Titu Maiorescu University Celebrates 185 Years of the birth
her spiritual patron
Education, research, knowledge – factors of development and evolution
On February 15, 2025, it will be 185 years since the birth of Titu Maiorescu (1840-1917). On the same date, but 11 years apart, was also born Spiru Haret (1851-1912). Also on February 15, starting in 2022, is celebrated National Reading Day. On this day, they meet, therefore, three important meaningsthe birthday of two luminaries of education, culture, and civilization, and the day of celebrating reading, directly linked to the personalities honored, as a tribute to them and their contribution to the building and development of the country through education.
Titu Maiorescu was an illustrious personality of our history, who made a fundamental contribution to the building of Modern Romania. After his studies at the Theresianum Academy in Vienna, the University of Berlin, the University of Giessen and the Sorbonne, where he graduated in Philosophy, Letters and Law and was awarded a doctorate in Philosophy and Law, he returned to his homeland and developed a complex activity, branching out on several levels, in the fields of education, law, culture and political life. He was a jurist, university professor, dean, rector of the University of Iași (at only 23 years of age) and later of the University of Bucharest, Member of Parliament, Minister, Prime Minister, President of the Conservative Party, writer, literary critic, cultural mentor, founder of the Romanian Academy, academician. He founded the „Junimea” Society, the literary circle which he led with critical authority, and the magazine „Convorbiri literare”. He discovered, consecrated and supported Eminescu, both aesthetically and existentially, being the mentor of the generation of great classics. He laid the aesthetic foundations of modern Romanian literature by promoting the aesthetic criterion. Among the portfolios he held as a minister was that of minister of public instruction and cults, in which capacity he made an important contribution to the development of education. He promoted the values of European civilization and the critical spirit in Romania, criticized imitation and the lack of substance through the theory of „forms without substance”, advocating the organic development of Romanian civilization according to the European model. He placed education at the foundation of the development of the individual, society and the country and, on the basis of his essentially humanist and European vision, he dedicated himself to education and culture as a university professor, writer, man of culture and politician. He considered education as the main means of emancipation of the nation, the factor of development and progress. His entire activity and work are illuminated by this vision and this founding faith, through which he contributed to the building of Modern Romania. His contribution of great complexity and importance to the country's development has made Titu Maiorescu a figure in the consciousness of his contemporaries and of history: „the founder of modern Romanian culture and civilization.
Born on February 15, 1851, Spiru Haret, He pursued studies in mathematics and physics at the Sorbonne, at both undergraduate and doctoral levels. He was a professor at the University of Bucharest and a member of the Conservative Party. He had a prodigious career as a university professor in the field of mathematics. He served as Minister of Public Instruction and Religious Affairs for three terms, during which he made a fundamental contribution to the modernization of Romanian education. Throughout his tenure as minister and under his direct guidance, over 2,000 schools were built in Romania, which operated throughout the 20th century, some of them continuing to exist even today. He was referred to by his contemporaries, with appreciation and gratitude, as „the man of the school,” and thus he remained in posterity. Through his work in building and developing the educational system, in enlightening the people through learning and literacy, Spiru Haret is considered „founder of modern Romanian education”.
In direct connection with its complex meanings, linked to the two personalities of Romanian education and civilization, February 15th was consecrated by law National Reading Day. The book and reading remain the essential means of study and learning, of intellectual, spiritual, and moral formation, of development and evolution. The book and literacy, reading and education have been, are, and must remain the paths for the development of the individual and society. This is the lesson taught to us by the example of two titans of education and culture, along with their generations, who built Modern Romania. Even in the Digital Technology and Artificial Intelligence Era, the book and reading must preserve their role as support and means of development.
On the occasion of the 185th anniversary of Titu Maiorescu's birth, Titu Maiorescu University of Bucharest honors its mentor and spiritual patron, reaffirms its mission to educate and train younger generations to the highest standards, and its commitment to quality education and research. On its 35th anniversary, April 23, 2025, the University which programmatically bears the name of Titu Maiorescu is a complex and comprehensive higher education institution, which brings together in its structure a wide diversity of classic and modern academic programs at bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and postgraduate levels. Built on the foundation of the European university, open to the new, digitalization, innovation, and the avant-garde, connected to the developments of science and culture in the Age of Knowledge and Artificial Intelligence, Titu Maiorescu University is one of Romania's quality universities, recognized as such nationally and internationally. An irrefutable argument for the status and quality of Titu Maiorescu University is its presence in national Metarankings, among the top 30 universities in the country, the only private university included in these prestigious rankings.
Through its institutional mission, its educational and research programs, its entire activity carried out in amphitheaters, lecture halls, and laboratories, through scientific and cultural events, by promoting reading, study, and research, curiosity and the desire to discover, critical thinking, creativity and originality, the values of academic ethics and integrity, through openness to the new, Titu Maiorescu University implements The will of Titu Maiorescu Regarding the fundamental role of education in shaping new generations and in the country's development. The lesson of the founders, of personalities like Titu Maiorescu and Spiru Haret, their visionary and constructive spirit must be embraced and followed in the ongoing process of building a European Romania in humanity's Era of Development through Knowledge. This is a lesson embraced by Titu Maiorescu University under the auspices of the maiorescian spirit.
The Communication and Public Relations Office of Titu Maiorescu University in Bucharest
15.02.2025