Five of Romania’s largest universities call for research minister’s resignation

The Universitaria Consortium, which encompasses five of the country’s largest universities, has called for the resignation of research and innovation minister Serban Valeaca, arguing that his recent decisions “have disconnected Romanian research from the international context,” Hotnews.ro reported. The Universitaria Consortium is made up of the University of Bucharest, the Babes – Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, the Vest University in Timisoara, and the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. The Romanian research minister recently changed the membership of four essential institutions in the research area. The minister removed from the boards of these research institutions all the Romanian researchers working at foreign universities, as well as many representatives of large Romanian universities such as the Babes Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca. In their place, the minister appointed a Social Democratic Party (PSD) local councilor, union leaders, and even a person with a criminal record. In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, the Universitaria Consortium speaks of the “worrying situation which endangers the integrity of the national research system.” “We have witnessed, over the past months, a true assault on Romanian researchers’ efforts to maintain the high standards of a quality research activity,” said Mircea Dumitru, the rector of the University of Bucharest, quoted by Hotnews.ro. According to him, scientific research can only be performed through international cooperation, and Romania risks being isolated for a long period of time, after the recent ministerial decisions. “The recent decisions of the Research and Innovation Minister have disconnected the Romanian research from the international context. Furthermore, the chances of the young to establish and develop themselves in the scientific world are severely endangered, and this will lead to a total lack of relevance in what concerns the financing of the Romanian research,” Dumitru argued. The full, Romanian-language text of the Universitaria Consortium’s letter to Prime Minister Grindeanu can be read here. editor@romania-insider.com