The University of Bucharest (UB) (Romanian: Universitatea din București) is a publicresearch university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on 4 July 1864 (160 years ago) (1864-07-04) by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy into the current University of Bucharest, making it one of the oldest Romanian universities. It is one of the five members of the Universitaria Consortium (a group of elite Romanian universities).[5]
The University of Bucharest offers study programmes in Romanian and English and is classified as an advanced research and education university by the Ministry of Education.
History
The University of Bucharest was founded by the Decree no. 765 of 4 July 1864 by Alexandru Ioan Cuza and is a leading academic centre and a significant point of reference in society.
The University of Bucharest is rich in history and has been actively contributing to the development and modernization of Romanian education, science, and culture since 1694. In 1694 Constantin Brâncoveanu, ruler of Wallachia, had founded the Princely Academy in Bucharest with lectures delivered in Greek. In 1776, Alexander Ypsilantis, ruler of Wallachia, reformed the curriculum of the Princely Academy, where courses of French, Italian, and Latin were now taught. After 1821, the Princely Academy was continued by the Saint Sava College. In 1857, Carol Davila and Nicolae Crețulescu created the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy. In 1859, the Faculty of Law was created.
In 1857, the foundation stone of the University Palace in Bucharest was laid.
On 4/16 July 1864, Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza established the University of Bucharest, bringing together the Faculties of Law, Sciences and Letters as one single body. In 1869, the Faculty of Medicine is created through the transformation of the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy. In the following years, new faculties were created: 1884 – the Faculty of Theology; 1906 – the Institute of Geology; 1913 – the Academic Institute for Electrotechnology; 1921 – the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine; 1923 – the Faculty of Pharmacy, 1924 – the Mina Minovici Institute of Forensic Medicine.
In 1956, student leaders, mainly from this university, planned a peaceful protest against Romania's Communist regime but were forcibly prevented from carrying it out. (See Bucharest student movement of 1956).
For a while (in the 1950s and early 1960s), it was called the "C. I. Parhon University", after Constantin Ion Parhon.
Most of the building is still intact, however during the bombardments of Bucharest in 1944, the central corpus of the building was heavily damaged and demolished due to Luftwaffe bombs, and was only re-constructed in 1969–1971. Other sections were also completed by 1980.
The University of Bucharest has 19 faculties, covering various fields such as natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and theology:[3]
The Faculty of Business and Administration
The Faculty of Biology
The Faculty of Chemistry
The Faculty of Law
The Faculty of Philosophy
The Faculty of Physics
The Faculty of Geography
The Faculty of Geology and Geophysics
The Faculty of History
The Faculty of Journalism and Communication Studies
The Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures
The Faculty of Letters
The Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
The Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences
The Faculty of Sociology and Social Work
The Faculty of Political Science
The Faculty of Orthodox Theology
The Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology
The Faculty of Baptist Theology
The university has the following five interdisciplinary departments:
Technology Department
Distance Learning Department
UNESCO Department for intercultural and interreligious exchanges
Department of Education Pedagogy
Francophone Doctoral School of Social Sciences (French: École Doctorale Francophone de l'Europe Centrale et de Sud-Est)
The university also has a publishing house, different research institutes and research groups (such as the Institute for Political Research, the Institute for Mathematics,
the Center for Byzantine Studies, the Vasile Pârvan Archeology Seminary, the Center for Nuclear Research, etc.), master and doctorate programmes, and a number of lifelong learning facilities and programmes. It has partnership agreements with over 50 universities in 40 countries, and participates in European programmes such as ERASMUS, Lingua, Naric, Leonardo da Vinci, UNICA, AMOS, TEMPUS, TEMPRA. It is an accredited Cisco Academy, has Microsoft curriculum, and is accredited by Red Hat for its academic programme.
Campus
The University of Bucharest has a number of buildings throughout Bucharest, so in that respect it does not have a single campus. Its two main buildings are:
The Old Building, in the University Square (practically right in the center of the city), housing the Faculties of Mathematics and Computer Science, History, Chemistry, Geography, Letters and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures.
The Kogălniceanu Building, near the Opera House, housing the Administrative section and the Faculty of Law.
Other faculties have their own buildings and research facilities, scattered throughout the city, such as:
The Departments of Germanic, Slavic and Oriental Languages and Literatures, on Pitar Moș Street.
The Faculty of Physics, in the small town of Măgurele, situated 16 km (9.9 mi) south of Bucharest.
The Faculty of Biology, on Splaiul Independenței.
The Faculty of Philosophy, on Splaiul Independenței.
The Faculty of Psychology, on Șoseaua Panduri.
The Faculty of Political Science, on Sfântu Ștefan Street.
The Faculty of Orthodox Theology, on Bibescu Voda Street, near Unirii Square.
The Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology, on General Berthelot Street.
The Faculty of Baptist Theology, on Berzei Street.
The university prints an annual guide for freshmen.
The University of Bucharest has been awarded the 2000 National Academic Excellence Diploma, and the 2004 National Academic Excellence Medal. All of the degrees and diplomas awarded by the university are internationally recognised.
Affiliations
The University of Bucharest is a member of numerous international organisations and partnerships, including:
The Association of Universities in European Capitals (UNICA)
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^"Bugetul de Venituri și Cheltuieli pe anul 2018" (PDF). Universitatea din București. Retrieved 22 October 2020.(in Romanian)
^ a b c d en.a. (March 2023). "University of Bucharest- Report" (PDF). University of Bucharest.
^University of Bucharest (January 2017). "University of Bucharest brand identity manual" (PDF) (in Romanian). University of Bucharest. pp. 10, 20.
^"Consorțiul Universitaria s-a întrunit la Tulcea". ziaruldetulcea.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^"QS World University Rankings: Romania". Top Universities. 29 June 2023. Retrieved 29 June 2023.
^"World University Rankings 2024: Romania". Times Higher Education (THE). 28 September 2023. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
^U.S. News. "Best Global Universities in Romania". Retrieved 27 February 2024.
^"University of Bucharest". topuniversities.com. 7 December 2012.
^"Cele mai bune universităţi din lume. Patru universităţi româneşti sunt printre primele 700" (in Romanian). Adevărul. 11 September 2012.
^Schiermeier, Quirin (20 July 2012). "Conflicting verdicts on Romanian prime minister's plagiarism". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.11047. ISSN 1476-4687. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^"Nicolae SARAMANDU - Filolog, Lingvist" (in Romanian). Romanian Academy. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
External links
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