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Rector's message
After 90 years.
The new university in the era of globalization
Address at the opening of the 2009-2010 academic year
September 28th, 2009
Dear colleagues,
We are upon entering in the ninety-first year of academic studies in Romanian language at Cluj! According to historians’ notes, the procedure for founding the Romanian University in the capital of Transylvania was set in motion on May 12th, 1919. On November 1st, 1919 the new university was opening its doors and on February 19th, 1920 the then king of Romania, King Ferdinand I, was delivering the official opening speech in the Aula Magna.
On May 12th, 1919 a different historical situation from that of Strasbourg and Bratislava occurred. We know that the three universities were transferred, as a result of World War I to the states of France, Czechoslovakia, Romania.
Of course, today we can view in a different light what happened then. I remember that Alexandru Borza, in his memoirs, was regretful that no agreement had been reached, in the sense that some of the Hungarian teachers of the university founded in 1872 withdrew to Szeged, not accepting to take an oath of allegiance to the Romanian state. From the perspective of time, we can nowadays have a more profound consideration of things. Therefore, the solution of 1995 of reorganizing the Babes-Bolyai University in three languages (Romanian, Hungarian and German), was wise, taking into account the problems posed in the discussions of 1919. One must emphasize, however, that the intention of the Romanian state of the time was to continue the tradition of the University founded in 1872; among the Romanian intellectuals, Nicolae Iorga was an advocate for continuity. But history developed otherwise, and we, as later born, took note of it, but yet learning from history.
The Founding Act stretched over several months, and today, 90 years after the founding of the Romanian University in Cluj, one could ask at least three questions. What was the relationship of the newly created University with the academic tradition of Transylvania starting with the College established in 1581, continued with the Claudiopolitan Academy, with the project of Maria Theresa’s advisors to set up in Cluj a "Universität" in German, with the subsequent history? What was the report of the institution established in 1919 with the history of the region and of the country, in the nine decades that have elapsed until the present moment? What did the founding generation manage to achieve, a generation to which we find appropriate now to bring homage?
These questions are recurrent. I’d rather leave history to the professional historians. I will focus today, after nine decades, on a brief comparison between the profile of the University at its foundation and the profile of the University today. I resort to this comparison in some fundamental aspects, starting from the conviction that the most profound tribute one could bring to a founding act is to verify its repercussions in the present.
As for the mission of the University, I would note right away that this was expressed most clearly in the address of King Ferdinand I in the Aula Magna.
Sextil Puşcariu, the first rector of the Romanian University, added a perspective that yet deserves to be mentioned today. I quote him from the Report drafted after the conclusion of the so-called University Commission: "The University of Cluj, which actually is being based now, may be exempted from the start of all the drops that have accumulated over time, for all sorts of reasons, in the case of other older universities; we should provide it with all the opportunities needed to develop, to become a model of a Romanian University." We can see what an extraordinary mission was entrusted to the institution from the very start! As for Nicolae Iorga, he resorted to avoiding the errors of the Old Kingdom. This message should always be repeated!
We may ask ourselves which is the current concept of the mission. Should we take a look inside the Charter of the Babes-Bolyai University (2003), then we can say that today prevails a more complex understanding of the mission. There were, however, more obvious changes in the functions of the university. Here, we have a modeling which guided us, too, with the Babes-Bolyai University, after '89, due to Talcott Parsons. According to the famous American sociologist, the university has four functions: the scientific research and the preparation of the succession, the academic preparation for teaching, the general training of students, contributions to the intellectual enlightenment. The Charter of the Babes-Bolyai University (2003) presents in detail, actually, this understanding of the functions of the university. As a result, the Babes-Bolyai University sees itself today as a formative institution for sharing and enhancing knowledge, as a centre of performant scientific research, as a formative institution for the acquisition and putting into practice of knowledge as a source of technological innovation, as an instance of critical examination of cases, as a place of employment for civil rights, for social justice and reform.
What type of university was, respectively is at issue here, in Cluj?
