The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, received on Thursday, May 26, 2022, at the Cotroceni Palace, a delegation of the "Universitaria" Consortium, made up of: Prof. Univ. dr. Marian Preda – Rector of the University of Bucharest, prof. Dr. Daniel David – Rector of "Babeș-Bolyai" University in Cluj-Napoca, prof. Dr. Marilen Pirtea – Rector of the West University of Timișoara and prof. Dr. Nicolae Istudor – Rector of the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest.
The meeting took place in the context of the organization of the annual meeting of the "Universitaria" Consortium, hosted, this year, by the University of Bucharest. At the same time, the event responds to the directions of action opened on the occasion of the launch, at the beginning of 2022, by the European Commission, of the European Strategy for Universities. Among the topics addressed were the implementation of the National Plan for Recovery and Resilience, as well as the National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation, launched in public debate by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization.
During the discussions, other topics of interest were also addressed, which included ways to stimulate the process of internationalization of higher education, through the lens of support given to universities that are engaged in European and international projects. Also, a series of options for strengthening cooperation between Romanian universities and other research-development-innovation institutions in the country and outside the borders were explored.
An important topic addressed by the representatives of the "Universitaria" Consortium concerned the need to support the diversification of the missions of Romanian universities, in order to respond to the different needs of society, as well as to stimulate excellence in the fulfillment of the objectives associated with these missions by each individual higher education institution.
In the context of the assumption by the Government of Romania of the development of a new legal framework regarding the implementation of the vision of the "Educated Romania" project, the role of the academic environment in the reform of education, as well as in increasing the quality of the initial and continuous training of teaching staff, was emphasized.
