Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca (BBU) has joined the EUTOPIA European Universities Alliance (https://eutopia-university.eu/).
In an attempt to redefine the European academic areal, BBU is joining the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy), CY Cergy Paris University (France), the Technische Universität Dresden (Germany), the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), the NOVA University Lisbon (Portugal), the Pompeu Fabra University-Barcelona (Spain), the University of Warwick (U.K.), thus having present- (2022), medium- (2025) and long-term (2050) academic and societal goals.
EUTOPIA is an alliance founded by prestigious European universities, whose ambitious objective is to redefine the future directions of European higher education. The members of EUTOPIA are working together on creating a new, innovative European academic model stemming from the principles of a united and open Europe, thus showing consideration towards its citizens and towards the environment. The alliance promotes education, research, and development opportunities, by aiming to train performant graduates, to sustain the efforts for internationalisation, diversity, and inclusion, and by focusing on global and local challenges.
The message of Prof. Eva Wiberg, Strategic Board Chair of EUTOPIA is the following: “On behalf of the EUTOPIA alliance, I would like to welcome Babeș-Bolyai University into the EUTOPIA family. All the members of EUTOPIA are delighted that the UBB agreed to join our consortium, providing our alliance with a unique experience of multiculturalism, including high standard education and research. It is also meaningful for us to expand the partnership towards Easter Europe, covering thus a much broader universe of the diversity which characterises Europe and its cultures. We are honoured that Babeș-Bolyai University has chosen to join us. Our alliance is now complete, and all of our ten members complement one another”.
“As a global university, renowned for its performance, size, and tradition, BBU is an innovator within the national and international academic areal. As such, BBU is already engaged in top international research and double/multiple degree educational programmes, working with major international consortia, establishing innovative ties with society (with national and international actors), and engaging in policy-making in international science (i.e., through renowned organisations, such as the GUILD etc.). The new statute of member of the EUTOPIA European University Alliance comes to consolidate BBU’s role and our mission to contribute to further redefining the European university areal than BBU’s already existing mechanisms. I was pleased to receive the invitation to join EUTOPIA and we gladly accepted it; BBU had already been invited to join similar European alliances, but the strength of the members of EUTOPIA and their vision, strategy, and programmes convinced us that we want to be part of this alliance, and that we can bring an important academic value to it”, said the BBU rector, Prof. Daniel David.
EUTOPIA was founded in 2019, as one of the 17 winning alliances in the European University Initiative competition, launched by the European Commission, in order to enhance innovation by re-thinking the frame of inter-university collaboration in European higher education.
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BBU is the university with the oldest academic tradition in Romania (founded 440 years ago – 1581), representing the largest academic community in the country (with over 55,000 students and staff members, in 15 cities and 11 counties). Since its foundation, BBU has been part of the gallery of prestigious and referential universities in Romania, and during the past 5 years it has ranked first in the country, in the University Metaranking, which combines the major international rankings of universities. For several years now, BBU has occupied top positions at national level in the global rankings and in rankings on fields; it has constantly been among the 5% of world universities, with an advanced academic infrastructure (e.g., RDI units integrated into European networks, modernised didactic laboratories integrated with virtual/augmented/mix reality through the BBU-EON-XR Centre etc.). Recently (in 2021), following an international audit by QS STAR, BBU has been confirmed the first “world-class” (QS*****) university in Romania, and in 2020 it was accepted into the GUILD, the organisation of some of the most prestigious world-class/research-intensive European universities.