I would like to begin by observing that the founding generation was inspired by Humboldt, who was concretized through the mediation of Durkheim. The famous French sociologist said that "the university is the means by which society renews the conditions of its own existence". Based on this concept was the Romanian University of Cluj created, in 1919, after having employed a series of Humboldtian precepts. The generation leaders spoke of "national renaissance" with this University, which was intended to generate a synchronous and competitive science and culture. The University from Cluj was called to become, as Nicolae Drăganu said, "a Romanian cultural centre of the highest degree in Transylvania”. Rădulescu-Motru, Vasile Pârvan, Nicolae Iorga brought severe criticism to what Bucharest was and they hoped to avoid at Cluj all that which was unbecoming in the capital. Nicolae Iorga warned of the danger of feeding a "provincial particularism" through some much too biased decisions, and insistently urged that the university will not accept "usurpation and inferior substitutes”. Aware of the danger, Sextil Puşcariu asked the University of Cluj "to synthesize the best and most useful of the European West”. Virgil Bărbat, on account of his American experience, considered that the university holds the crucial role in improving conditions in society.
The Romanian University of Cluj drew, in fact, on the three main sources of inspiration: Humboldt, Durkheim and the American experience. Nicholae Drăganu, considering the American experience, proposed a radical idea: the University should be defined as an institution that prepares more than graduates, even researchers. Iuliu Haţieganu advanced the theory according to which the power of a university lies in the ideas, theories, theorems, hypotheses emerging from the laboratories of experimental sciences. Ion Breazu pleaded for adopting the American model, considering that it was the only way to achieve "man’s determinate concern towards the surrounding reality”. Iuliu Haţieganu spoke of the university as a "factory where science is produced" and Ion Iacubovici advocated the creation of the "faculty of applied sciences".
The guiding concepts of the Humboltian university - namely the unity between research and learning, academic freedom, university autonomy, the necessity to enhancing not only knowledge but also the vision of the student, even the option for a corporate organization - all these options are found in the ideas about the university and in the very foundation documents of the University. Since the founding generation we have, inter alia, excellent regulations of student life, showing what the student has to do and how the teacher must help the student to overcome difficult moments of life.
How are we doing today? The Babes-Boyai University emerges after a significant evolution, so that it remains Humboldtian, but not as before. It already entered on the route of what is known in the international literature as the "New University", i.e. a university with a completely open basis and which is trying to be as selective as possible towards the top, with all the resulting implications. At the same time, the Babes-Bolyai University is an entrepreneurial university. For example, the founders were operating with a state fully secured budget. We operate with 48-60% state budgeted allocations, the rest of the resources being provided by faculties, departments, and the University itself.
The budget is not the only one that separates us from the Humboldtian model, but also the involvement of the University in the development process of Transylvania, in Romania, in this part of Europe. In 1919 the scientific research, the scientific creation and the intellectual development were the dominant themes. Meanwhile, the theme of the technological impact, the inner connection between scientific research and economic, institutional, cultural development are indicative.
Regarding the curriculum, it must be said that there are many ideas in the interventions of the personalities of the time, and even in official documents of the University. The reflections of the time are worthy of evocation. The primary option ever since its foundation was the alignment with international benchmarks. It is an overwhelming merit of the founding generation to have established the University of Cluj on the best international level that could be accessed at the time. Therefore this university has never relied on adapting to national, regional, provincial criteria, but on the compatibility with international benchmarks. I think this commitment has been an incentive to all generations who studied here!
The founding generation rejected explicitly the designing of the curriculum based on people. It was made clear, then, that small interests, even the interests of politics - which would always put pressure on the university, as well as later – must be left aside when it comes to education and, specifically, when it comes to curriculum.
The then curricula focused on the students’ choice for most of the disciplines. Therefore, several generations of students from Cluj kept the nostalgia of the curriculum in which students choose their subjects or at least the most part of the disciplines.
The decisive option was in Cluj to combine that which in the language of Sextil Puşcariu was called the specialty culture and the general vision of man, society and the world. This generation believed that if the young person aquires concepts, but fails to achieve a view, then he/she fails. Vasile Pârvan underlined the need to form the ethical and civic consciousness of students, and Iuliu Haţieganu spoke of "integral education".
In any case, until the education reform of 1948, the curriculum from Cluj embodied very clearly synchronism, flexibility and simplicity in a good sense. Back then a student would have only four or five exams per year, but they were rigorously conceived and the formative outcome was generally good.
