The Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU) was established in 1937, and over the years has developed into the strongest and most successful technical university in Slovakia. It is the first from the country to establish a permanent presence in Brussels and in fact the second from the Central European region. STU consists of 7 faculties (Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Chemical and Food Technology, Architecture and Design, Material Sciences and Technology, and Informatics and Information Technologies) and the Institute of Management. Offering subjects in 19 fields of study, it sees more than 10 000 students attend annually, in order to study one or more of the 423 study programmes available in both Slovak and English languages.
STU actively collaborates with academic institutions in 36 countries, working to expand this both within Europe and without. Currently, the university is part of several ongoing international projects within Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe, ESA, Norway Grants, EIT, NATO Science for Peace and Security Programme, and Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. Furthermore, STU and its researchers are active in pursuing ever-greater engagement in various forms of European cooperation, evidenced by the institution’s membership of the European University Alliance EULiST – European Universities Linking Society and Technology, as well as by its staff taking part in COST actions, CESAER and other initiatives.
The areas of interest and current prominent projects at the STU are smart cities (energy efficiency in the building sector, sustainable design), smart mobility (autonomous vehicles), semiconductors (working to establish a Chips Competence Centre in Bratislava), wastewater and water treatment, advanced and new materials, robotics and A.I., cybersecurity, nuclear engineering, and ion beam technologies (Centre of Excellence SlovakION – aiming to be Eastern Europe’s leading research centre for ion beam and plasma technologies in materials engineering and nanotechnology).
The STU Brussels Office, opened in June 2023, acts as an extended arm of the university, supporting its representatives and researchers in their European engagement activities. This is achieved through valuable information-gathering, establishment of partnerships and matchmaking, and image formation and promotion of the university’s interests within the Brussels ecosystem.