Tech Opens New Facility in France

A Georgia Tech delegation headed by President John P. Crecine joined state and business leaders on a trade mission to France, highlighted by the Sept. 30 inauguration of Georgia Tech Lorraine (GTL) and its new 50,000square-foot facility.

Located in the Technopole Metz 2000 research park in Metz, the capital of the Lorraine region, the new GTL program is a partnership between Tech and French officials. Authorities in Lorraine funded GTL, believed to be the first complete engineering graduate program offered by an American university in Europe.

Metz Mayor Jean-Marie Rausch, who also serves as president of the Lorraine region and the French minister of post and telecommunications, led the host delegation. Crecine represented Tech, along with Dr. Steve Wrigley, executive assistant to Georgia Gov. Zell Miller.

Following the GTL inauguration, the 15-member Tech delegation and 150 state and business leaders explored business opportunities in the Lorraine region, such as pulp and paper, food, biotechnology and telecommunications. Expenses were paid by the Lorraine regional authorities.

Opened in fall 1990, GTL serves as Tech's European extension campus offering graduate programs in electrical engineering to American and European students, said Dr. Hans B. Puttgen, professor in Tech's School of Electrical Engineering, who also serves as GTL's director and chairman of its Academic and Scientific Council. He added that GTL focuses its activities in three areas including:

Academic programs, primarily at the master's and doctorate levels of electrical engineering, with later expansion envisioned in management and other engineering disciplines.
Continuing education programs, focused on the European community's needs and opportunities.
Research and development activities in close cooperation with European universities and research organizations.

GTL courses are taught in English by Tech faculty, and in French by local French faculty. GTL provides Tech with opportunities "to participate fully in an international engineering and science arena, and to provide our students with a truly international education in engineering, science and management. GTL also provides a means for facilitating transfer of technology between America and Europe," Puttgen said.

The Technopole complex was designed to provide a suitable research environment. Roughly comparable to Atlanta's Technology Park, a researcher or student could work, play, dine, rest, or exercise without leaving the property.

In 1989, GTL was established as a non-profit organization under French law, opening the door to specific cooperative and administrative agreements with Tech.