A question we may ask retrospectively about the conception of scientific research is the following: in fact what is it that the University understood by science back then? I would say without hesitation that the University of 1919 was synchronous with the European discussions. We must admit, of course, that the gap between East and West was still not so great as in 1989; this difference has actually increased throughout the twentieth century. Then you could still be synchronous enough with what was happening elsewhere. If we were to ask the specific question "what science was cultivated?", then, using the current taxonomy of science, it is quite obvious that they cultivated the experimental sciences or, if you will, the factual ones, but also the science that we call "deductive", just as there were also historical-hermeneutical sciences, where historians were required to offer monographs of historical life.
One cannot avoid the question: were there more discoveries then than there are now? I will not risk an impromptu response. It is quite clear that in the interwar period there were discoveries, it is also clear that today too there are many discoveries. As for the situation of today, the difference is that we encounter more problems. I will mention only one of them: that of the scientific culture.
Let us recall, for illustration, the physicist Victor Marian: he offers, resorting to a whole scientific, philosophical, literary culture, the interpretation of Galileo's work. Even to our days one may read with great profit his translation of Galileo and his considerations. Let us remember, for instance, Peter Sergescu, who was a mathematician with a vast culture, which enabled him to understand mathematics in the wider context of the philosophical, sociological culture. The scientific culture of researchers is something to be questioned and strengthened in the Romania of today, learning from what their founders and their successors did.
Another question concerns the development of the University. The Romanian University of Cluj started with 1,828 students, and in the second half of the first year the figure amounted to 2,150. Among the students there were altogether Romanian and Hungarian and German and Hebrew and other nationalities. In the subsequent years, the development led to this maximum: in 1938 the University had 3,094 students and 115 teachers.
The biggest development of the University before 1989 was reached in 1971, when the University had 14,438 students in 8 faculties and 37 specialties, taught by 748 teachers. Then followed a downturn, so that December 1989 found this University at the level of 5,940 students.
In 1992 the situation of 1971 got to be restored and since 1993 the largest and most comprehensive development in the history of the University from Cluj has been taking place: thus at the end of 2007-2008 there were 52,037 students, with an additional 2,935 PhD students, so we have a total of 54,971 students. They are trained by 2,600 teachers. There’s no need for comments as to note the development that occurred, as these indicators are conclusive.
The development within the Babes-Bolyai University, over the past fifteen years, included innovations that matter on continental level, which are recognized in the undergoing analyses. The first major innovation which was achieved here was that of "comprehensiveness”. This meant many things, including bringing the theology within the University in 1993. That had been tried before, but was achieved only after 1993 when the four theologies (Orthodox Theology, Greek-Catholic Theology, Roman Catholic Theology and Reformed Theology), plus the Institute of Jewish Studies "Dr.Moshe Carmilly" took their place in the University. The second major innovation occured in 1995, consisting in the establishing of a plurilingual multiculturalism, which represented an innovation in the whole world. The third great innovation was that of the extensions: The Babes-Bolyai University operates at present with the biggest network of extensions on territory from the European universities. Other innovations, of different scales, may be mentioned as well.
What was the situation of the infrastructure? This University has taken over the premises of the University of 1919. During the interwar period the largest expansion of the infrastructure took place under the rectorship of Florian Ştefănescu Goangă and under that of Iuliu Haţieganu. The first one added the Academic College complex, and Iuliu Haţieganu is responsible for the Park that we know today.
The biggest expansion after 1945 occurred under the rectorship of Constantin Daicoviciu. This regards especially the Haşdeu Complex.
The greatest expansion of the Cluj University infrastructure occurred starting with 1993, when the university reached unprecedented development altogether with the building, with the takeover of buildings and with numerous investments, some of which are in progress. By way of example, the expansion of the Babes-Bolyai University infrastructure in the period 1993-2009 could be rendered as such: the Babes-Bolyai University was added over 25 new buildings, and saw to the establishing of the Economic Campus, the Sports Campus and many other groups of new buildings (see Annex I).
Neither at its foundation, nor now – and not only in Cluj, as this is the case with other European universities also – was there an indisputable conception on the inner organization of the university. The initial organization of the University actually followed the German model - the model of the four faculties, which had long been internationalized - and in faculties the organization was established on institutes, departments being actually institutes. Gradually, this model was altered significantly under the impact of the American experience.
