Babeș-Bolyai University has announced the creation of a North-West Regional Centre for Career Guidance Research (UBB CORE). The Centre is funded by the European Union through the National Recovery and Resilience Programme (NRRP), under Research Component 9, Investment 10 – Establishment and financial support of a national network of eight regional career guidance centres.
Actually, through this project, European money is used to make the career of a research scientist more attractive and to increase the amount of knowledge generated by research scientists. The Cluj project is part of the ERA Talent Platform, a programme coordinated by the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitisation. In addition to representatives from Babeș-Bolyai University, collaborators from the University of Oradea will also be involved in the project.
The geographical area that UBB CORE will serve is represented by the counties of Cluj, Bihor, Bistrița-Năsăud, Maramureș, Satu Mare and Sălaj, which make up the North-West Region. The Centre will provide services to universities, research institutes, business and public actors involved in research, as well as to all residents of the North-West Region who are interested in obtaining career advice in scientific research.
Thus, UBB CORE will offer consultancy services for students of Bachelor, Master or PhD study cycles, for early-stage scientific researchers, but also for those who have gained experience and need the support of experts from the Regional Centre.
They will mediate contacts between young researchers and leading figures in the scientific world. Some of these are world-class researchers who have agreed to help their younger colleagues in the North-West Region of Romania.
This project will provide resources for scientific research, including access to scientific databases and prestigious scientific publications from around the world. The UBB CORE team will organise international events dedicated to scientific researchers and support the integration of young researchers from the six Transylvanian counties into the European academic space. Another mission undertaken by UBB CORE representatives is to promote science in society and, through this method, to increase the interest of young people and teenagers in the career opportunities offered by the field of scientific research.
Basically, through this project, young researchers will receive access to valuable resources that will enable them to improve their performance in scientific work. The project is also part of the university’s efforts to establish itself as a world-class university. “There are three dimensions to this world class status: academic performance, high quality scientific research and service to the community,” said Babeș-Bolyai University rector Daniel David.
This project is mainly carried out by Babeș-Bolyai University, which is the oldest, largest and highest ranked higher education institution in Romania. The University was founded in 1581 by the King of Poland, Stefan Bathory, who was also Prince of Transylvania. At the beginning, the university operated as a Jesuit College, and the first professors came from Vilnius University, led by the first rector, Jakob Wujek, who translated the Bible into Polish.
According to national metarankings, compiled on the basis of the most relevant international rankings, Babeș-Bolyai University has been the first in Romania for seven years. It is the only Romanian university to receive five stars in the QS ranking. Currently, the university has 84 research-development-innovation units accredited at university level, of which 23 are of excellence (along with 100+ at faculty level), which confirms UBB’s profile as a “researchintensive university”.
Another achievement was the inclusion of Babeș-Bolyai University in The World’s Top Ranking 2%, conducted by Stanford University, together with Elsevier Publishing and SciTech Strategies, based on research impact in 2020 and on research impact over the whole career. This ranking includes many UBB faculty/researchers (over 11 in each of the last three years) in each of these categories.
The University of Cluj is part of the European network EUTOPIA, which is one of the most prestigious metauniversities created at the initiative of the European Commission. Babeș-Bolyai University has 22 faculties and five languages of study: Romanian, Hungarian, German, English and French. It has the most complex structure of theological studies in Europe: four faculties of theology (Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Roman Catholic and Protestant) and an Institute of Judaic Studies.
A major direction taken by the management of Babeș-Bolyai University is the InfoBioNano4Health smart specialisation. The University of Cluj runs numerous projects within the framework of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
