1969, the Faculty of Architecture emerged from the Department of Architecture in the Faculty of Construction of the Georgian Polytechnic Institute.

In 1991 the Georgian Polytechnic Institute was transformed into the Georgian Technical University, and from the Faculty of Architecture there was created the Institute of Architecture, the director of which between 1991 and 2005 was Professor Giorgi Salukvadze, Doctor of Architecture. In 2005, in accordance with constitutional changes in the law “On higher education”, the Institute of Architecture changed its name again and was named the Faculty of Architecture, Urban Planning and Design.

In accordance with fundamental principles of the Bologna Declaration, learning process at the Faculty of Architecture, Urban Studies and Design consists of three stages. The first four years include professional and undergraduate (Bachelor’s degree) programmes; the second stage takes two years and includes Master’s programmes; the third, three-year long step is the Doctorate. The Faculty of architecture enrolls around seven hundred students and enjoys the expertise of 130 professors and teachers. Academic programs on the Faculty include the different aspects of architectural education, which provides the students with ability to create architectural design, that satisfy both aesthetic and technical requirements on the bases of knowledge of the history and theories of architecture, technologies, technical and human sciences and fine arts, as an influence on the quality of architectural design.