After 1945 the structuring on specialty departments was adopted, which was practically the Soviet model. We have to admit that here at Cluj we are still in the organization inspired by the Soviets, who wanted to put forward more rector’s offices, in order to satisfy more personal desires and to divide the intellectuals, so that the division of classical, comprehensive universities was promoted. Cluj still remains, as does entire Romania, structurally, in this system installed since 1948. One must mention that Hungary has corrected the system, the Czech Republic never applied it rigorously, and Poland has initiated the rectification.
This University has stated from the outset its attachment to values: academic freedom, university autonomy, creativity, intellectual competitiveness, humanist outlook have been cultivated. It was always obvious, both at the moment of the foundation and now, that it is not possible to achieve a successful university life without enforcing the best rules. Today, too, we depend heavily on legislation - and the Romanian legislation should have been changed long ago. On the other hand, if there are rules, then we need people to apply the rules. Only those people who believe in values will successfully apply the rules: only if there are democrats, will democracy work! The rules are not sufficient for a democracy to also function, we can see that only too well around us.
The achievements from the interwar period, remain, in many respects, a positive marker. It must be said, however, assuming all responsibility, that this period is not to be envied. In 1938, an English analysis describes the situation in Romania as characterized by corruption. The current discussion on corruption is actually an old one. Allow me to quote more precisely what Seaton Watson said on account of the behaviour of the intellectuals in Romania. Allow me to quote from his book published in 1945: "All the features mentioned, the poverty of farmers, bureaucratic brutality, false education and a privileged class that lacks any sense of social responsibility, of which the most privileged members were ready to betray their principles from one day to another in return for their being accepted by the supreme leader, all of these existed in Romania at the highest degree”. And these were written by Seaton Watson, who was very pro-Romanian! I quote below: "Democracy cannot flourish in such an atmosphere. The degrading process in Romania went further than in other parts of Eastern Europe. No progress will be made until they drop these bad habits and a new approach will be ready to take its place. The transition period will be long and painful. But when it is completed, the great energies and qualities of the Romanian people, the second in number and probably the most talented in the Eastern Europe, will ensure that honorable position which it has not yet been able to achieve. Unfortunately, the diagnosis was correct; unfortunately we cannot dispute it in any way, not even today. We don’t say this in order to state interesting things, but because it is a matter of intellectual responsibility for what happened, and especially for what is happening!
At the foundation of the Romanian University came the representatives of the major powers of many countries and the atmosphere was really uplifting. They all credited a nation, they all credited a community of intellectuals, they all credited a project! Of course, time was short to achieve the whole project. Immediately after 1932 they entered the path of extremist turbulence and there were some very active extremist groups in Cluj. History noted the difficulties encountered by Ştefănescu-Goangă with the extremist students of that time, even if it did not happen here what happened in Iasi and in Bucharest, where even murders were committed. The war interrupted a course; we are well aware of what followed.
After 1989 a radically new step in the international recognition of the University of Cluj could be achieved. I think this fact could be located more precisely in 1997, when this university was included among the top 20 most dynamic universities in Europe. It was then that UNESCO and other national authorities published a report describing the University - which may be regarded as the turning point in the international recognition of the institution. Then, our University also became the only one in Eastern Europe to initiate a continental Conference of universities (2003) and even took over the leadership of several international organizations. By all this it became manifestly clear that the Babes-Bolyai University surpassed the status of a provincial university, being a university of relevance within the international space. When, in 2004, King Mihai I reminded, in this Aula Magna, of the fact that this university was, at its origins, "Imperial", the institution was on its way of restating this noble and imperative ancestry.
