Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (UAIC), the first modern university founded in Romania (in 1860), is constantly ranked 1 – 3 among Romanian universities in terms of research, education and institutional transparency.
With about 24000 students and 2000 full-time staff in its 15 faculties (17.500 BA, 5.600 MA and 900 PhD students), UAIC academic offer includes 80 degrees at bachelor level (4 in English, 1 in French), 116 master level programmes (14 in English, 1 in French) and 27 fields of study at the doctoral level (all offered in English as well). Research at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi is top level, with a large participation in national and international research projects FP7, Horizon2020, COST, bi- and multi-lateral joint research projects, etc.).
UAIC started its participation in the Erasmus exchange programme in 1998, being the leader at national level ever since, in terms of Erasmus students and also overall Erasmus beneficiaries. Since 2011 UAIC has coordinated 4 Erasmus Mundus Action2 projects and was a partner in 3 others. The current international cooperation of UAIC includes over 400 partnerships with universities in 28 EU and 27 non-EU countries, affiliations to some of the most important university networks and associations (the Coimbra Group, the Utrecht Network, EUA and AUF) and cooperation within more than 100 inter-institutional agreements on all continents.
The project objectives meet the concerns of the Centre for Regional Security Studies, which operates within Faculty of Philosophy and Social-Political Sciences, facilitating to deepen the already existing expertise regarding the Eastern neighbourhood of the European Union. Also, previous collaborations with highly appreciated researches from western universities (Warwick, Birmingham, Toulouse, Konstanz etc.) have generated extensive expertise in the field of international relations as well as European security. Following this fact was initiated and implemented, together with UNDP and MAE, a master’s program in the field of international development that trains European experts in this field.