Babeș-Bolyai University

The history of education in Cluj-Napoca (Hungarian: Kolozsvár, German: Klausenburg, Principality of Transylvania) begins in 1581, with the establishment of the Jesuit college by Stephen Báthory, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Prince of Transylvania. The college received buildings and land within the medieval city walls, specifically on Platea Luporum (the present Mihail Kogălniceanu Street). The first rector of the Collegium Academicum Claudiopolitanum was the Polish Jesuit priest Jakub Wujek. The institution had the rights to confer the university/academic titles of baccalaureus, magister, and doctor. In 1585, there were 230 students studying, divided into six classes. The language of instruction and learning was Latin. After 1698, the institution was named Universitas Claudiopolitana, with use of Latin and subsequently German as languages of instruction. In 1753, Empress Maria Theresa granted imperial status to the university, and in 1773, after the dissolution of the Jesuit Order, went under the administration of the Piarist order. In 1786, Universitas Claudiopolitana became the Royal Academic Lyceum (Lyceum Regium Academicum – semiuniversity statute), which was later followed by two institutions with a semiuniversity statute (e.g., offering training at baccalaureus/magister level, but not at doctor level): (a) the Surgical-Medical Institute and (b) the Academy of Law. These institutions were later incorporated in the Franz Joseph University.

With the affirmation of the Romanian nation in the context of the European revolutions of 1848, the issue of education in Romanian was raised. At the request of the Romanians in 1870, József Eötvös (then Minister of Education) proposed the creation in Kolozsvár of a university teaching in Hungarian, Romanian and German, idea also welcomed by the Romanian elite. This hadn't come to fruition, as Eötvös died in 1871, and in 1872, Franz Joseph I legislated the establishment of the Hungarian Royal University of Kolozsvár in Hungarian only, which caused dissatisfaction among Romanians. After the oath, on 20 December 1872, 258 students started their courses. There were created four distinct faculties: the Faculty of Law and State Sciences, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and History, and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Each possessed equal status and enjoyed internal autonomy. The first rector was Prof. Áron Berde from the Faculty of Law, specialist in economics and finance. Besides the four faculties, a Pedagogical Institute was formed for training secondary school teachers. In 1895 women were given rights to attend lectures at the university.

After the First World War, and in the context of the Great Union of 1918, the university was taken over by the Romanian authorities and became an institution of the Kingdom of Romania. On 12 September 1919, the decree signed by King Ferdinand I stipulated "the transformation of the Royal Hungarian Franz Joseph University into a Romanian university beginning on the 1st of October 1919". The Hungarian staff who had not sworn allegiance to the Romanian state moved to Szeged where they contributed to the formation of the University of Szeged (1921).

The new Romanian university, initially named Dacia Superior University (in reference to the Roman province by the same name), later King Ferdinand I University, was composed of four faculties: Law, Medicine, Sciences, Letters and Philosophy [sic]. The inaugural lecture, "The Duty of Our Life", was delivered by Vasile Pârvan on 3 November 1919. The official inauguration took place between 31 January and 2 February 1920, in the presence of King Ferdinand I of Romania. The first elected rector was Sextil Pușcariu.

In 1940, after the territorial revision imposed by the Second Vienna Award, Hungary obtained the territory of Northern Transylvania, and the Romanian university was moved to Timișoara and Sibiu. The former Hungarian university reformed in the city, out of the University of Szeged. After the end of the Second World War and the annulling of Hungary's territorial gains, on 1 June 1945, Romanian authorities returned to Cluj the King Ferdinand I University (later renamed Victor Babeș University), and established the Bolyai University, a state institution teaching in Hungarian, with four faculties (Letters [Philology] and Philosophy, Law and Political Economy, Sciences, and Human Medicine which, in 1948, was separated and moved to Târgu Mureș to form the University of Medicine and Pharmacy).

In the spring of 1959, the two educational institutions were united as the Babeș-Bolyai University, after two renowned scholars of Transylvania: Romanian physician and bacteriologist Victor Babeș (co-founder of modern microbiology) and Hungarian mathematician János Bolyai (known for developing absolute geometry). In 1995, the Babeș-Bolyai University reorganized its structure, introducing a multicultural based education.

UBB is today a complex university, having programs ranging from art/humanities, social sciences, as well as life and natural sciences, to mathematics/computer sciences alongside engineering and technology.

Controversies

On June 20, 2025, a student from Babeș-Bolyai University was involved in a violent incident during a written examination, in which he physically assaulted a doctoral teaching assistant. The student was reportedly employed by the local police force in Cluj-Napoca at the time. The incident sparked public debate regarding student conduct, institutional safety, and the responsibilities of public servants enrolled in higher education. University and law enforcement authorities initiated internal investigations following the event.