After 1995 we had to bring a new answer to the question:what about the past? One could never identify with the founding generation and with those that followed, any attitude of denial of the academic past: of the Latin, Italian, German, Hungarian academic past, which was recorded in Transylvania. One will never encounter such a denial with those intellectuals worthy of respect. Then, what we managed to do, after 1995, while having the benefit of a Charter (1995) which decided the reorganization of the University on three lines of study, was to argue, both in Cluj and in Bucharest and also in the international area, that this University assumes the entire history that occured in the Transylvanian area. This process has not ended yet. We created the University Museum (2001), the University Memory Park (2006), we sought to evoke different personalities of the closer or of the rather remote past, we promoted the necessary symbolics. It is clear that we must make a progress; after several attempts of drafting a history of the University, we hope that historians will give us a history, especially now that our distinguished colleagues in Szeged have recently published a history of the University from the perpective of the group that left Cluj, in the circumstances mentioned earlier. Hopefully in the European area we will find the necessary understanding and one day we will be able to read a joint history, written by the historians of Cluj and the historians of Szeged. On the other hand, we must reestablish the Government Ordinance no.285 of December 2000, which was the first act of the Romanian state after 1989 to consecrate the trilingual specific of the university.
Allow me to take into consideration the present and, especially, the future that has already begun, in order to mention six crucial issues by the resolution of which hang the high achievements of our institution.
The first issue is that of the reorganization of programmes on the new principle of approaches that transcend the disciplinary boundaries. Modern knowledge was disciplinary, but recent developments have occurred particularly at the interference of disciplines. On the other hand, overcoming the fragmentation of knowledge to holistic approaches is on the agenda of science. Monodisciplinary training is no longer sufficient to ensure professional success. One might invoke, of course, other reasons that require the transition to transdisciplinary approaches. We prompted the solving of this problem by authorizing the Chancellor-General to conceive and advance to the Senate, until December 2009, the reorganization of departments and faculties according to the new principle; we authorize the vice-rector of research to make the appropriate reorganization of scientific research.
The second issue is the advance of the scientific research from empirical observations and measurements to formulating hypotheses and concepts. We know that there is no knowledge where the factual basis is not sufficient. On the other hand, current knowledge begins rather with the question well formulated. Measurement is essential, but knowledge reduced to measurings does not lead too far. Bold assumptions and deep concepts are those which offer results. We established in 2007 the Institute for Experimental Interdisciplinary Research, in an effort to revive the experimental research and the trans-disciplinary reflection. Now it is clear that it is not enough; he who wants to be a scientist, regardless of his domain, must advance concepts. Therefore – on the background of refocusing on the priorities of the present: life, alternative energy, environment, education - it is urgent for us to return to the development of concepts, theories, interpretations, because this is the level where the battle of knowledge takes place actually..
The third issue is the reactivation of the multilingual tradition in Transylvania. Speaking several languages has always been an advantage to these lands. The assimilation of German, French, Italian and, in recent times, American traditions has always been an advantage of the Cluj University. Europe remains itself only as long as it remains multilingual. Our graduates are valued more also because of their language skills. Here are just a few reasons that prompt us to restate our need to rely on English, German, French, Italian and other languages and to correct the monolingual tendency that is gaining ground. Here, at the Babes-Bolyai University, we have one of the most thoughtful and proficient language policies of the European universities and we should make use of it each.
The fourth issue is to support human value. At this university, in 1996, we abolished the seniority criterion in accessing teaching positions. Here we employed only in the academic year that ended, nearly three hundred new teachers and we continue to employ new ones. What has become essential for Romania is having more flexible structures and continuously encouraging people to create valuable works and to outline personalities. Value is not related to age. Romania is always too short on achievements because it leaves too little space to the valuable man. We introduced and we should vigorously promote within the Babes-Bolyai University and around us measures for emphasizing works and their personalities and for supporting those people of value, beyond any consideration or affinity.
A fifth problem is that of returning to an adequate education. In the last decades, the emphasis on aquiring competences, which is undoubtedly necessary, overshadowed completely the acquisition of fundamental assets, which is neglected. The worker is separated from the autonomous person. The professional tears himself away from the cultivated person. Instruction has been removed from education. We can easily notice by observing everything that happens around us, how serious are the consequences of the weakening of education: in fact, neither performance nor democracy are possible without education. Unfortunately, no law and no measure of the authorities in Romania today admit and react to this situation.
