 |
Participants in the workshop in Bucharest, Romania. |
Associate Director Participates In Workshop Organized By The Fulbright Commission
Dr. Tudor Vlad, the associate director of the James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research at the University of Georgia, participated in the program “Attracting U.S. Students to Romania: A Fulbright Capacity-Building Workshop” organized in June by the Fulbright Commission and by the U.S. Embassy in Romania.
The project, designed to increase U.S. student mobility to Romania and to stimulate higher education partnership, brought together American and Romanian professors, administrators and study abroad managers. It included visits to universities, roundtable discussions with faculty and university leaders, meetings with governmental representatives, decision-makers and members of the higher education communities. The events took place in the top two academic cities of the country: Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca.
In Bucharest, the program included a visit to National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering, home of a major laser project funded by the European Union, to University of Bucharest, to Politehnica University, a workshop at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace and presentations of other Romanian universities given by senior administrators. The program in the capital city also included a tour of the Palace of the Parliament and a concert at the Romanian Athenaeum.
The U.S. Ambassador in Bucharest, Mr. Hans Klemm, hosted a reception for the U.S. visitors and for Romanian participants and spoke about the importance of the Fulbright program and of other educational partnerships between U.S. and Romanian organizations.
 |
Workshop held at the Presidential Palace in Bucharest, Romania. |
“Instead of trying to be everything to every possible U.S. student, Romanian universities are looking to improve the number of incoming U.S. study visits numbers should focus on what they do well,” Dr. Vlad told the participants in the workshop. “I think you should target partnerships with U.S. institutions which meet that profile so that there is a meaningful experience that logically connects to incoming students’ programs of study. The University of Georgia, for instance, uses bibliometric data through the InCites platform to search for target particular countries, institutional partners, and collaborators based on common areas of publication strength.”
In Cluj-Napoca, faculty from five higher education institutions talked about their programs, their ties to U.S. universities, and their international initiatives. They represented Babes-Bolyai University, Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, the Technical University, the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, and the Art and Design. The program in Cluj-Napoca also included a city tour and a visit to the Turda Salt Mine.
The American participants were: Dr. Schuyler S. Korban, Vice Provost, University of Massachusetts Boston; Dr. Roger Hamlin, Professor, University of Michigan; Dr. Tudor Vlad, Cox International Center Associate Director; Dr. Andrea Sarzynski, Assistant Professor, University of Delaware, Steven Roy Goodman, Educational Consultant and Admission Strategist; Dr. Constantin Cranganu, Professor, City University of New York; Katherine Radande, Director of Study Abroad, Lehigh University; Dr. Nancy Sherman, Professor, Bradley University; and Dr. Donna Street, Professor, University of Dayton.
