Europe: Romania : University of Bucharest

Historical background of the University:

Since its foundation by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (1859-66), as the successor to higher education structures dating back to the Princely Academy founded in 1694, the University of Bucharest has contributed to the development and modernisation of Romanian education, science and culture. The following are some of the more important episodes in its history:

1694	Constantin Brâncoveanu, ruler of Wallachia, founds the Princely Academy of Saint Sava in Bucharest on the advice of Constantin Cantacuzino, a brilliant scholar and humanist educated at Padua. Lectures are delivered in Greek
1776	Alexandru Ipsilanti, ruler of Wallachia, reforms the curriculum of the Saint Sava Academy, where courses of French, Italian and Latin are now taught. New buildings for the Academy are erected between 1776 and 1779
1855	Carol Davila creates the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy.
1859	Establishment of the Faculty of Law.
1863	Establishment of the Faculties of Sciences and Letters
1864, iul. 4/16	Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza creates the University of Bucharest, bringing together the Faculties of Law, Sciences and Letters as one single body (decree no. 756 of 4/16 July 1864)
1869	The Faculty of Medicine is created through the transformation of the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy
1916 - 1918	Closure of the University of Bucharest as a result of German occupation during the First World War
1934 - 1936	Construction of the Law Faculty building
1948	Passing of the Education Reform Law, which applies the Soviet model to higher education, leading to a thorough restructuring of the University of Bucharest. The Faculties of Theology, Human Medicine and Veterinary Medicine are detached from UB. The higher education institutes are dismantled and new institutes subordinated to the Academy of the Romanian People's Republic are created.
1990	The beginning of a renewal process for the University of Bucharest. New faculties departments and research centres are created, the teaching process is radically reorganised, and the number of students is considerably increased. There is also a spectacular increase in the international contacts and co-operation projects of the University of Bucharest.
1994	Celebration of 300 years since the foundation of the Princely Academy and 130 years since the establishment of the modern structures of the University of Bucharest.
1996	Adoption of the University of Bucharest Charter.
2010	The University of Bucharest now comprises 19 faculties, with over 30,000 full-time students of whom 1000 foreign students, and some 3,000 teaching positions.

Key Figures

Vasile Boerescu, Rector between 1830-1883 Titu Maiorescu, Rector between 1892-1897 Nicolae Iorga, Rector between 1871-1940, 1929-1932 Constantin C. Stoicescu, Rector between 1881-1944, 1936-1940 Florian Aaron (1805-1887), Alexandru Hristea Orascu (1817-1894), Carol Davila (1828-1884), Alexandru Odobescu (1834-1895), Bogdan Petriceicu Ha?deu (1836-1907), Grigore ?tefanescu (1836-1911), Dimitrie Brândza (1846-1895), Constantin Dimitrescu-Ia?i (1849-1923), Constantin I. Istrati (1850-1918), Victor Babe? (1854-1926), Spiru Haret (1851-1912), Gheorghe Marinescu (1863-1938), Ioan Bogdan (1864-1919), Constantin Radulescu-Motru (1868-1957), Ludovic Mrazek (1867-1944), Simion Mehedin?i (1869-1962), Nicolae Titulescu (1882-1941), Ovid Densu?ianu (1873-1938), Dimitrie Gusti (1880-1955), Vasile Pârvan (1882-1927), Simion Stoilov (1887-1961), Nicolae Cartojan (1883-1944), Tudor Vianu (1897-1964), Mina Minovici (1858-1935), Grigore C. Moisil (1906-1973), George Calinescu (1899-1965), Mircea Eliade (1907-1986) .



Vision, Mission, Goals

The University of Bucharest is a university with academic integrity and concern for critical thinking, a significant point of reference in society. Through its high standard of the academic endeavor ensured at the level of all departments, the University of Bucharest sets forth to become the most important institution of higher-education in Romania. The main objective of the University of Bucharest is offering higher-quality educational services and research activities, maintaining competitive standards at an international level, and manifesting a continuous concerning for ensuring quality,contributing to the development of the Romanian Society and its European integration.