A sixth problem is placing innovation in the horizon of university concerns. Those who are teachers allow themselves too much to be lured by the relentless routine of life. The target of the scientific research for some people is to publish, rather than to have an impact, mediated, of course, by publication. Some buy high performance machines and only afterwards they discover their use, rather than vice versa. Some also believe that scientific research is an end in itself. We tried to bend such tendencies by bringing into question the technological horizon of scientific research, by creating the Institute of Technology, we will soon establish the Institute for Chemical Research, and by clarifying the research purposes, but the effort must be continued. It is understandable that the work and innovation are those that ultimately legitimize the university teacher.
In 1933 Iuliu Haţieganu published in the “Gând românesc” magazine from Cluj an article worth reading even today due to the actuality of its interrogations. The title of the article was Old generations and new generations. In this article, the former rector of the University from Cluj distinguished between the generations of self-consciousness with the Transylvanian Romanians. He spoke of "the generation of the self-consciousness as a human being", which was the generation of 1784, the generation of the Transylvanian School, the "generation of national consciousness", which was the generation of Bărnuţiu, the "democratic-revolutionary generation”, the "political-cultural generation", the “generation of the national ideal”, which was the generation of the founders of the Romanian University. One might ask where are the subsequent generations placed, and, after all, where are we placed now, the people in the University of today. I think there are enough arguments to speak about those of today as the "generation of European reintegration": it is the generation which, after 1989, had to reconnect Romania to what was happening on the continent and in the world in general. We could say that, quietly, the European reintegration is reaching an end, and we are becoming, as the pace of history quickens, the "generation of the globalization era” – a generation that must find solutions to problems and "challenges" that come from a new context and a profoundly changed global society.
With these thoughts we begin the ninety-first year. In these moments we cannot but remember Einstein’s slogan: “one cannot reach different goals by doing the same thing all the time!” Our goals are, in new times, inevitably new. We would like to call you to renew your actions and to increase your energies in order to achieve them in the new year.
I hereby pronounce the beginning of the academic year 2009-2010 at the Babes-Bolyai University!
ANNEX I
I. Construction of new buildings:
The Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, Pandurilor Street no. 7, (1995), The Faculty of Economics Sciences and Business Management (T. Mihali Street, no. 58-60) (1999), Universitas Hostel ( No 7 Pandurilor Street, (2002), The Economica Hostel I (T. Mihali Street, no. 59) (2006), The Economica Hostel II (T. Mihali Street, no. 59) (2009).
II.Recoveries of buildings based on ownership:
The Faculty of European Studies (I.C. Bratianu Street, No. 22) (1999), The Centre for Continuous Training and Distance Learning (I.C. Bratianu Street, no. 20) (2000), The Institute of Psychology (Gh. Bilaşcu Street, no. 37) (2001).
III.Allocations of buildings to central institutions:
The Faculty of Sociology and Social Assistance (21 Decembrie 1989 Blvd, No. 128) (2000), The "Beliş" Base (1999), The "Blăjoaia" Base (2002).
IV.Purchase of buildings with University resources and their complete modernization:
The Bistriţa University College (Bistriţa, A. Muresanu Street, no. 35) (2000), the Institute for Interdisciplinary Experimental Research (T. Laurian Street, No. 42) (2000), The Faculty of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences (T. Moşoiu Street, no. 71) (2001), The Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences "Pedagogica" ( Sindicatelor Street, no. 7) (2001), The Faculty of European Studies (A. Iancu Street, no. 21) (2002), The Faculty of Geography, The Faculty of Letters, The Faculty of Business, The Faculty of Reformed Theology (Horea Street, No.7) (2002), Jewish Studies; the History of Science, Cultural Anthropology Studies ( Croitorilor Street, no. 13) (2002) , The Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, "Matematicum" Ploieşti Street, nos. 23-25) (2004), The Faculty of Sociology and Social Assistance (Plugarilor Street, no. 36) (2007) , The Institute of Chemistry "Raluca Ripan" ( (Fântânele Street, No .30) (2007), The Baru Mare Practice Base, district of Hunedoara (2008).
V. Cafeterias for students and teachers:
“Liliacul” Cafeteria in the Faculty of Chemistry (2001), “Geoclub" Cafeteria in the Faculty of Geography (2002), The Cafeteria of the Faculty of Law (2002), “Economica” Cafeteria in the Faculty of Economics (2002), The Students Restaurant in the "Haşdeu " Complex - modernization (2004).
