SMARTEX project will follow a multidisciplinary approach, as smart and technical textiles  require the involvement of several faculties both engineering ones and manufacturing and processing e.g. Textile Engineering, Textile Chemistry, Garment Production and Fashion Design University Departments. In the project will be involved at least one Business Department (the Business incubator Unit) and the Unit of Information Technology of the Politeknik STTT Bandung, Indonesia.

The topic around which is built the project is a curriculum on technical and smart textiles.

This topic is a complex one, comprising extremely interesting technological evolutions and applications in many sectors of activity. Production of textile and fashion has to a great extent shifted from Europe to other parts of the world. Partner countries represented in the SMARTEX partnership are among the biggest textile producers. European companies cooperate with companies in Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan as subcontractors. In this prospect, cooperation of universities from the 6 countries involved will be beneficial for everybody.   

SMARTEX previews, apart from the curriculum development, the development of learning and e-learning material, capacity building of Asian Universities academics and administrative staff, purchasing of equipment for labs, exchanges of staff between universities as well as student internships in European and local high technology textile firms. This fact, along with the number of countries (6) and institutions involved (10) as well as the very long distances between them depicts the amplitude of the project, which would not be feasible without the Erasmus+ funding.

The aim of the project is to support the modernisation and internationalisation of Higher Education Institutes in Malaysia, Indonesia and Pakistan, in the context of the priorities identified in the New EU Consensus in Development and the EU Higher Education in the World. This project will also contribute to the cooperation between EU and Asian countries through joint initiatives and by sharing good practices. The aim of the project is to improve the level of competencies and skills in Asian HEIs by reforming bachelor degree programmes, which will bring national education systems up to the EU standards level and enhance competitiveness of graduates in the labour market.

The objectives of the project are:

1. To analyse the competences necessary for graduates of textile engineering and related faculties' bachelor studies in Asian universities as far as technical and smart textiles are concerned.
2. To update the curriculums of Asian Universities, by developing new or by updating existing courses in textile engineering and related faculties' bachelor studies.
3. To integrate innovative teaching/learning methods into the reformed curriculum of Asian Universities.
4. To develop learning material for the new and updated courses and their correspondence to ECTS.
5. To promote the internationalisation of Asian HEIs by implementing international exchanges of staff and students.
6. To build capacity of academic and administrative staff of Asian HEIs by organising training sessions for them in European HEIs.
7. To enhance the competitiveness of Asian HEIs' graduates in the labour market with the organisation of national and international internships in companies.