Current programs and partnerships opportunities

The University of Bucharest offers numerous study programs, from BA to PhD, as well as lifelong learning programs. At the same time, it constantly collaborates with more than 100 prestigious universities from 40 different countries. All programs are accredited or authorized. The degrees granted by the University of Bucharest are recognized in most countries of the world. The University of Bucharest is a comprehensive university, oriented towards natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. The number of faculties is almost equal on each of these domains. There are naturally differences between faculties. Faculties of sciences (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Geology and Geophysics) generally have fewer students but produce a large number of ISI publications and manage research contracts that bring them an important amount of financial resources. Social sciences faculties (Business and Administration, Law, History, Sociology, Psychology and Education Sciences, Political Sciences) have considerable students’ effectives and contribute to public agenda setting and decision-making. Humanities (Philosophy, Journalism, Letters, Foreign Languages, Orthodox, Roman-Catholic, and Baptist Theology) sought by many students, help to the social and cultural development of the country. The objective of the University management has been to strengthen the unity of the institution, despite divergent interests of scientific domains, to recognize the contribution of each faculty to the University’s success, to encourage the contribution of the students, and of the individual researchers to the improvement of the academic life. It is gladdening to see that the scientific production increased in 2009, with a ratio of 25% compared to 2008.

This is the result of a remarkable growth of funding level, of research infrastructure and of the incentive policy for researchers in order to create powerful research centers with a diversified human resource. The highest level of funding in research contracts was reached at 15 M€ in 2008. The entire structure of the curricula has been made compatible with the Bologna framework. This restructuring has involved a considerable effort of readjustment on the part of all of the University’s faculties. The University of Bucharest currently offers thirty-eight graduate fields of study with near to 100 majors in all three forms of education: day courses, extra-mural, and distance learning. The educational offer at the level of masters’ studies is very rich, consisting in 180 study programs. This has allowed a steady growth in demand for masters’ programs, from graduates of other faculties.

The system of doctoral schools has been generalized in all faculties, ensuring a much more consistent training of the PhD students. The doctoral students’ scholarships are currently financed by European structural funds within three-year projects. An important strategic objective for 2010 is the creation and the development of post-doctoral infrastructure. The University of Bucharest will develop its own set of policies regarding PhD formation learning from other universities. At the end of this project, the doctoral schools from our university will acquire a specific shape and aspect that is freely chosen, but also clearly defined through institutional regulations. The strategy of the University of Bucharest emphasizes international co-operation as an essential part of the University’s core activities.

One of the main objectives the University pays great attention to is international academic cooperation. There are 200 agreements for bilateral inter-university and inter-departmental cooperation with universities from Algeria, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Chile, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iran, India, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, the Republic of Moldova, Senegal, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Slovenia, the United Arab Emirates, USA, Sweden, Russia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, etc. The University has 130 bilateral agreements for joint supervision doctoral studies and an intense collaboration within numerous community programs – ERASMUS, LEONARDO DA VINCI, and GRUNDTVIG. Its intense international activity makes the University of Bucharest increasingly more notorious in Europe and worldwide. The number of ERASMUS students who come to learn with us is close to 100 per year, and many choose to remain a second semester as well, because the learning environment seems favorable to them. The number of students coming from African and Asian countries has also risen. The University has programs in foreign languages that are offered on a yearly basis to the 1000 foreign students. The ERASMUS program is a component of the Community Education Program (Lifelong Learning Program – LLP), which sets out to help university mobility – both for undergraduate students / master students / doctoral students as well as teaching staff. Another ERASMUS objective is encouraging the cooperation between universities in Europe in the field of higher-education. The development of the European dimension of graduate and post-graduate studies is supported through ERASMUS, since the program covers all disciplines and study areas within the University of Bucharest.

The purpose of the ERASMUS program is to facilitate the creation of European unity and identity by means of study travel from one country to another. The European Union will lay the human foundations of a European identity through a means that is, at the same time, simple and inevitable: travel. Travel favors direct contact between people and cultures. Mobilities remove clichés through life experiences. They replace memories from books as well as personal memories. They reward you with friends. They offer you the opportunity of speaking another language, of tasting unknown dishes, of seeing new landscapes, of observing how the discipline you train for is studied in another country, with a different history, with other customs, with a different social structure. This is valuable in itself, and does not need other excuses or explanations. Within this program there are 286 agreements with European universities that offer opportunities for both students and professors to carry out study terms, teaching terms, take part in common projects to be implemented in curricula, intensive courses or activities in thematic networks dedicated to the development of a graduate domain. The mobility offered within this program is coordinated by the ERASMUS Office for Community Programs within UB.

The University is also a member in several European and international academic organizations – the European Universities Association (EUA), the University Agency for Francophony (AUF), the Association of Universities from European Capital Cities (UNICA), and the Black Sea University Network (BSUN). The University has established partnerships with other governmental or non-governmental organizations such as DAAD, USIA, the Humboldt Foundations, Volkswagen, Fulbright, Nippon, and Onassis.


Future challenges

An important strategic objective for 2010 is the creation and the development of post-doctoral infrastructure. The University of Bucharest will adopt its own set of policies regarding PhD formation learning from other universities. It will be an important occasion to compare the thinking on doctoral studies in various domains University of Bucharest forms students and the international state of the art. At the end of this project, the doctoral schools from our university will acquire a specific shape and aspect that is freely chosen, but also clearly defined through institutional regulations.

