Babeş-Bolyai University

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"Babeş-Bolyai" University
Universitatea "Babeş-Bolyai"
Seal of the Babeş-Bolyai University
Latin: Universitas Napocensis
Motto:	Traditio Nostra Unacum Europae Virtutibus Splendet
Established:	1581
Type:	Public
Endowment:	$121,947,739[1]
Rector:	Prof. univ. dr. Andrei Marga
President of The Academical Consilium:	Şerban Agachi
Faculty:	1,700
Students:	49,619[2]
Location:	Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Former names:	Universitatea din Cluj Universitatea din Cluj la Sibiu
Nickname:	Babeş
Website:	www.ubbcluj.ro
The main building

The Babeş-Bolyai University (UBB—Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai) in Cluj-Napoca is the largest university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 98 in Romanian, 52 in Hungarian, 13 in German, and 4 in English. The university was named after two prominent Transylvanian scientists, the Romanian scientist Victor Babeş and the Hungarian mathematician János Bolyai.

Contents 1 History 2 Academics 3 2006: Minority Rights 4 Campus 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

In 1581, Istvan Báthory, Governor of Transylvania, took the initiative in founding a college in Cluj-Napoca, which was to be under the control of the Jesuits. This college was later closed down. The Catholics took the initiative and in 1688 established an academy in Cluj-Napoca under the control of the Jesuits. In 1776, Empress Maria Theresa founded a German university in Cluj-Napoca. But this enterprise was not to survive long either; Joseph II replaced the university with the famous Piarist high school, where teaching was done in Latin.

In 1872, the authorities established a university in Cluj-Napoca with teaching in Hungarian, except for the Romanian language and literature section. In 1881 the university was renamed Franz Joseph University after the Habsburg Emperor Franz Joseph.

On May 12, 1919, after the Union of Transylvania with Romania, the Romanian University of Cluj was set up. King Ferdinand proclaimed the university open on February 1, 1920, while its Hungarian section moved to Szeged.

In 1940, as a result of the Second Vienna Award, the city was returned to Hungary and the Hungarian university was reinstated there. After World War II, once the Second Vienna Award was abrogated, a Romanian university called Babeş was established. The Hungarian University of Cluj took the name Bolyai once it returned.

The two universities, the Romanian Babeş University and the Hungarian Bolyai University, merged in 1959 forming the "Babeş-Bolyai" University, with Romanian and Hungarian teaching languages. This operation, that deeply undermined the interests of the Hungarian community in Transylvania and led to the suicide of a Hungarian pro-rector^[3] and a professor,^[4] was orchestrated by Nicolae Ceausescu, the former Romanian dictator, and Ion Iliescu, a recent Romanian president. Later on, under the communist regime, the studies in Hungarian were gradually reduced. After 1989, the Hungarian language education was expanded by increasing the number of specializations in Hungarian. Also specializations taught in German and English have been introduced.

The university is now the most diversified (in terms of specializations) and the most complex higher education institution in Romania.

[edit] Academics

The university has 21 faculties and over 1,700 faculty members. The University offers bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees, along with advanced postgraduate studies.

The university is located in an ethnically diverse area and this is very well illustrated in its structure: 19 of the 21 faculties provide a Romanian curriculum; 17 of them provide a Hungarian curriculum; 9 of them provide a German curriculum and 2 of them provide an English curriculum. The Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology and the Faculty of Protestant Theology provide courses only in Hungarian. Graduate schools offer the same multilingual structure. The Hungarian and German minorities are also very well represented in the Professors' Council and the University Senate.

Babeş-Bolyai University has more than 45,000 students. The structure of the student body is composed out of 3,000 Ph.D. students, 500 international students, 4,300 secondary education teachers, and 38,000 undergraduate. Here is the list of the faculties, along with the languages in which their courses are taught—(RO-Romanian, HU-Hungarian, DE-German, EN-English).

• Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science RO HU DE EN
• Faculty of Physics RO HU DE
• Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering RO HU DE EN
• Faculty of Biology and Geology RO HU DE
• Faculty of Geography RO HU DE
• Faculty of Environmental Science RO HU
• Faculty of History and Philosophy RO HU DE
• Faculty of Psychology and Science of Education RO HU
• Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration RO HU DE EN
• Faculty of Letters RO HU DE
• Faculty of Theatre and Television RO HU
• Faculty of Law RO HU
• Faculty of Economics RO HU DE
• Faculty of Physical Education and Sport RO HU
• Faculty of European Studies RO DE EN
• Faculty of Sociology and Social Assistance RO HU
• Business School RO
• Faculty of Orthodox Theology RO
• Faculty of Greek Catholic Theology RO
• Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology HU
• Faculty of Protestant Theology HU

[edit] 2006: Minority Rights

This article may be inaccurate in or unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page.

In November 2006, dr. Péter HANTZ and dr. Lehel KOVÁCS, both lecturers at the Babeş-Bolyai University, were sacked by the university after a series of actions taken for, what they call, the language equality, started in October 2005. They were campaigning for the re-establishment of the Bolyai University by splitting the Babes-Bolyai University in two independent institutions, in spite of the threats of the Universitry management. This in spite the fact that Hungarians always speak about unitity with Romanians within the European Union. Insted of contribuiting to the unity of Romanian and Hungarian students Mr. Kovacs and Mr. Hantz were engaging in spreading hatread among stundents by dividing them.

On 22 November 2006, the University organized an exhibition in the European Parliament, where they tried to give the impression that there are multilingual signs at the University. In the same day, dr. Péter Hantz put up signs like "Information" and "No smoking" in Hungarian alongside those ones in Romanian.^[5] Hantz and Kovács acted upon a decree permitting the use of multilingual signs, which had been decreed by the university but never put in practice, and official claims that the university is a multicultural institution with three working languages (Romanian, German and Hungarian).^[6]

On 27 November 2006, the Senate voted for exclusion of the two lecturers, with 72 for and 9 against (from 2 Romanian and 7 Hungarian members) votes. The Hungarian academic community is convinced that the exclusion was not a disciplinary action, but the vote was not ethnic based.

In spite of various protests, the resignation out of solidarity by several Hungarian-speaking university staff, and a call by 24 Hungarian MEPs for the reinstatement of the lecturers in the weeks after the incident, the lecturers remained unemployed.^[5] The parties in the Hungarian Parliament asked the university to reinstate the two professors and respect the rights of the Hungarian minority. The presidents of the five parties represented in the Hungarian parliament signed a statement that read as follows:^[6]

"The expulsion of the two young educators tells Hungary's parliamentary representatives that there are still people in Romania who believe that in the 21st century the desires for democratic higher education of a 1.5-million-strong community can be denied."

Istvan Hiller, Education Minister of Hungary, also wrote to his Romanian counterpart Mihail Hărdău, asking for his help on the issue.^[6] The case has also been put forward in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Göran Lindblad, from the Swedish European People’s Party, along with 24 signatories from 19 European countries, presented a motion for a resolution on the alleged breaching of the 1994 Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities by the Romanian Government.^[7]

[edit] Campus

The main campus is located in the city of Cluj-Napoca. The university buildings are spread across the city. The university has several student housing areas, most notable being Haşdeu with more than 20 dormitories buildings. The Lucian Blaga University Library is located in the city centre. The university also has several colleges located in 18 cities spread across Transylvania.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Babeş-Bolyai University

• Official website
• Website of the future Bolyai University
• "Lucian Blaga" Central University Library
• "Geographia Technica" Journal of the Faculty of Geography

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