Revista >> Mai 2025 [Nr. 273] >> Cover Story

The Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava, Tradition and Innovation in Romanian Higher Education

Alexandru Batali

26 Mai 2025

The „Ștefan cel Mare” University of Suceava (USV) has established itself in the last decade as one of the most dynamic higher education institutions in Romania in terms of study programs. Together with Professor Mihai Dimian, the Rector of USV, we highlight the most significant moments of this notable journey and we detail the key elements of a new educational architecture, defining a European university. It stands out through an ambitious strategy, aiming to make a difference in the academic environment of our country: the construction of the largest new university campus in Romania, a necessary initiative in the light of the 50% increase in the number of students over the last 10 years and the commitment to revitalize the technical education in the region.

Dear Mr. Rector, we invite you to outline the defining image of USV today through the lens of significant developments over the last decade.
The "Ştefan cel Mare" University of Suceava (USV) is today a recognized institution for excellence in education, research, and innovation, with a pronounced international openness and active involvement in regional development. And because students represent the foundation of any university, allow me to begin with this retrospective view, highlighting the approximately 50% increase in the number of students enrolled at USV over the past decade, while maintaining a roughly constant number of students nationally. This evolution, which has led to over 11,000 students enrolled at USV this academic year, is a direct consequence of our action of diversifying the structure of the educational offer and adapting it to the current and projected demands of the labor market. Thus, we can observe the development of 40 new undergraduate and master s programs over the past decade, which represent approximately 30% of the current academic offer. Among these, I highlight the bachelor s programs in Medicine, General Nursing, Dental Technology, Biology and Biochemistry, and the master s program in Nutrition and Medical Rehabilitation, which contributed to the establishment of the new Faculty of Medicine and Biological Sciences within USV, the bachelor s programs in Digital Media and Cinematography, Photography, Media, along with the master s program in Communication, Media and Creative Industries, the bachelor s programs in Road Vehicles, Telecommunications Networks and Software, Robotics, Medical Equipment and Systems. I also mention the master s programs in Cybersecurity, Vehicle Mechatronics, Digitalization and Data Science, as well as the bachelor s programs in Psychology, European and International Law, Human Resources, and Local Police, and the master s programs in Criminal Law and Forensics, Resilience in Education, and Management of Social and Community Security Services.

Another key element of the new educational architecture of USV, defining any European university, is represented by the development of integrated university study programs that lead to a double diploma with partner universities abroad. Thus, from a single double diploma program in 2015, USV currently has 16 programs underway with partner universities abroad, with another 4 programs in preparation for the next academic year. These initiatives have played an important role in the significant increase in the number of USV students from outside the country s borders, from 297 in the academic year 2015-2016 to 1618 students in the academic year 2024-2025, originating from 25 countries.

The year 2024 brought a new international dimension to the university, through the funding of 14.4 million euros obtained under the Erasmus+ initiative for European Universities by the NEOLAiA university alliance, of which USV is a part alongside the University of Bielefeld (Germany), University of Jaen (Spain), University of Nicosia (Cyprus), University of Orebro (Sweden), University of Ostrava (Czech Republic), University of Salerno (Italy), University of Tours (France), and University of Siauliai (Lithuania).

NEOLAiA represents the result of the sustained commitment of partner universities for a common strategy of long-term institutional collaboration, which will shape the future of the alliance for the next 10 years. The vision of the NEOLAiA consortium is to promote each university as a strong academic structure that cultivates excellence in training and research, as well as European values and high-quality education. The functioning of the European University will contribute to optimizing student access to a transnational educational offer, enabling them to acquire essential skills and competences for the future. The consortium is structured around 10 activity packages, which define the areas of interest of the alliance, including mobility, teaching and learning, the impact of regional research, entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion, interculturality and multilingualism, digital transformation and sustainability/ dissemination of project actions.

Clearly, the accelerated dynamics and transformations at the curriculum level could only yield positive results in tandem with the development of university infrastructure. In this regard, the university you lead stands out among the universities in our country, undertaking a unique “construction” through which the “Ştefan cel Mare” University of Suceava aims to make a difference in the academic environment: the largest new university campus in Romania.
The continuous development of infrastructure represents a necessity in a higher education institution, as the student must be prepared for the use of technologies currently used in the labor market, but also for the utilization and development of emerging technologies, which are expected to be used on the market in the next 5-10 years. Universities in Romania entered this century with a major technological handicap, due to an era that did not keep pace with the technological revolution and chronic underfunding of education. For example, in the 1990s, we commonly encountered in a Romanian university computers that were less powerful than those used at home by students. Through various European and national funding projects, Romanian universities have managed to keep up with the times, but it is not enough, as universities need to be ahead of their time. Returning to the present, a relevant example is the development of the quantic computers Lab of the USV. Today s student needs not only very performing classical computers for their studies, but he also has to learn how to use the quantic computers, that we expect to be spread in the coming 5-10 years. In the present campus we are finishing now the construction of the Center for Ambiental Intelligence and Cybernetic Security, which will host labs for artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, virtual and augmented reality, drones, autonomous vehicles, for the man-computer interaction and polygons for cyber security.

This is the concept of university that we promote at USV, supporting this endeavor of developing emerging infrastructure through various projects won in national and international competitions. I remember, for example, a certain distrust regarding the utility of investing in a genetic analysis and molecular biology laboratory, at a time when there was no medical analysis laboratory of this type in the region. However, in less than a year after development, this USV infrastructure was the one that allowed the rapid development of the first COVID-19 testing laboratory in the Suceava County, during a critical period for the county, and subsequently, the same laboratory allowed the monitoring, through genetic analyses, of the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants throughout Romania, being also the main contributor from Romania to the international genomic database GISAID.

Returning to the present, a relevant example is the development of the quantic computers Lab of the USV. Today s student needs not only very performing classical computers for their studies, but he also has to learn how to use the quantic computers, that we expect to be spread in the coming 5-10 years. In the present campus we are finishing now the construction of the Center for Ambiental Intelligence and Cybernetic Security, which will host labs for artificial intelligence, humanoid robots, virtual and augmented reality, drones, autonomous vehicles, for the man-computer interaction and polygons for cyber security.