Romanian university joins UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network

Babeş-Bolyai University (UBB), a public university in western Romania’s Cluj-Napoca, has joined the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). It is the first university in Romania to be part of the network, which has been operating since 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. The network promotes practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. The university joined the network with its Research Center for Sustainable Development of the Faculty of Geography. The membership will allow the local institution to identify various opportunities for partnerships and financing and to promote its activities and events related to its sustainable development strategy, thus increasing its international visibility, UBB representatives told Mediafax. The affiliation also comes as a recognition of UBB’s strategy in the area of sustainable development. “It is an important step in two directions: the international recognition of the research results in the area of sustainable development, as well as the recognition and continuation of the projects already included in the ‘UBB Goes Green strategy’,” Daniel David, a deputy chancellor of UBB, said. UBB is also one of the seven Romanian universities included in the 2019 Times Higher Education’s Emerging Economies University Rankings. UBB is the first ranked among the local universities. It is ranked 166

th

among 442 universities. It is followed by Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy also from Cluj-Napoca, ranked 196

th

. The University of Bucharest is ranked in the 201 – 250 band, Vest University in Timișoara in the 301 – 350 band, while the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest and the Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Iasi are ranked in the 351 – 442 band. The universities were ranked by performance indicators grouped into five areas: teaching (the learning environment); research (volume, income and reputation); citations (research influence); international outlook (staff, students and research); and industry income (knowledge transfer). (Photo: Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai Facebook Page) editor@romania-insider.com