Established: | 1991 | ||
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Type: | private university | ||
City: | Bucharest | Country: | Romania |
President: | Aurelian Gh. Bondrea | ||
Rector: | Aurelian A. Bondrea | ||
Website: | spiruharet.ro |
The Spiru Haret University is a private university in Bucharest, Romania, founded in 1991 by the president of Tomorrow's Romania Foundation, Aurelian Gh. Bondrea, as part of the teaching activities of this foundation. The university claims this has been done according to the model used by Harvard University. The university bears the name of a scientist and reformer of the Romanian education, Spiru Haret, who lived before the Great War.
On February 14, 2000, the university was accredited by the National Council of Academic Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions. The establishment of the university was confirmed by Law no. 443 of July 5, 2002 and this law has not been abolished.
According to the data published by the university in July 2010, it has 30 faculties with 49 specializations and 64 master's degree curricula, being according to the newspaper Financiarul the largest university in Romania. In 2009 enrollment was reported as 311,928 students. Referring to the number of its students, the newspaper mistakenly called it the largest university in the world. It is the second-largest private university in the world, after Islamic Azad University (with 1.3 million students).
Pope John Paul II and a former Romanian president, Ion Iliescu, have received honorary doctorates from the university.
In 2011, the Spiru Haret University was officially evaluated as an "education-centered university", which is the third and lowest educational quality category of the Romanian universities. Education centered universities have lost the right of organizing new Master's and doctorate degrees studies.
Many of the Spiru Haret University graduates became successful in the fields of law, education, architecture, banking and business. Most of the Romanian teachers, teaching in both private and public schools and one third of the registered lawyers in Romania are graduates of Spiru Haret University.