(Almost) 30 years of friendship: University of Cluj visits Würzburg
05/12/2026The University of Würzburg has welcomed a delegation from the Romanian Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj. The aim of the visit was to deepen the almost 30-year partnership and to plan new projects in research and teaching.
Representatives of Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) welcomed a distinguished visitor from Romania at the beginning of May: the management of Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj (UBB) was on site to further strengthen the existing ties between the two institutions. The visit marks the return visit to a trip by Würzburg University President Paul Pauli to Romania last year. The delegation from Cluj was made up of the Rector Daniel David, the Vice-Rector for Communication and Internationalisation Călin Rus and the Vice-Rector for German-language degree programmes Christian Săcărea.
The partnership has a long tradition: 2027 marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the first official cooperation agreement. UBB is a special partner: it is the largest university in Romania and is currently home to almost 50,000 students. More than 1,500 professors and academic staff teach and conduct research at the tradition-steeped institution, whose roots date back to 1581. Named after the physician Victor Babeș and the mathematician János Bolyai, the university is characterised today by its special multilingualism; a large number of degree programmes at Bachelor's and Master's level are offered in Romanian, Hungarian, English and German.
New impetus for joint research
Professors Ingo Scholtes (CAIDAS), Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter (Biology), Heiko Paeth (Geography) and Jörn Hurtienne and Dr Christoph Mengelkamp (both Human-Computer-Media) presented their respective Institutes and facilities in order to give the guests from Cluj an insight into the diverse teaching and research practices at the University of Würzburg and to take suggestions for future cooperation back to Cluj.
In addition, JMU's alumni work was presented and the potential for joint teaching programmes was explored together with colleagues from degree programme development. Other representatives from various departments welcomed the delegation and exchanged ideas at the networking lunch.
Strengthening international mobility for students
Promising approaches for future cooperation in the areas of research and teaching were developed and impetus was provided for Erasmus cooperation and further exchange programmes for students.
At the end of the visit, all participants were certain: "This visit represents an important step towards an even more intensive and successful partnership between the University of Cluj and JMU."
Contact
Karla Pfeifer, T +49 931 31-86084, international-networking@uni-wuerzburg.de