Meeting ERC goals, UB has promoted and will strengthen frontier research. This type of research is at the limit between known and unknown, in any field and problem. From this point of view, the University of Bucharest will try to develop an important attitude that will serve its students: an innovative professionalism.

In order to achieve these goals, the University of Bucharest has started in January 2010 two scholarship programs addressed to students. A yearly program of 60 research performance scholarships for BA students that have significant merits in research, like participation at scientific colloquia, publication of papers, will add to the existing scholarships system. In order to strengthen international participation, the University of Bucharest addresses to international students with another program of 4 post-doctoral scholarships of 10.000 euro each. The scholarship is destined to support highly qualified researchers that are engaged in a scientific research project inside the University, under the guidance of a member of scientific community.



Social Programs

Professional training at the UB is both serious and thorough. Our laboratories that are supplied with top-level equipment, a high number of research centers with contracts, the magazines, students’ scientific workshops, foreign lecturer offices and the twenty foreign lecturers, the events hosted by the Student Association and the Centre for Information and Orientation, the exhibitions and the concerts, all of these make for an eventful life. Fortunately, there is still time for tennis, basketball, football, standard aerobics and competitive ballroom dancing, practiced in UB halls and on UB grounds.

For the activities and the practical training for students, the University of Bucharest has research stations at Orsova, Drobeta Turnu-Severin, Macin and Sf. Gheorghe (for Geography), Braila and Sinaia (for Biology), as well as the Dinosaurs’ Geopark in Hateg County (for the use of Geology and Geography students). The Dinosaurs’ Geopark of Hateg County is a natural park with special features. It plays an active part in the economic development of its own territory and offers its inhabitants the opportunity to appreciate the values of territorial heritage. The dwarf dinosaurs of the fabulous Hateg County are the best-known dinosaurs in Europe after Iguanodon bernissartiensis. They remind people about one of the most fascinating episodes of our planet: the great disappearance of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period, 68 million years ago. Furthermore, the teaching activity of the Faculty of Geography is carried out at the branches of the faculty from Calimanesti, Macin, Drobeta Turnu-Severin. The scientific research of the Faculty of Geography from the University of Bucharest covers a large spectrum of domains and issues, geography being exclusively a border science – that is a science of interdisciplinary connections.

Students from University of Bucharest can also realize their practical activities in the Botanical Gardens Dimitrie Brândza. Located near the city centre, it is a cultural and educational centre. The outdoors sectors are populated with yearly and perennial plants (the Decorative Section, the Rare Plants Section, the Mediterranean Flora Section, the Dobrudja Flora Section, the Italian Garden Section, the Rosary, the Iris Collection, the Useful Plants Section, and the Systematic Section), exhibition greenhouses hosting special compartments for plants from different regions of the planet (Palm trees, Orchids, Exotic Ferns, Tropical and Subtropical Plants, Succulent Plants, Cacti, and Bromeliads), and production greenhouses. The plant collections comprise approximately 5,000 taxonomic units. The institution has also a Botanic Museum organized along environmentally-friendly principles, which is open for students, researchers, and visitors, a General Herbarium (BUC) that comprises approximately 500,000 sheets, and a Botanic Library having almost 9,000 books. “Dimitrie Brândza” Botanic Garden has been publishing “Acta Horti Botanci Bucurestiensis”, which has currently reached its 35th volume, and “Delectus Seminum”, a publication used as a basis for the national and international exchange of seeds. For the future, the strategy of the Botanical Gardens of the University of Bucharest, an institution with an academic character, is meant to develop its educational and informational values for the public, as well as of those who are interested in the domain of research and to preserve the diversity of the indigenous and autochthonous plants. In 2004, the Botanical Garden was awarded the “FORD MOTOR COMPANY AWARD” for special results within the international project “Identification of the Important Areas for the Protection of Plants in Romania.” A year later, it obtains the Special Award granted by BGCI (Botanical Gardens Consortium International) for its contribution to the preservation of the plants, education and information of the public regarding the diversity of plants.

The support that the University provides for its students brings results. The students of the University of Bucharest are engaged in all sorts of projects: internships, practical workshops organized by employers, facilitation of stages of practice in various institutions. These frameworks reflect two prior dimensions from the development strategy of University of Bucharest: employability of students and student-oriented education. All faculties have students’ associations that organize frequent meetings in which both educational and debate components are encouraged and promoted. These meetings function as contexts for students to explore and develop their abilities in interdisciplinary fields, but also as an interface between students’ work and practitioners and employers.